INDEPENDENCE FOR WHO?: THE TREATY OF 1868

If you are white like me, this treaty probably never came up in your history lessons.

This is the treaty that the USA Federal Government signed with the Sioux Indians acknowledging that the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory would belong to the Sioux Indians in perpetuity as a critical part of the greater Sioux Indian reservation.

Thanks to this treaty, the Sioux Indians laid down their arms, respected the peace and stopped attacking white settlers.

The USA respected this treaty for a whopping four years at best. White settlers started to suspect that the Black Hills could be mined for gold. So, in 1874, in direct contradiction to the treaty signed by the USA government, General George A. CUSTER provided military protection as he led miners directly into the area formally reserved for the Sioux.

No surprise here, the USA never did anything to unwind Custer’s successful efforts to steal the Sioux land back for white settlers.

As if that was not enough injury or insult, America gave the Sioux the ultimate “Fuck You” message by turning MOUNT RUSHMORE into a monument to four presidents – presidents who never acknowledged the injustice of breaking the treaty with the Sioux during their time in office.

Yup, the great Mt. Rushmore tourist attraction was built right in the heart of the land that was formally set aside for the Sioux Indian Reservation.

And so it is the ugliest kind of poetic symbolism that Donald Trump would pick Mt. Rushmore to give a speech that announces his campaign for the 2020 election while pretending that it is a speech to celebrate Independence Day.

The aspirations of the USA are admirable but they are just aspirations. This nation is built on a foundation of slavery and genocide on a scale that is unimaginable today. We can never achieve our aspirations without truly coming to terms with our past.

We can no longer celebrate Independence Day unless we use this day to put a lot of intellectual and emotional effort into asking ourselves “Independence For Who?”