The recent postings from Michelle Lord got me curious about the association
between the Black Hills and "sovereignty" in US newspapers.
A search in DIALOG Information Systems' "Papers" file for articles pub-
lished in 1991 in which "Black Hills" appears in conjunction with either
"sovereignty" or "independence" turned up some interesting results.
The overwhelming majority of articles are about George Bush's "Independence
Day" jaunt to Mt. Rushmore, with headlines like the following:
BUSH'S PATRIOTIC SCHEDULE CRAMMED WITH SYMBOLS
PRESIDENCY: HE STARTS WITH GULF WAR MEDALS, PAUSES AT MT. RUSHMORE AND AIMS
AT NATION'S HEARTLAND TODAY.
SOME RELIEF: RUSHMORE TO BE DEDICATED AT LAST
A BANG-UP FOURTH FROM BLACK HILLS
...RUSHMORE VISIT, MEDAL CEREMONY START INDEPENDENCE DAY TOUR
GREAT STONE FACES DWARF LADY LIBERTY
BUSH HAILS 50 YEARS OF MOUNT RUSHMORE
PATRIOTISM THE KEY TO BUSH'S HOLIDAY PLANS IN MIDWEST
BLEAK HOLIDAY DIMS FIREWORKS; CAMPERS MIFFED.
BUSH TRUMPETS AMERICAN VALUES AT DELAYED RUSHMORE DEDICATION
In the midst of this barrage, there are a handful of articles discussing
Black Hills as the site of American Indian concerns. None of these specifi-
cally reports the tribal "declaration of independence." The headlines and
lead paragraphs of these articles are:
INDIANS SAY TREATMENT IN US MERITS UN PROBE
" The US government's confiscation of Sioux Indian land in
1877 after gold was discovered in the Black Hills is a human rights
violation worthy of review by the United Nations, Indians said at a hearing
Monday."
RETURN THE LAND TO THOSE WHO CARE
"The Passamaquoddy and Naskapi Indians, the Cheyenne and Hopi, the
Seminole and the Quechua are the poorest of the poor - the most wretchedly
sick and heartsore of all the enslaved un-white and un-Christian
races in this hemisphere."
INDIANS COMPARE U.S. TO IRAQ
"The U.S. government's confiscation of Sioux Indian land after gold
was discovered in the Black Hills was similar to the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait, American Indians said at a human rights hearing."
RECONCILIATION STANDS, FALLS WITH PEOPLE
"The 'Year of Reconciliation' in South Dakota set a national
precedent. The state led the nation in attempting to reconcile some of the
century-old problems between Indians and whites."
At least one article combined a report of Bush's hoopla with a Native
American perspective. The headline is:
BUSH LEADS CEREMONY TO DEDICATE RUSHMORE
SIOUX: MONUMENT DEFACES SACRED GROUNDS
The bottom line of all this is that the Black Hills continues to be treated
in US newspapers as the cultural domain of those who carved up Mt. Rushmore
rather than those whose are historically indigenous to the area.
One ominous note is sounded by the association of "sovereignty" with "toxic
waste," the focus of at least two articles:
INDIAN RESERVATIONS ARE TARGETED FOR NATION'S WASTE
DISPOSAL FIRMS STILL EYE INDIAN RESERVATIONS FOR TOXIC DUMPS
I can provide further information from these articles to anyone who is
interested.
Peter d'Errico
Legal Studies Department
University of Massachusetts/Amherst 01003
phone: 413-545-2003
fax: 413-545-1640
email: derrico@legal.umass.edu