Trump’s Independence Day celebration plans for Mount Rushmore monument draws fire from Native Americans
- Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit, part of the US president’s ‘comeback’ campaign
- The event is slated to include fighter jets thundering over the 79-year-old stone monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills
Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit, part of Trump’s “comeback” campaign for a nation reeling from sickness, unemployment and, recently, social unrest. The event is slated to include fighter jets thundering over the 79-year-old stone monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills and the first fireworks display at the site since 2009.
“Mount Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy, of structural racism that’s still alive and well in society today,” said Nick Tilsen, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe and the president of a local activist organisation called NDN Collective. “It’s an injustice to actively steal indigenous people’s land then carve the white faces of the conquerors who committed genocide.”
If we’re having this discussion today about what American democracy is, Mount Rushmore is really serving its purpose … Is it fragile? Is it permanent? Is it cracking somewhat?
While some activists, like Tilsen, want to see the monument removed altogether and the Black Hills returned to the Lakota, others have called for a share in the economic benefits from the region and the tourists it attracts.