Friday, October 13, 2006

My heroes

For some reason, the idea of visiting Mt. Rushmore pops into my head every once in a while. I've never been, and I would like to see the monument. Ideally I'd like to go when I have kids, so they can appreciate it too. Perhaps the monument to Crazy Horse will be finished by then too. As I searched the internet to find a picture of the Crazy Horse monument, I ran across some interesting fun facts. The area was a huge part of the Sioux reservation. Six years later, after rumors of gold in the area - illegal settlements started popping up - starting with Deadwood. The Lakota unsuccessfully fought for the land. A Supreme Court ruling ordered the government to pay the tribe $100 million for the loss of the land. The Lakota have refused to take the money, saying that the Black Hills are not for sale. Today, the money is worth almost $600 million and the Lakota is one of the poorest communities in the US.
President Calvin Coolidge believed Mount Rushmore was "decidedly American in its conception, magnitude and meaning. It is altogether worthy of our country," Coolidge proclaimed at the dedication of the project in 1927. The Lakota would like to blow it up.
Read the Lakota story here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember visiting Mt. Rushmore on a family vacation. We still talk about going to see "the heads".