Roger Ebert, reviewing the movie Smoke Signals: "...the presidential effigies were carved out of a sacred mountain, and they overlook the site of the Massacre at Wounded Knee."

Celli: *sigh* *refrains from commenting*
Tina: No, no, comment. I wanna hear what you have to say.

Celli: This is one of those statements that's painful to read, because when I say it's wrong, I feel like a racist. But...

Disclaimer 1: Despite knowing more than most wasichu (Caucasian) residents of my home state, I hardly know anything.

Disclaimer 2: I think the BIA is a joke, the reservation system is a nightmare, and that most Native American activists deserve most of what they're asking for (sovereignty, trust money, et al). I just don't think the US government is capable of giving it to them without making everything even worse.

Were the presidental "effigies" (great word) carved out of a sacred mountain? Well, the entire Black Hills is sacred. So yes. But is Mt. Rushmore in and of itself sacred? Not as far as I know.

Does Mt. Rushmore overlook Wuunded Knee? Mt. Everest couldn't overlook Wounded Knee from that site. The massacre took place at the edge of the Pine Ridge Reservation, some 100+ miles away!

I love Mt. Rushmore. I wish it wasn't built on sacred ground. (Holy Ground?) And the fact that Crazy Horse is being done by wasichu sculptors bothers me.

But dammit, I was born in the Black Hills. I'm a fifth-generation South Dakotan. And I'm tired of being proud of its history one moment, then ashamed of my skin color the next. It's hard to be liberal here, because I'm all mad at the "opressors," but I'm one of them too.

...And then I get so twisted up in my own opposing views, I'm not a lot of help to the rest of the world. But that's my comment. *g*