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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1414592094">https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1414592094</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">President Trump’s 4th of July visit to Mt Rushmore is a continuation of Indigenous erasure.</h1>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">July 2, 2020<br></div>
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<span>The Indigenous Environmental Network stands in solidarity with
tribal leaders demanding the removal of Mount Rushmore, also known as
the Seven Grandfathers. The Seven Grandfathers are sacred to many tribal
nations who lived and prayed freely in the areas surrounding He Sapa or
the “Black Hills.” We will not mince words, America was founded upon
the genocide, enslavement and theft of Indigenous peoples and land.
There is no better representation of this violence than the desecration
of the Seven Grandfathers with the Mt. Rushmore carvings of colonizer
faces. This sacred land was, is, and shall always be Indigenous land.</span></p><p>
<span>The He Sapa is central to the spiritual and political integrity of
many native nations, including the Lakota, Shoshoni, Cheyenne, Arapaho,
Kiowa, and Crow. For the Lakota, the “Black Hills” is the site of their
creation story and was included in the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty,
another broken agreement by the United States to protect this region for
Lakota living and use. The federal government has been ordered by the
courts to compensate the Lakota for this stolen land, but for decades
the tribes have refused to take any money. You cannot commodify the
sacred nor can capitalism erase the trauma of colonization.</span></p><p>
<span>President Trump’s Fourth of July visit to Mt Rushmore is a
continuation of Indigenous resilience and history being erased from
national dialogues. This spectacle is nothing more than a reminder that
settler colonialism is alive and well. As the Indigenous Environmental
Network, we will continue to fight for Indigenous solidarity and the
rights of nature because we know the next seven generations of life
deserve nothing less. </span></p><p><i>###</i><br></p>
<p>Established in 1990, The Indigenous Environmental Network is an
international environmental justice nonprofit that works with tribal
grassroots organizations to build the capacity of Indigenous
communities. I EN’s activities include empowering Indigenous communities
and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred
sites, land, water, air, natural resources, the health of both our
people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable
communities.<br></p>
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