Mount Rushmore, South Dakota—Ahead of a campaign style celebration at Mount Rushmore this past Fourth of July weekend supporters of President Trump called on protesting Native Americans of the Sioux tribe to “go home.”
Trump supporters devoid of lofty concepts such as irony and not in possession of knowledge beyond FOX news, social media memes or what’s said at the front counter of gun stores, were unaware that the Black Hills of South Dakota, where Mount Rushmore is located, is considered the sacred homeland to native Lakota, and other Sioux people. Lakota tribesman, Ten Fingers, responded to the calls saying,, “Much like the supporters of the president consider any NASCAR track or beer tents at lawn fetes that serve corn dogs to be sacred, we consider the Black Hills as a holy, sacred place.
Delayed by as much as three hours by protesters blocking Iron Mountain Road, a key artery to Mount Rushmore, frustrated advocates of the president, eager to hear what was described as a divisive culture war speech, hurled invectives at the indigenous people encouraging them to “go home.”
Big Running Foot, a Sioux spokesperson, responded to these requests by saying, “I am home. This is my land and it’s protected by the Treaty of Laramie which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980. So, not only is it wrong to tell me to go home, it’s very rude.”
Along those lines Big Running Foot’s wife, Little Trotting Doe, asked a few rhetorical questions to drive the point home, “Do we stand outside one of those stupid Kid Rock concerts and tell you to go back to the trailer park? Do we go down to the local Rod & Gun and tell you to go back to your momma’s basement? Do we stand in the ice-cream aisle of Wal-Mart and tell you to go back to your eighteen-wheeler?”
Levi Rickert, a nineteen year old Lakota college student, took a more literal approach for the calls for him to “go home.” He left the protest and pulled up to the first house he saw with a Trump/Pence lawn sign in Rapid City, SD, north of Mount Rushmore and part of the Black Hills. He knocked on the door and introduced himself to the occupants of the house, Jean and Dan Davis and explained the whole “go home” business to them. Then he pushed his way past the somewhat stunned older couple, sat down on the couch and began watching Tiger King on Netflix with them while sharing their Tony’s frozen pizza.
The Mount Rushmore event eventually went off and saw some 7,500 attendees hear the president say there is a new far left radicalism determined to imperil American values and erase our history.
