I really like this short video of a Lakota man in front of Mount Rushmore, listing the anti-Indian sins of each of the presidents memorialized there. The narrator, Leon Matthews, has a great conversational style, along with passion for the subject. I also like the loose production values--the sound of the wind on the microphone and the children talking in the background. One could argue with some of the history (Lincoln also pardoned 265 Dakota who were sentenced to death after the Dakota Uprising). Still, this heartfelt and largely correct rejoinder makes us question the appropriateness of a monument to four agents of American empire in the heart of the Sacred (to the Lakota) Black Hills. Mathews has a YouTube channel of similar videos, along with a blog and occasional columns in the Lakota Country Times.
Which brings me back around to the question at the start of this post. What public monument would you reinterpret--either in your community or anywhere else?
2 comments:
It's not in my community (Seattle), but I used to drive through the Cataldo Mission valley when I was in grad school at Missoula. There are historical markers about the mission, but I often thought that it was such a beautiful place that it must have been important to the tribes that lived there and I would love to know what stories they associate with it.
Often historical markers only identify the utilitarian uses tribes made of places before contact. Sometimes the only significance identified is a battle that was fought, or a village location. I would love to know more tribal history that tells the stories about places that are important just because they are home. I know sacred stories are private, but it would be great to know more about the tribes' senses of place, if that can be separated out from the information they would like to keep private.
J Ott: I have been talking with a native scholar about using Spokane Historical or a new mobile history app to tell native stories about places in the Inland Northwest. If we get something going I will blog about it for sure.
Dutchie: That is exactly the kind of viewpoint we need to get out in the open at our historic sites. Ancestor worship isn't just factually incorrect, it is boring!
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