Environment
When I accept the Centennial Leadership Award from the National Parks Conservation Association this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (Livestreaming) it could mark a new day in the history of public lands conservation, maybe not for the reasons you think. There have been many other conservationists of color who have made a difference – think George Washington Carver who seeded a generation of conservationists at Tuskegee.
He universally and single-handedly saved the Southern economy with his innovations with the peanut. (His birthplace is a national park that preserves his legacy.) But this marks the first time that three conservationists of color will have such a significant national stage to share our views. Will it signal a move to inclusion of all Americans?
I AM excited for the stories that the other honorees will share: The 15th Director of the National Park Service Bob Stanton might talk about his introduction to national parks as a large, young black man arriving in Grand Teton National Park in 1962, and his aspirations for the agency he has led. Black Feet Interpreter Jack Goldstone will no doubt reveal age old wisdom through his words and music. I plan to share some of the reasons I’m convinced that the National Park Service’s mission must be expanded to meet the moment, because a people who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. We are seeing that on display now.
Our national parks are not museums kept under glass, though many contain museums. They are the living breathing embodiment of the history of our nation, at mostly the EXACT place where the history happened (except for a few including the spot in Boston National Historical Park where the first patriots were shot dead in the Revolutionary War, which has been shifted several feet to accommodate a main street.) The parks evolve with us as we evolve with them. They are vitally important to the future of our environment, the quality of our discourse and the society we uphold.
Therefore, it is incomprehensible to me that such a vital segment of our lives – our very life support system – has so little visibility in our national discourse and is mostly managed on the ground by the same small group of people that ran them in the early 1900s. The cast of characters enjoying the parks and making decisions about their future are mostly monochromatic, and therefore have access to only a sliver of perspectives about them.
This is unacceptable and must change promptly. I’m convinced that the void of information in the public domain about the national parks and the lessons they’re supposed to teach us about ourselves is a big contributor to the current climate of dissonance driven by mistrust and crazy conspiracies. Though there are people, who are easily misled, if the vast majority of Americans were privy to the rock-solid history in the parks, it would be bound to have a mitigating effect.
Our National Parks are the Kryptonite to “spin.” The level of accuracy is in the ground, on the spot, gleaned from the artifacts and witnesses’ stories. They show the places we stumbled; where we recovered; where unsung heroes made the difference and where human rights are affirmed.
Every American should know what happened at The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in Colorado; at Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park in Virginia; at Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas; at the Belmont Paul Women’s Equality National Monument on Capitol Hill and at Stonewall National Monument in New York. Every American should also have the vision of one of the “Crown Jewel” national parks such as the Grand Canyon; Yellowstone; Yosemite; Great Smoky Mountains or the Everglades imprinted upon their soul. Every American should know, because the national parks are charged with being managed for the “enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.”
How is this going to work when most of the American people, especially Americans of color, have no idea they exist? And where many feel they’d he is unwelcome because of customs that exclude them, sometimes upheld by force of law?
For many years when my husband Frank and I and our colleagues called for a public information campaign to bring the parks and the important stories they contain to the attention of the general public, we have been told that the Park Service as an agency is not allowed to market itself. The NPCA Second Century Commission consisting of some of the brightest and most experienced minds concluded that the National Park Service “has great potential to advance society’s most critical objectives . . .” So did the National Park Service Centennial Call to Action, 2015.
Under the Biden administration the Director of the Department of Interior is a woman of indigenous ancestry; the Director of the National Park Service is a gentleman of indigenous ancestry; the Chief of the USDA Forest Service is a man of African ancestry, and the land and waters managed by the Department of Defense are under the leadership of the Secretary of Defense, a man of African ancestry.
But the fundamental void remains of the lack of involvement of a broad spectrum of Americans in the care and management of our national parks, and the decisions that are made about them. A lack of interest among Americans of color is glibly propagandized as the cause, but I know better:
Of the support spent on environmentally focused organizations, only a small fraction is invested in the environmental businesses and organizations led by Americans of color. There are thousands of individuals just like me who get the park bug and start organizations and businesses to be part of the solution. But the value we bring to the movement is mostly overlooked as many white “leaders” literally CANNOT SEE us as full partners. Therefore, opportunities for contracting, partnerships, sponsorships afforded other entities in this arena seldom materialize for us. The struggle for resources to support our work severely retards the pace at which progress can be made. It would hardly be more effective if it were deliberate.
Movements, like plants, grow from the root up, not the other way around. Nothing can be expected to be sustained if it leaves out nearly half the population.
No doubt some of the recommendations in the reports I cited are being implemented in small ways, but a system calls for a systemic approach. It may require an Act of Congress to expand what the National Park Service can do for it to meet the demands of our times.
Or the myriad advocacy organizations supporting parks and public lands could come together with the Ad Council; educational institutions and leaders in the entertainment industry that share our values, to create a public information campaign set in the parks featuring inclusive families and groups. We could flood the media with this beauty and information, generating a new and necessary conversation in the public square
Our 630 million acres of “publicly owned” lands supported by our tax dollars, are the “birthright” of every American. In this arena, what belongs to one belongs to all. The opportunity to be part of a national, natural dowry is so grand that I believe most Americans would grasp the opportunity to conserve and treasure them. The parks are best known as world class tourist destinations, and the future of tourism is diversity.
I recognize that the apprehension of being targeted by virulent forces is an issue that must be confronted whenever we take action that runs counter to current propaganda. But all it takes for evil to thrive is for good men to stay quiet. Now more than ever the national parks call to us, they beseech us to be strong, to use them because it is for this very purpose that the were saved and treasured – to be instructive.
So. dear friends, if not now, when? I implore you each one to think about what I’ve said, research the parks I cited, and decide for yourself what you think, and what you think we/you can, should and will do to bring our authentic history to the fore. Let that new day shine brightly and lead us into a more secure future.
God bless us everyone!
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