Mount Rushmore

 

“It [Mt Rushmore] should be turned into something like the United States Holocaust Museum. The world needs to know what was done to us.”

~Phil Two Eagle ~ 

 

When I was a boy, my father told everyone that would listen about our great-grandmother, the "full-blooded Cherokee Indian." I heard this story over and over again. My dad told this story as absolute truth and I believed him. For most of my life, I took for granted that I was 1/8 Cherokee.

And then, one day, the shoe dropped. While I was visiting Dad in the nursing home, he told me this story for the thousandth time. But he finished it this time with, ".....so the story goes." Whoa.

"Hold on there Dad," I said. "What do you mean, 'So the story goes?'"

He just chuckled and said, "Well, that's what I was always told." In other words, there was no verification, no DNA studies, no peer reviews, no research of any kind...no Critical Race Theory.

So, here's what happened next. I started scanning the final scrolls from 1899. My brother started to dive in to our genealogy. I called my dad's cousin who was at least 90 years old. What I asked her almost killed her with laughter. This is a really, really, REEEEEEALLY long story, but I can sum it up with this quote from my dad's cousin. "Oh honey, she was full-blooded alright. Full-blooded FRENCH!"

My point? My entire life, I listened to what I was told, believed what I was told, and lived with what I was told without ever questioning it one time. And it was wrong...completely wrong. And that brings us to Mount Rushmore. (You knew I'd get there sooner or later).

While this was Gina's first visit to the Black Hills, I had visited several times throughout my life. And lets face it, it just isn't a trip to the Black Hills without a trip to Mount Rushmore. Truth be told, it is an amazing monument and it's difficult to look at it with anything other than wonder at the artistic and sculptural genius. But that isn't the whole story, and just like the false Cherokee story, it took me years to learn the evil truth about Mount Rushmore. It made looking at it, not only less awe-inspiring, but it made me sick to my stomach a bit. Hold on to your white, privileged behind.

Mount Rushmore, the "patriotic" tribute to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, was completed in 1941 by a man with alleged ties to the KKK. I don't know if that's true, but we know it's true Washington and Jefferson owned slaves. And although that kind of information is bad enough, it's downright infuriating when you learn the entire truth about our own government.

In the late 1800's Euro-American settlers pushed westward and ignited a war with the indigenous people of the Dakota's. Basically, it was native land to begin with...all of it. All of what is now the Black Hills was native Lakota land and we went to war with them to push them off. Eventually, however, a treaty was signed with the Lakota granting them exclusive use of the Black Hills. (How generous of us to grant them use of land that was theirs to begin with). 

The Black Hills land granted use to the Lakota, included Six Grandfathers Mountain, the formation where Mount Rushmore now resides. This wasn't just some rock formation. Six  Grandfathers Mountain is sacred, holy land to the Lakota. As one historian puts it, "It's the center of the universe of our people." And in 1868, our government told them they could use it. Hunky Dory.

Then in 1877, less than 10 years after a treaty was signed allowing the Lakota to stay on land they owned anyway, gold was discovered in the Black Hills. All bets were off, including treaties. The United States government backed out on their promise, took the land back, and then some years later, proceeded to desecrate the sacred land of the Lakota. THAT, my friends, is the truth about how your government does business.

There is a large push among Lakota/Dakota natives to, once again, return the land to the people from whence it was stolen. Sadly, I have little faith in the generosity of those that could make it happen. And besides, we've already destroyed Six Grandfathers. But the absolute truth you will never hear in history class is, we stole this land from the Lakota. And while I hold no grudge against anyone who visits Mt Rushmore and stands in awe of its wonder, you now know the truth. 

We absolutely, positively took, returned, and then stole this land from the Lakota Sioux. It's time we gave it back...

Once and for all.

 Namaste,

Matt and Gina