Firstly, we call upon you to immediately close Mt. Rushmore and return All Public lands in the Black Hills to the Oceti Sakowin.

Secondarily, we call for the development of the Black Hills Commission with the purpose of the exploration of the closing of Mount Rushmore and ALL public lands in the Black Hills.

1) Creating a pathway for tribes to determine what a consortium can look like
2) Creating a mechanism of Consultation & Consent
3) Creating a pathway for Free & Prior Informed Consent

Background:

On July 3rd, 2020, Lakota Land Defenders and their allies descended to the lands of their ancestors in the Paha Sapa/HeSapa (Black Hills) and executed an action temporarily stopping access to Mt. Rushmore during President Trump’s planned visit. This action, one in a long line of Indigenous demonstrations over the last 70 years, was successful in bringing attention to the theft of this territory. Mt. Rushmore rests within the unceded, sacred territory of the Oceti Sakowin (the Great Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nation) that was stolen by the federal government in 1876 to satisfy the thrust of miner’s greed and promote the spread of European settlements in Lakota territory. Additionally, the Paha Sapa falls under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty between the Oceti Sakowin and the US Government. According to Article 6 in the US Constitution, “all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

When the Lakota Oyate refused the federal government’s advances to purchase the Black Hills, Congress enacted the ‘sell or starve’ provision of the Indian Appropriations Act of 1876. Which held the Lakota Nation’s annual $800,000 payment until the tribe sold the land-- an offer the Lakota Nation has refused to take action on.

In 1941, Paha Sapa was further vandalized with the carving of colonial US Presidents into one of the mountains by a klu kluxx klan member. This national tourist destination is visited by millions of people every year who do not know they are standing on stolen land, or that the presidents carved into the mountain were racists, slave owners and colonizers who, while ushering in improvements for the white majority, brought grave harm to Indigenous people and Afrrican Americans. Theodore Roosevelt was quoted saying, “Nine out of ten Indians are better off dead.” President Abraham Lincoln ordered the hanging of 38 Indigenous Dakota men in Minnesota, the largest mass execution in American history.

The Mt. Rushmore carvings represent the active oppression of the Lakota Oyate (Nation) in their own homelands, and the continued erasure of Indigenous history, culture and people. Additionally, the violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty also violated the US Constitution. As a result, the treaty violations and carvings have eroded the entire democracy and contributed to a system of white supremacy and racial injustice that perpetuates racism and attacks on human rights.

Standing in solidarity with our Ancestors, Families, our Allies, and the Oceti Sakowin, we are calling on Director Bernhardt and Representative Deb Haaland to close Mt. Rushmore and return ALL Public lands in the Black Hills to the Lakota Oyate as negotiated in the 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie, and uphold the supreme law of the land.

Further, we call on all Americans to stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities and advocate for a world of justice and equity that honors diversity and BIPOC populations.