Do you ever wonder if campus leftists just sit around trying to think of new things to accuse of racism?The College Fix reports:
Prof: Outdoor recreation a ‘white-dominated space,’ has ‘roots in systemic racism’A North Carolina State University professor says diversity has become “a hot topic in the White-dominated space” of outdoor recreation as there exists an “adventure/nature gap.”KangJae “Jerry” Lee, of NC State’s College of Natural Resources who has a PhD in Park and Tourism Sciences, says the dearth of black Americans in activities such as hiking, fishing and hunting can’t be explained away by cultural differences or income level.“Systemic racism” is the culprit.According to KAKE.com, Lee said “The issue becomes excruciatingly clear that historical institutional racism has banished people of color from the great outdoors.”This history goes all the way back to the Pilgrims when the “wilderness was viewed as a dangerous place, something that needed to be tamed and cultivated to survive.”But by the 1800s, Lee says white people began to “romanticize” and “racialize” the outdoors. Cities were where immigrants and “people of color” dwelled, and were considered “dirty” and “unhealthy.”Early environmentalists, tied to the eugenics movement, believed white people could “cultivate tough and boisterous characteristics in the outdoor environment.” Environmentalist Madison Grant considered parks a place where descendants of the Nordics — whom he thought were a “superior race” — could flourish.From the story:
Even former President Theodore Roosevelt, who oversaw the establishment of many national parks, did so over fears that the White race would become inferior if they became too soft, according to Lee’s research.When the National Park Service was founded in 1916, Jim Crow laws had already been implemented in the South, and other racist laws and customs kept Black Americans out of these parks. Even when the NPS officially desegregated its parks in 1945, local ordinances still sometimes barred Black people entry,Lee said.
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