Mount Rushmore features the faces of four highly regarded leaders: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln’s faces are blasted onto the side of mountains, desecrating mountains held in high regard to the Indigenous nations and even held sacred to most. This importance is relevant to people that believe that the United States’ presidents are the ultimate good in society. This idea is repeated on U.S. currency, history books, street names, other monuments, and many other places. However, there are some people that believe that these presidents are not as admirable as they seem. Native Americans have dealt with the oppression of these so-called leaders since the very first president took office. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln have all committed atrocities towards Indigenous people and colored people in general and should be held accountable for their actions.
George Washington took office in 1789 as the very first President of the United States. Though this is not where the oppression of Indigenous people started, it was a major factor
…show more content…
The argument that Rushmore represents American principles is true: especially if the belief states that theft, genocide, and slavery are the foundation that this country was built upon. The facts are there throughout history, yet people choose to ignore it. People know that this country was founded on the backs of dead indigenous women, children, and elders. These lands carry the remains of their ancestors, they carry the ghosts of terrified screams of those who have died in horrible and inhumane ways. People need to realize exactly what this monument really and truly represents. There are plenty of facts, laid out in their gory truth – though it will be difficult to find any of that in American history books. Call it what it is: Mount Rushmore, an ode to American genocide and