So last night at work I was explaining to a friend of mine that I'd been up to the wetlands park here near Bozeman. He misunderstood me and thought I was saying the white man's park. We got a good laugh out of this and then I explained to him that all parks are the white man's parks. This garnered a surprised look from him, so naturally I had to explain my reasoning.
In my limited knowledge of history I am only aware of one group who has gone out of its way to make sure that certain natural areas needed to remain unspoiled. Yellowstone national park was the first official park (1872). Since then many other countries have declared areas national parks as well. This was done primarily by predominantly white nations for the first century, but the rest of the world has gotten on board with this project.
Now this worldwide project is considered a noble one by many, but that kind of backslapping self congratulating bullshit doesn't really sit right with me. Let's be honest, the real reason the park system had to be implemented was to remind us (white people) to not exploit every inch of the planet. The American Indian didn't need a reminder. The Australian aborigines didn't need a reminder. The Mongolian steppe tribes didn't need a reminder. Just white folk, because somewhere in the collected Anglo history we forgot the value of respecting the land.
Without waxing to poetic about how Mother Nature nurtures all of us it, is worthy to remember that if we don't take care of the planet it won't be there for future generations. It might not even last in its current state within our lifetimes, but let's not congratulate ourselves for something we should have always been doing.
Thus all parks are the white man's parks. Though not strictly for the white man's use.
Never thought of it in quite that way, but yeah, it is true. The Euro-Anglo tradition has been to exploit the land in whatever manner it can be manipulated. This has been done for hundreds of years in the name of progress and civilization. Indigenous peoples have always paid the price of such greed and shortsightedness. Future generations will also continue to pay for poisoned waters, air and land. Some progress and awareness is slowly filtering into the white mentality, but I don't think it will be fast enough to effect any change in how we treat the Earth. There are still wild places, but even those show signs of pollution.
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