From #Yosemite to #BearsEars, Erasing #NativeAmericans From #USNationalParks
The foundational myth of America’s National Parks is one of heroic preservation of “pristine wilderness” — but places like Yosemite were already home to thriving communities that cherished the #environment around them.
by Hunter Oatman-Stanford
"Today, the foundational myth of America’s National Parks revolves around the heroic preservation of 'pristine wilderness,' places supposedly devoid of human inhabitants that were saved in an unaltered state for future generations. This is obviously a falsehood: Places like Yosemite were already home to thriving communities that had long cherished—and changed—the environment around them. #GeorgeCatlin’s paintings are vivid reminders that the vast expanses of our western frontier were not empty, but rather brimming with human cultures.
"'#NativeAmericans would later be put on display like animals in a zoo.'
"Though the National Park Service prevented wholesale #industrialization, they still packaged the wilderness for consumption, creating a scenic, pre-historical fantasy surrounded by roads and tourist accommodations, all designed to mask the violence inherent to these parks’ creation. More than a century later, the #UnitedStates has done little to acknowledge the government-led #genocide of #NativePopulations, as well as the continued hardships they face because of the many #BadFaith #treaties enacted by the U.S. government. This story is an elemental part of our National Park system, the great outdoor museum of the American landscape, but the myth continues to outweigh the truth. How did the National Park Service evict Yosemite’s indigenous communities and erase their history, and can it come to terms with this troubling legacy today?
[...]
"Despite the obvious claims of indigenous peoples to their lands, white officials frequently justified their removal by claiming that #NativeAmericans weren’t good stewards of the new American frontier. In its excellent exhibition, 'Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations,' the National Museum of the American Indian points out the myriad ways the United States government repeatedly lied about, altered, and disregarded legal contracts intended to secure native access to the land they already lived on. Beyond this egregious, criminal behavior on the part of U.S. officials, they also relied on written documentation, disadvantaging tribal officials who were accustomed to oral agreements or not fluent in English. Sometimes contracts were even negotiated by individuals that had no power to speak for their larger native community."
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https://getpocket.com/explore/item/from-yosemite-to-bears-ears-erasing-native-americans-from-u-s-national-parks?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
