2021 tax documents obtained by Fox News show that retail giant Target donated an undetermined amount of money to a non-profit called the NDN Collective. The NDN Collective is an organization composed mainly of Native Americans. It opposed, among other things, Mt. Rushmore.
It made that stance clear in a statement issued when President Donald Trump traveled to Mt. Rushmore for one of the best speeches of his presidency in July of 2020. At that time, the NDN Collective put out a statement saying, “As U.S. President Donald Trump makes his way to Mount Rushmore for the Fourth of July weekend, NDN Collective calls for the closure of the national monument indefinitely, and for the sacred Paha Sapa (Black Hills) to be returned to the Lakota people.”
Continuing, the statement then quoted NDN Collective President and CEO Nick Tilsen as saying that Mt. Rushmore is a symbol of “white supremacy” and calling on the land to be returned to the Lakota, saying, “Mount Rushmore is on stolen Lakota land and its very existence is a symbol of white supremacy. In opposing the ongoing desecration of our sacred land and asking for return of Lakota lands where Mount Rushmore is situated, we’re not saying anything that our parents, grandparents and great grandparents haven’t already said– The Lakota have opposed Mount Rushmore since the very beginning.”
Later in the statement, Tilsen was quoted as again saying that Mt. Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy and demanding that American politicians “acknowledge that,” saying, “Colonization is the oldest form of white supremacy, and America is being called out and called up to acknowledge that. Mount Rushmore is yet another symbol of white supremacy and colonization, and until it is returned to the Lakota, we will continue to oppose it and fight for justice.”
The NDN Collective statement then attempted to connect its hatred of Mt. Rushmore with the BLM protests and attempts to remove statues of Christopher Columbus, describing all of them as symbols of white supremacy. That statement said, “On the heels of growing national protests in defense of Black lives, monuments of white supremacy are coming down. Local, state and national governments are being called upon to take down symbols of thinly veiled white supremacy, including monuments and statues wherein white historical figures who have caused grave harm to Black and Indigenous lives are exalted, from confederate statues, to statues of Christopher Columbus and brutal conquistadors like Oñate.”
Next, Sarah Sunshine Manning, another NDN Collective officer, was quoted as saying that most all American presidents enacted policies meant to wipe out the American Indians, saying, “When it comes to U.S. Presidents, what many Americans don’t realize is that the vast majority of them had policies devoted either to the complete annihilation or subjugation of Indigenous people.”
Continuing, after attacking statues of Confederates, Manning then attacked the other side and tried to cast aspersions on President Lincoln, saying, “Even seemingly ‘good’ presidents like Abraham Lincoln aren’t known for the harm they’ve caused Indigenous people; Though Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he also ordered the largest mass execution in American history with the hanging of 38 Dakota men in 1862– these were Indigenous people who were fighting for their lives.” Manning neglected to mention that those hangings occurred after Dakota warriors brutally massacred hundreds of American settlers.
In any case, Manning wasn’t done yet. Continuing, she again returned to the topic of “white supremacy” and, after attacking most all of American history, called on America to praise a different sort of “hero,” without saying who those heroes are or why they are worth of respect compared to the men that settled America and built it into the land of liberty and plenty that it now is. “Every president whose likeness is carved into the sacred Black Hills at Mount Rushmore have legacies of white supremacy, anti-Indian policies, and colonization. And it’s time that America evolves and decides to lift up a different kind of ‘hero’ — one that stands for more than just colonial victories that on one hand served a white majority while simultaneously harming Indigenous people,” Manning said.
Ending, the statement again attempted to connect its mission and Mt. Rushmore claims to the then-occurring “mostly peaceful” BLM protests and said, “we remain committed to the ongoing struggle for our collective liberation.”
The NDN Collective has also called on the US to boycott Israel and to demilitarize in similar press releases.
Fox News found evidence that Target supported the NDN Collective, something which it highlighted in a recent article, saying, “The Target Foundation’s webpage reflected that it funded the NDN Collective in 2022, a South Dakota-based nonprofit with a revenue stream that has reached as high as $50M+, according to its 2021 tax filing.”
2024 GOP hopeful Kristi Noem tweeted about the matter, saying, “Target’s leftist execs support giving away Mount Rushmore. Not on my watch. America’s symbol of Freedom will endure.”
Target’s leftist execs support giving away Mount Rushmore.
Not on my watch.
America’s symbol of Freedom will endure. pic.twitter.com/eesXp2sLiM
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) June 5, 2023
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