The sucky history of Mt Rushmore (formerly Six Grandfathers) and the white dudes on it

[soothsayer]

https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/native-history-construction-of-mount-rushmore-begins-nNaLMzte1kKPJmtJoLoFZA

Snip

The presidents represented on the face of the mountain the Sioux called Six Grandfathers had some terrible Indian policies, here are some highlights:

Lincoln was responsible for hanging the Dakota 38, the largest mass hanging in U.S. history.

George Washington declared an all-out extermination against the Iroquois people in 1779.’

Thomas Jefferson supported a policy of assimilation, and failing that, extermination of the Cherokee and the Creek. He said all Natives should be driven beyond the Mississippi or, “take up the hatchet” and “never lay it down until they are all exterminated.”

Theodore Roosevelt, who, shortly after being elected governor of New York, announced, “This continent had to be won. We need not waste our time in dealing with any sentimentalist who believes that, on account of any abstract principle, it would have been right to leave this continent to the domain, the hunting ground of squalid savages. It had to be taken by the white race.”

Mount Rushmore was carved into the land that was promised in perpetuity through the Treaty of 1868. The Black Hills are central to the creation stories of the Lakota, where they have always lived and prayed. However, the 1860s were a time when promises were made, but soon broken. In 1877, gold was found in the Black Hills and the land was confiscated by the U.S. government. To this day, the Lakota have refused payment for the land of their origins.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the truth, however shameful it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[at140]

2. That sculpture on side of a mountain is shocking on how anyone can do it

It was done without cranes or or other machines. I visited Mount Rushmore in 2016. And it is in the climax scene of my favorite movie, North By Northwest starring Cary Grant, and directed by Hitchcock.

[soothsayer]

4. Yeah they had to build a fake one and weren't allowed to walk on their faces

[at140]

11. Of course...movies are "make believe" at best!

By the way did you hear North by Northwest was the precursor to Bond 007 movies?

[soothsayer]

12. No but it makes sense

[scarletwoman]

6. It's an insult and a desecration, period.

[at140]

13. Ever since the Aryan nomads invaded India around 4000 BC

The historical record has been "to the victor go the spoils".
India was invaded by Muslims and formed empires and ruled India from 7th century through 14th century.
Then the British invaded India and made it a colony for 150 years.
Alexander the Great reached all the way to India, conquering every country on the way.
Germany invaded Poland, Czechoslovakia and took it over.
Japan invaded Burma and became it's rulers.
Europeans invaded America and became it's masters.
The strong rule and the weak suffer.
It is never going to change so long as humans are involved.
That is not justice but it is history repeating.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. K&R. The monument is an insult and a blight.

[diva77]

5. K&R Please check out statement issued by the Indigenous Environmental Network:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213694494

[soothsayer]

7. Oh, Seven Grandfathers

Thank you

[cayugafalls]

8. We can never repay the indigenous people of this country for the pain and suffering we caused.

The fact that we have destroyed their cultures to the point of near extinction and forced them to inhabit tiny areas of land that we keep making smaller on whim, is merely a testament to the building of this white empire.

There is no good way forward...

[Beringia]

9. I think some Native Americans are happy about the Crazy Horse monument

even though I remember reading the book by Lame Deer where he thought people shouldn't carve into mountains.

[soothsayer]

10. Yeah it's bigger than Rushmore but I think lacks funding to finish