CARSON WALKER
Associated Press (pub. in Argus Leader)
May 13, 2005
MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL - The huge granite faces of presidents
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt evoke the ideals of
the country's leaders as America changed from rural republic to world power.
But to many Native Americans, the imposing monument in the Black Hills is
viewed as a painful symbol of Indian treaties broken by the federal
government.
"Many of us consider this our treaty territory," said Charmaine White Face,
a Native American activist who heads Defenders of the Black Hills. "Mount
Rushmore is an insult because the Black Hills are sacred."Despite that
sentiment, Gerard Baker, Mount Rushmore National Memorial park's first
Native American superintendent, completes his first year on the job May 31.
He said he plans to use his position to eventually convey to the roughly 3
million annual visitors the reality of Indian history.
"What I want to do is educate America, including Indian people, children
mainly, as to how the Indian people lived before the coming of the white
man," he said.Before taking the job at Mount Rushmore, Baker had been
superintendent at Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma, the Little
Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana and the Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail.
Baker said he does not like controversy but has dealt with it before because
of his desire to educate and challenge people to learn more about cultures
different than their own.
White Face complimented Baker for trying to teach visitors about Indian
traditions but said she has conflicted feelings about an Indian in the top
post."His presence implies to the millions of tourists that we (Indians)
agree with that monstrosity, that desecration," she said.
Baker, a member of North Dakota's Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, said he did not
accept the job before first talking to his family and elders at Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation, where he grew up.In the end, he said he decided
he could use the position for good by informing people about a part of U.S.
history they may not be familiar with.
"Not only tipis and horses and battles, but families," he said. "What did
Grandma do? What did Grandpa do? What did the kids do?"
Baker said he has plans for change at the park, but said the changes would
come in "baby steps." He said he plans eventually to include information
about the breaking of treaties with Native American nations."We know about
the breaking of the treaties, the taking of the Black Hills," he said. "I'm
not too concerned at this point in time to get that message out right away."
Baker said his first goal has been to introduce visitors to a variety of
cultures through presentations, and he has already invited Norwegians,
Russians and people from some Native American tribes as presenters."The
people loved it," he said. "The people are hungry for this."
Baker said he hired a cultural demonstrator to head up the effort and wants
to open walking trails on the 1,000-acre memorial to use nature as a
classroom.
However, "you also have to tell the negative side of the story," he said. "I
don't think we've ever done that."