Dear HCN,
After reading the Geof
Koss story, “Hikers stumble into an old dispute” (HCN, 5/22/00:
Hikers stumble into an old dispute), I am reminded that any form of
tourism on New Mexico land grants, or in traditional Hispano lands
of southwestern and south central Colorado, must not merely purport
to “respect” Native American and Hispano rights, but ought to
promote local people’s historical rights and
heritage.
When my parents purchased a motel in
Colorado Springs in 1959, they were aware that after the 1848
Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty, native Mexican and indigenous lands were
broken up and sold by Anglo-controlled entities like the Santa Fe
Ring. Though tourism to the Southwest is the latest shape of
colonization, the tourism growth my parents witnessed in the 1960s
and “70s was mildly offensive compared to the current wave of
industrial-strength recreation being pushed through with an
attitude of self-righteousness and entitlement. As post-1848
newcomers to the area, Anglo tourists, like the Continental Divide
Trail Society, often act with a Manifest Destiny manner of
acquisitiveness.
I firmly support Hispano people
and the Rio Arriba county commissioners in their ongoing fight for
land-grant rights against any form of muscular tourism that acts
like the West is their playground. In case the message isn’t clear:
Hispanos and Nuevomexicanos are our neighbors; let us
Anglo-Americans be good
neighbors.
Tamara M.
Teale
Colorado Springs,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tourism can be self-righteous.
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