Hilarity Abounds: New National Parks Woke 'Equity Language Guide'

Mike Miller reporting for RedState

If the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA) has its way, America’s national parks will soon abound with “wokeness.” America’s leading parks nonprofit has released a guide on how to speak in woke terms — a veritable “Wokeness for Dummies” — including tips like no longer using the term “Americans” to describe Americans and making sure the term “white” is lowercase while “Black” is capitalized.

Before we dig into the guide, the first paragraph on the National Recreation And Park Association’s (NRPA) homepage tells you everything you need to know about where these people’s priorities lie:

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong, healthy and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation.

NRPA advances this vision by investing in and championing the work of park and recreation professionals as a catalyst for positive change in service of equity, climate-readiness, and overall health and well-being.

As reported by the Daily Wire, The new Equity Language Guide for parks and recreation professionals “includes meticulous instructions on what words are acceptable or unacceptable in speaking about race, age, gender, sexual orientation, and ability.”

The guide begins exactly as you might expect:

The words we use matter — language has the power to uplift as well as marginalize. From the time we start learning how to communicate, we unconsciously take in the implicit biases in our language. We may not realize certain words, and how we use them, can be damaging to others. With so many ways to convey a single thought, finding the “right” word can be difficult.

If you’re wondering what any of this has to do with national parks, you’re far from alone.

With the constant evolution of language, personal preferences and changing contexts, the “right” word rarely exists. However, understanding which words may be more appropriate than others in certain situations can reinforce our values of diversity, equity and inclusion while inviting others into our work. Most importantly, when we make thoughtful word choices, we can be part of creating a more inclusive environment.

Most of the above is a crock of crap — as in the “Don’t call Americans, Americans” admonishment.

Here are several examples of woke dos and don’ts from the guide, as summarized by the Daily Wire:

“Use caution with this word,” NRPA’s guide says about calling people “Americans.”

“When we talk about parks and recreation serving communities, we are usually talking about how they serve all people whether or not they are a U.S. citizen,” the guide says, advising that people “avoid using the term ‘Americans’ generically for a group” and use “residents” or “members” of a community as a more “inclusive approach.”

The guide also says that the term “white” should be lowercase, but “Black” may be capitalized and is “a recognition of how language evolves over time.”

“The term reflects a shared identity and culture rather than a descriptor of skin color,” the guide says of the capitalized term “Black.”

Because the term “alien” is offensive when used to refer to people, it should not be used even in reference to plants, the guide advises.

See what I mean?

Even the terms “minority” and “person of color” are no longer acceptable, according to the NRPA. OK, I’m confused, haven’t we been told by the left-wing loons that we must say “people of color” when designating… um… people of color?

So what about religion?

According to the guide, it can be “an important factor to someone’s identity and culture” and encourages parks professionals to “recognize religious and cultural traditions other than those that typically dominate the U.S. media landscape (usually Christian holidays).”

Why I’m shocked. It’s okay to recognize religious and cultural traditions (you know, like Christmas and Easter and stuff). Oh — wait — other than Christian religious and cultural traditions. My bad.

Here’s one of my favorite “lessons” from the guide (emphasis mine):

While most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever-present in our institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value, morality, goodness and humanity to the white group while casting people and communities of color as worthless (sic —worth less), immoral, bad, inhuman and ‘undeserving.’

The silly guide continues with more of the same insanity.

Incidentally, the Equity Language Guide is correct in its observation that words matter — but not for the reason(s) the NRPA suggests. While yes, words can be used to hurt others (often the ones we love), the new radical Left purposely weaponize words — solely to divide Americans against Americans.

Speaking of the latter, even admonishing us not to call our fellow Americans, Americans.