Newcomb: Bush at Mount Rushmore,‘The Shrine of Hypocrisy’

Posted: August 6, 2004

by: Steven Newcomb / Columnist / Indian Country Today

On my office wall hangs a photograph of a Dakota medicine man jailed back in the late 1800s by the Court of Indian Offenses. The Denver public library digital photo collection where I found this image says the medicine man’s name was, "Frosted." The photograph shows the spiritual leader wearing government-issued jeans, a denim shirt, lace up work boots, and a hat.

The medicine man’s feet are shackled, and a steel chain with a ball at the end of it is slung over his left shoulder; the heavy steel ball is prominently displayed at his waist level in the photograph. The photograph well symbolizes how the white man’s "democracy" and "rule of law" came to the Great Sioux Nation. The ball and chain is a perfect metaphorical symbol of the history of U.S. Indian law and policy.

I mention the shackled medicine man because of a photograph of President George W. Bush I saw in Indian Country Today (Vol. 23, Iss. 43). The photograph was taken when Bush visited the "Mount Rushmore National Memorial" on August 15, 2002, where he gave a speech on "homeland security." He is looking directly at the camera so that his face is shown along with presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. According to news reports, this was an intentional effort by the White House to shape public opinion about Bush.

Bush’s insensitivity to the fact he was delivering his speech in the Sacred Black Hills of the Great Sioux Nation, and their allied Native nations, was made evident with the following remark: "I mean, after all, standing here at Mount Rushmore reminds us that a lot of folks came before us to make sure that we’re free. A lot of pioneers came to this part of the world to make sure that enterprise could flourish."

I’d like to know how Bush’s statement about "folks" coming "here" to make sure that "we’re free" can be reconciled with the photograph of the shackled Dakota medicine man, and the system of injustice that photograph represents. "Know your audience" is the first rule of public speaking, and it’s clear that the only audience President Bush had in mind was a non-Indian one.

I remember walking through the airport in Rapid City, S.D. in the early 1990s, and seeing a video developed by the Mount Rushmore Preservation Fund that was narrated by former President Ronald Reagan (he made the video voice-over after leaving office). Part of the video showed the German people tearing down the Berlin Wall, and Reagan’s voice-over referred to Mount Rushmore as the "Shrine of Democracy," an amazing claim about a monument carved from Sacred mountains illegally held by the United States.

The makers of the video clearly intended the granite presidential faces to represent "justice" as contrasted with the injustice of the Berlin Wall. But, from an informed Native perspective, both the Berlin Wall AND Mount Rushmore are symbolic of oppression and injustice. George Washington was responsible for destroying whole Indian towns in New York and the Ohio River Valley following the Revolutionary War. The Haudenosaunee named Washington "Town Destroyer." Lincoln was responsible for the largest mass execution in American history, by ordering the hanging of Dakota Indians in Minnesota. Jefferson, in addition to claiming U.S. sovereignty over millions of acres of Indian lands via the Louisiana Purchase, advocated using trading houses to run Indians into debt and then persuade Indian people to part with huge areas of their lands in order to pay off the debt.

Teddy Roosevelt deserves a special mention because of his racist attitude towards Indians and others. As Roosevelt wrote in his book "The Winning of the West", "American and Indian, Boer and Zulu, Cossack and Tartar, New Zealander and Maori, - in each case the victor, horrible though many of his deeds are, has laid deep the foundations for the future greatness of a mighty people."

Roosevelt went on to write, "it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia, and Siberia should pass out of the hands of their red, black, and yellow aboriginal owners, and become the heritage of the dominant races of the world." (Thanks to Steve Melendez for bringing this quote to my attention.)

In addition, Mount Rushmore perfectly represents the illegal occupation of the Black Hills by the United States. The monument was built without the permission of Great Sioux Nation and its allied nations, in violation of treaties. According to the 1851 and 1868 treaties of Fort Laramie, the Black Hills are situated within the homeland of the Great Sioux Nation, and are not legally part of "the homeland" of the United States.

Thus, the presidential faces towering over President Bush during his speech about homeland security perfectly symbolize a dark and disturbing legacy of U.S. history. Those faces also represent the illegal occupation and desecration of the Sacred Black Hills. For Bush to give a speech at the site of such a notorious symbol of injustice, without any acknowledgment of the U.S.’s horrible treatment of the Great Sioux Nation and other Plains Indian nations, demonstrates an incredible lack of awareness on the part of the White House of the larger historical context of contemporary Indian issues.

Was it the U.S.’s effort to make the Plains Indian nations "free" by massacring more than 300 women, children, and men at Wounded Knee and then unceremoniously burying them in a mass grave in 1890, and afterwards giving some 28 Congressional medals of honor to U.S. soldiers who participated in the massacre? Was it part of the U.S.’s effort to make sure the Indian nations were "free" by violating and refusing to abide by numerous treaties, or by imprisoning medicine people and thereby attempting to destroy Native spiritual traditions?

Is the President of the United States insensitive to the history of his country’s policies toward American Indians? Is he blind to the many crimes his country has committed against Indian nations and peoples in the name of "freedom" and "democracy," such as the millions of buffalo intentionally killed as formal U.S. policy and the billions of dollars in gold stolen from the Black Hills where he gave his speech at Mount Rushmore?

Looking back, perhaps it can be said that Mount Rushmore - the so-called Shrine of Democracy - symbolizes the United States’ effort to "bring democracy" to the Plains Indian nations by bullets and warfare in the same way that the United States is now claiming to be bringing "democracy" to the people of Iraq by warfare. The U.S. used deadly force in an avowed effort to "pacify" the American Indian nations, and is now doing the same, as General Kimmit has stated, to "pacify" the Iraqi people.

And, finally, how truly sad and ironic that some of the weaponry used in the current war in Iraq have been named "Apache" and "Blackhawk" and that U.S. military officials dubbed alleged mobile bio-weapons units in Iraq as "Winnebagos of death." How dare they use the name of the Sauk Chief Black Hawk, and the names of the Apache and Winnebago nations in such a manner.

there's funny business going on when KPC and myself get censored for profanity, but this sickening racism built on lies and hate gets to stand.

Racism violates our editorial policy and core values and is definitely going to be removed if detected. Email us if you see a racist rant starting and we will remove them. I just zapped a bunch of racist comments from neo-nazi/fascist types and couple of ones directed at anglos as well.

Please refrain from profanity, incendiary insults, racist comments, or other cheap shots or risk having your posts and comments removed. Please also understand that we are unable to remove every post that deserves removal.

Now this may be another unwarranted, unwanted, mindlessly repetitious, inane to say nothing of being a stupid idea...

( like duh- sticks and stones )

but how about a snitch link in the left hand header column under the Tools list for the crappy posts that truly are offensive enabling people who would otherwise hesitate or be unable to post an e-mail?

What the hell do I know about it anyway? I wont bring it up again.

If you hide the hatred that some people post then how are we to realise that there is some seoriously sick individuals, groups, religions out there that we need to know about....

you guys...

don't ya get enough of that on your home blogs? Or is just special to this newswire commentary format. The nasty stuff is not in keeping, I believe in the proper use of this platform to be informed and/or challenge the information. We all know of the sickness in the world.

There's a difference between finding out about it and having it shoved into your face. To be polite about it.

You said that you could not access Portland IMC and I offered to give you a cross feed.

We have Portland IMC live, just trying to help......

Just showing the tax payers dollars at work.....

If you hide the hatred that some people post then how are we to realise that there is some seriously sick individuals, groups, religions out there that we need to know about....



Omnivore is right! Consider

seriously sick individuals: kerry, nader, michael moore, Maureen Dowd, Molly Ivins, Paul Krugman, stalin, trotsky, marx

seriously sick groups : NAACP, ACLU, IRS, Rainbow Coalition, NEA, DEA, EPA, WPA, Earth First, PETA, ALF, (Any) Panthers, A.N.S.W.E.R.

seriously sick religions: islam, islam and Islam

So what do you want now, Newcomb? What can our evil government due to ease the "guilt" of events that went down a century ago? That you and yours never experienced directly and that no government employee and elected official in the present had anything to with?

Can we give you your very own state, just for Indians, to live in? How about one million dollars for every Indian man, woman and child? Would that be enough to never have to hear another whine?

For those of us who study history, we know the real deal. Your ancestors are not indigenous to America, they walked across the Siberian ice bridge 30,000 years ago, populating the west coast of the Americas and giving rise to the Indian tribes. These tribes, long before the White man arrived were constantly at war with one another.

We as a nation have larger concerns than your communion with the "Great Spirit" (handout $$$). FOr example, defeating 300 million bloodthirsty islamic (spit) sand-apes.

imc editor: "Please refrain from profanity, incendiary insults, racist comments, or other cheap shots..."



You have GOT to be kidding me, right? When dealing with these idiots, profanity, incendiary insults, and cheap shots are too good for them.....and I do not make racist comments.

Well, if you are gonna delete post, AT LEAST READ THEM IN CONTEXT FIRST!!!!

There are a lot of bullshit articles being posted as lead articles. It's not just the comments that are getting spammed.

For example, you all just eliminated a thread of garbage under another post, but left the disgusting original post intact.