It is important to note that the Black Hills are
sacred to the
Lakota and other
Native American peoples commonly referred to under the corrupted
Ojibwa term "
Sioux".
On April 29,
1868 a treaty was signed in
Laramie,
Wyoming betweeen US representatives (including General
William Tecumseh Sherman) and native representatives. This treaty, written on three pieces of notepad paper, made the Black Hills an irrevocable part of the Sioux
reservation, for exclusive use of the Sioux nation.
In
1874,
gold was discovered in the Black Hills. The US Government confiscated the land in
1877 and the Black Hills have been plundered by timber and mining interests ever since.
I urge everyone to consider the symbolism of
Mount Rushmore in this context.
The
United States Supreme Court ruled in
1980 that the government improperly confiscated the land. Natives have refused the financial damages awarded, now some several hunderd million dollars, insisting upon return of the land.