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The Indigenous Environmental Network stands in solidarity with tribal leaders demanding the removal of Mount Rushmore, also known as the Seven Grandfathers. The Seven Grandfathers are sacred to many tribal nations who lived and prayed freely in the areas surrounding He Sapa or the “Black Hills.” We will not mince words, America was founded upon the genocide, enslavement and theft of Indigenous peoples and land. There is no better representation of this violence than the desecration of the Seven Grandfathers with the Mt. Rushmore carvings of colonizer faces. This sacred land was, is, and shall always be Indigenous land.
The He Sapa is central to the spiritual and political integrity of many native nations, including the Lakota, Shoshoni, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Crow. For the Lakota, the “Black Hills” is the site of their creation story and was included in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, another broken agreement by the United States to protect this region for Lakota living and use. The federal government has been ordered by the courts to compensate the Lakota for this stolen land, but for decades the tribes have refused to take any money. You cannot commodify the sacred nor can capitalism erase the trauma of colonization.
President Trump’s Fourth of July visit to Mt Rushmore is a continuation of Indigenous resilience and history being erased from national dialogues. This spectacle is nothing more than a reminder that settler colonialism is alive and well. As the Indigenous Environmental Network, we will continue to fight for Indigenous solidarity and the rights of nature because we know the next seven generations of life deserve nothing less.
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Established in 1990, The Indigenous Environmental Network is an international environmental justice nonprofit that works with tribal grassroots organizations to build the capacity of Indigenous communities. I EN’s activities include empowering Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, the health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.
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