Apollo 11 astronaut to help open Skywalk
AP
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.15.2007
It is not often that Go Native America comments on press stories relating to Native issues - we usually decline to air them when we can see they are badly researched, but this particular one is exceptional. Published by the AP and distributed widely in the mainstream media, including 14 major newspapers in the US, this article is an example of the insidious racist remarks that influence Americans and their attitudes towards Native Peoples. Problematic phraseology and bad research are highlighted in red and numbered so you can correlate to the remarks below.
PHOENIX — Buzz Aldrin, the Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon in 1969, plans to be among the first to stroll above the Grand Canyon in a massive, glass-bottomed observation deck.
The Hualapai Indian Reservation, which owns the so-called Skywalk (1), paid Aldrin (2) to join its March 20 opening ceremony, according to a Las Vegas public relations firm working with the tribe. Hualapai Chairman Charlie Vaughn and former astronaut John Herrington plan to meet him in the middle of the walkway.
"Yeah, I haven't decided whether I should take a parachute or not," Aldrin, 77, said with a laugh.
Visitors "are going to get a once in a lifetime view," he told The Associated Press. "There's glass around this thing, and I presume that the glass will let you look straight down. At least I hope so."
The Skywalk is a massive $30 million, horseshoe-shaped observation deck that will extend 70 feet from the Canyon wall. When completed, designers say it will offer bone-chilling views of the Canyon floor and the Colorado River 4,000 feet below.
Members of the Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie) will be the first to cross the Skywalk in a private ceremony on March 19. The tribe will charge visitors $25 to walk across the deck (3) starting March 28.
The Hualapai decided to build the Skywalk at the Canyon's rim in hopes of luring tourists (4) to the remote region 90 miles west of Grand Canyon National Park. Plagued with double-digit unemployment, (5) the tribe has invested heavily in making their reservation a vacation destination in hopes of drawing some of the 4.1 million tourists who visit the national park each year.
They've billed the Skywalk as a technological marvel and the centerpiece of a new development that includes an Indian "village" and a mock-up of a frontier town. (6)
The deck is supported by steel beams that are anchored 46 feet into the rock on the lip of the Canyon. It's designed to withstand Canyon winds of 100 mph and should be able to hold a few hundred people without bending.(7)
Architects also installed shock absorbers in the glass floor to keep the observation deck from wobbling up and down as people walk across the surface.
Aldrin applauded the tribe's decision to build the Skywalk over another money-making venture, like a casino.
"Which would you think the American people would prefer: an opportunity to see the Grand Canyon or an opportunity to lose their money to gambling casinos?"
By Chris Kahn
Here are some of the problems...
1. If any mainstream company creates a new experience for the public and chooses a name for their venture, does the media hook them as, for example, so-called Disneyland, so-called Empire State Building or even the so-called Grand Canyon.
2. '"paid Aldrin" is supposed to tell people the tribe was unable to raise enthusiastic support for the opening of this huge venture, but the truth is that all celebrities in the US have agents with set fee schedules.
3 & 4. "The tribe will charge visitors $25 to walk across the deck" Now don't tell me they are supposed to offer this free to the tourists they 'lure' (4). What about the tourists 'lured' onto helicopter and small plane rides through the canyon by Las Vegas tourism outfits. Heaven forbid that those mainstream companies might be charging?
5) If the Hualapai have only double digit unemployment to worry about in as remote an area as they live they are doing exceptionally well. If they are like many other tribes, those double digits probably refer to 90% PLUS unemployment rates.
6) Let's revisit this sentence...The Skywalk IS a technological marvel and is the centerpiece of a new development which includes living history exhibits of an Indian village and frontier town - both of which are in accordance with a move in the interpretive tour industry to make visitor experiences more hands on, accessible and memorable.
7) The 'piece de resistance'! When trying to put doubt into your reader's minds, the cardinal rule is to ignore the ethical process of doing research, use pervasive language and flat out lie as you go along. This Skywalk is designed to take just 125 people at any one time, not a few hundred. It is not intended for use in 100 mph winds, but the structure is designed to withhold such winds. Phrases such as 'bone-chilling views' and 'deck wobbling up and down as people walk' are considerably more descriptive of the author Chris Khan's journalistic ethics, than the Skywalk.
Check out the comment below which was left online after the article was published to see the kind of response engendered by Mr Khan's opinionated editorial (it was intended as a news piece, but failed!)
Comment by Paul S. (paulc) — February 15,2007 @ 5:24AM
"The deck is supported by steel beams that are anchored 46 feet into the rock on the lip of the Canyon. It's designed to withstand Canyon winds of 100 mph and should be able to hold a few hundred people without bending"
Should is not a word to be used for a project like this.
Either it can or can't.
Quite right Paul S, Paul C or whomever you may be (your comment could have held more weight had you not been anonymous about it). And it can. Mr Khan could have told you that, but he chose not to.
If you'd like to read a more measured article containing factual information click here
