Tribal leaders renew push to remove Mt. Rushmore from sacred land as Trump event nears

A Native American tribal leader is calling for Mount Rushmore to be removed, saying it is a reminder “of a country that cannot keep a promise,” news outlets reported.

Harold Frazier, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s chairman, said in a statement Tuesday that Mount Rushmore should be removed ahead of President Donald Trump’s July 4th celebration at the popular tourist site, Native News reported.

“Nothing stands as a greater reminder to the Great Sioux Nation of a country that cannot keep a promise or treaty than the faces carved into our sacred land on what the United States calls Mount Rushmore,” Frazier said, according to the news outlet.

Frazier said the monument is a “brand on our flesh” that should be removed from the land considered sacred by a native tribe, according to the Argus Leader.

“We are now being forced to witness the lashing of our land with pomp, arrogance and fire hoping our sacred lands will survive,” he said, according to Native News.

Trump plans to attend an Independence Day fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore on July 3, McClatchy News reported.

The National Park Service stopped fireworks at Mount Rushmore in 2010 because there were concerns that it could ignite wildfires, The Washington Post reported. Experts told The Post that fireworks could still be a risk at this next upcoming event.

“It’s a bad idea based on the wildland fire risk, the impact to the water quality of the memorial, the fact that it is going to occur during a pandemic without social distancing guidelines and the emergency evacuation issues,” Cheryl Schreier, who previously served as the superintendent at Mount Rushmore, told The Post. “And you’re closing off the memorial to visitors who might not normally have a chance to visit Mount Rushmore.”

Mount Rushmore is built in the Black Hills of South Dakota, an area that is sacred to the Lakota Sioux, who were the original occupants when white settlers arrived, according to PBS.

“In the Treaty of 1868, the U.S. government promised the Sioux territory that included the Black Hills in perpetuity,” PBS reported. “Perpetuity lasted only until gold was found in the mountains and prospectors migrated there in the 1870s. The federal government then forced the Sioux to relinquish the Black Hills portion of their reservation.”

Other leaders and groups have also called for the carved busts of America’s former presidents to be removed.

Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner said last week that the president did not consult tribal leaders about the July 3 celebration, according to the Argus Leader. Bear Runner also said the monument should be removed with minimal damage to the land.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Tribal leaders renew push to remove Mt. Rushmore from sacred land as Trump event nears."