How many feel that Mt. Rushmore is an insult to Native Americans?

Answer 1

Yes it is. Of course it is. The medicine man Lame Deer once said about Mt. Rushmore that it, ""fits into our sacred Black Hills like a red-hot iron poker into somebody's eye... They could just as well have carved this mountain into a huge cavalry boot standing on a dead Indian." www.worldfreeinternet.net/news/indians.htm

"The insult of Rushmore to some Sioux is at least three-fold:

1. It was built on land the government took from them.
2. The Black Hills in particular are considered sacred ground.
3. The monument celebrates the European settlers who killed so many Native Americans and appropriated their land." http://reykr.livejournal.com/2006/03/25/

Mt. Rushmore is in the Black Hills. The Black Hills is the holy ground to the Lakota people. The Black Hills were taken from the Lakota people ilegally! "In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sioux Indians were entitled to an award of $17.5 million, plus 5% interest per year since 1877, totaling about $106 million in compensation for the unjust taking of the Black Hills and in direct contravention of the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Sioux have refused to take the money and sits in a trust fund in Washington, collecting interest." http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-Sioux2.html You can't sell the Holy Land! If you steal someones bike and you get caught, you have to give them their bike back and probably pay them something on top of it as that person would probably sue you. You DON'T get to keep the bike but pay them for it!!!! That's ridiculous! But that's what the U.S. is trying to do. This is the HOLY GROUND of the Lakota people! Come on!http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair0801.html

Well, the Lakota people traditionally do not believe in tearing up the ground. But the U.S. comes in and rips up the ground to put in a monument of it's former leaders in their holy grounds. That right there is a HUGE insult. Especially since the U.S. stole that land and even acknowledged they did it(later on).

But when you look at the history of the people on Mt. Rushmore, you will see that it's even MORE of an insult because there are "Indian Killers" up there!

George Washington slaughtered some of the Iroquois people during the Revolutionary War and didn't keep his promise to other Iroquois who fought with him during the war. http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html and http://www.bluecorncomics.com/july4th.htm

Abraham Lincoln signed the order to hang 39(later reduced to 38) Dakota men for defending their homeland during the Dakota Conflict. Many of those men weren't even in the battle. It was the largest mass hanging in the United States. http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/hanging.html

So my answer to your question is that MANY MANY people see Mt. Rushmore as an insult to Native peoples expecially the Lakota. Given all of the information, and not being a racist, how can one not see it as an insult???? I certainly do see it as an insult.

The reason one doesn't hear a whole lot about it, is that there isn't much that can be done about it now. It certainly should be required reading in school though. Native activists are busy fighting racist mascots and fighting for tribal sovereignty, things that something can be done about.

For more information please read:
NATHPO http://www.nathpo.org/News/Sacred_Sites/News-Sacred_Sites110.htm

Answer 2

I think that Mt. Rushmore is what the some one put up in honor of some great leaders of the land. If people of the native American descent think that it is an insult, then they need to make a important monument to represent their great leaders.

Answer 3

BIG TIME.....

Ok, here the white man comes, takes all the prime land, then to add insult to injury, in a VERY holy place, the white man puts the heads of their prominent white leaders.....

Very much a slap in the face.....

Do the Native Americans still consider that a holy place, or did we ruin it?

Answer 4

To the Victors go the spoils, and the history. How far back would you take this reparationalism ? Because there were people here even before "Native" Americans; That's who they took the land from ! By the way, I was naturally born here, so I consider myself a "Native American" !!!

Answer 5

Rape & pillage, that's been the main sport since the pale faced arrived here. Our Earth Mother is nothing but a commodity to them. They have no concept of a Holy Land other than their own, far away.

Answer 6

huh? If you want to list the insults we have given to native Americans, Mt. Rushmore would be about number 8,000,000 on the list.

Answer 7

I can't say I ever considered it. As a matter of fact the only consideration worth having in regards to Indians is HP or soft tip.

Answer 8

it's an insult to all Americans

Answer 9

To hell with 'native americans', I'd be more concerned with what the Indians thought about it. But not much.

Answer 10

it might be i mean the land that we live on and call America belongs to them! they were the first ones here. other people might not notice i never did until you asked this question but maybe the Native Americans do.... they want squanto to be on top =]