www.archpaper.com: Multiple parties are suing the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over the recent removals of signage commemorating the country’s history of slavery, Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous history, and struggle for women’s and LGBTQIA+ equality.
3 comments:
This is not surprising given the ongoing attack on DEI and attempt to revise minorities out of the historical narrative, however it is still extremely upsetting. National parks are one of our nation’s greatest successes in my opinion - they came out of the New Deal and were built on preserving nature, giving people jobs, and giving people a place to enjoy nature. National parks are flawed though, as many of them are built on what should be Indigenous land. For this reason, the signage of national parks was never completely perfect. However, not only does removing historical context that honors the deep histories of minority groups not contribute to the narrative of “American greatness,” but is also takes away from the success of the institution of national parks and what they stand for in our history. Public space is so important, what goes in public space is equally important, and who gets to tell stories in public space is paramount.
Although I am not surprised to hear about the removal of these signs, I'm still deeply disturbed. As someone who has worked for the National Park Service as well as the National Forest Service I deeply respect and value the work they do and see them as an essential part of ensuring the protection of nature within the United States. With that being said I'm no stranger to the horrors that were enacted against indigenous people to create these spaces. I remember getting to spend a couple days in Yosemite National Park in the 6th grade and one of the first places we visited was a recreation of shelters that were made by the indigenous Ahwahnechee people. I remember the story the park ranger told us in vivid detail. He spoke about how the park service offered the tribe two options to leave or to be burnt out. When they didn't leave their homes were burnt and they were chased out at gunpoint. To lose history like this is dangerous. it is so incredibly disrespectful to all of those who have lost so much to institutions of the United States and the fact that we are trying to cover up this history is something that I believe will be looked at in history books as an extreme atrocity.
The removal of signage is really sad to see because they aren’t just removing the physical signage but attempting to remove the significance of minority groups in these public spaces. The current administration is really biased when it comes with what is displayed to the public they want only “all American” historical figures to be shown in a positive light while the people that were oppressed by those figures are now deemed as inappropriate topics. Trying to hide history is never a good sign because it shows that you have the possibility to make the same heinous acts from back then because you are not taking accountability for the wrong doing that was performed in the past, not only that but you don’t care about making sure that the people affected by it are assured it won’t happen again however it seems like the current administration is fine with those human rights violations happening again if it means they get what they want)
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