Summary
We all know that cowboys, homesteaders, pioneers and mountain men have become American icons. Their images are everywhere, selling cigarettes and SUVs. But almost always, those images are white. From Marlboros to Patagonia, Coleman, North Face, Outside Magazine, and every ski resort in North America, it's white people on white snow. People of color, blacks especially, don't find themselves in these images. There's a message there, probably unintentional, but it's a message nevertheless, and we get it. We get it so thoroughly that we even believe it's true. That's the other part of the answer.
Over the years, I've learned something about the boxes that stereotype people and the roles they play in un-coloring history. When I worked as assistant director of outdoor programs at Dartmouth College, black students who participated in "white" activities were referred to by their peers by a nasty slur - "incognegroes." Not surprisingly, that made it tough for me to recruit black students to come out into the wilderness with me for a simple hike. I was often told that "we" don't do that.A friend of mine, during a discussion about the lack of diversity in the Western outdoors, said, "Well, of course! This is the West. You're social engineering!" as if the myth of only white people moving across a blank landscape were so powerful that the story could never change. In the last seven years, I've talked to hundreds of people in the backcountry about the value of diversity, and what it might take to make it happen in hiring, education and understanding. I usually end by saying that diversity is worth pursuing because it's the future of this country.See the full content of this document
Extract
Natural Diversity
As a black park ranger, I'm often asked why more minorities don't visit national parks or participate more in outdoor activities. That's a short question with a long answer, and one part of it involves the perpetuation of historical inaccuracy, since the vi...
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