South Dakota native Dale Ramsdell writes from California to suggest South Dakota continue its slow slog toward the right side of history and rename Custer State Park for someone less villanous:
Maybe we could name the bison “Buster”….
Open Letter to the Governor of South Dakota,
The Honorable Dennis Martin Daugaard,
And the fine people of South Dakota.
While in the Southern States, the statues commemorating the “heroes” of the Confederacy are being torn down, one after another, in acknowledgement of the crimes of racism clearly associated with slavery, and the awful tragedy of the Civil War, which required such costly human sacrifice to annul the practice, it is timely that the great state of South Dakota amend its own history and cease honoring one of the symbols of invasion and oppression for which one of the State Parks is named: George Armstrong Custer.
Lying in the heart of Indian Country, adjacent to the Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, which is an area considered sacred to the Lakota People for millennia, is a symbol of American Terrorism: Custer State Park.
The atrocities of this villainous figure of past history are well documented, as he was a mass murderer of innocent children, women, the aged, and brave defenders of their homes in their own land.
Imagine a Hitler State Park in the middle of Israel…. This is an apt comparison, and should be used as a reference point for rethinking the past in light of the present, and renaming an area in honor of a more appropriate figure, such as Sitting Bull State Park, or Crazy Horse, or perhaps another choice left up to the Indigenous people of South Dakota.
Would this not be a symbol of progress, and a gesture of good will and reconciliation?
I grew up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, the grandson of homesteaders, and my great-grandfather, Henry A. Ramsdell, served in the South Dakota Legislature in 1895-6, a wounded veteran of the Civil War who fortunately survived a near fatal neck wound and was present to see General Lee surrender his sword to General Grant at Appomattox.
Most respectfully and sincerely,
Dale Ramsdell [submitted to Dakota Free Press 2018.10.14]
I invite your suggestions for good park names in the comment section.
Would changing the name of the City of Custer and the Custer School District follow?
jerry
2018-10-16 09:22
“How can we get the tribes and Heidi Heitkamp the resources to make these new ID’s happen? I just learned from Kat Snyder below that you can make a donation to CrowdPac here. Here’s a link to the Heitkamp campaign.
They should call it “Elizabeth Warren Park” as it would be more all inclusive. She is a famous Native American law professor.
OldSarg
2018-10-16 10:22
jerry, Custer State park is in “South” Dakota now. Heitkamp is from “North” Dakota. Different state.
Donald Pay
2018-10-16 10:44
Shortbull State Park. There are, apparently, two Shortbull family lines. Both have had notable people with links to Lakota and South Dakota history, and Thomas Shortbull was a state legislator and currently leads Oglala Lakota College.
Richard Schriever
2018-10-16 11:05
Tatanka
David Newquist
2018-10-16 11:09
Rather than naming it for a person, which Native Americans have avoided doing, it should be named for an event or a feature. Absaroka is what was proposed as the name of a state in 1939 when some ranchers from South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana wanted to secede from the union. It is also the name of the Crow nation, which the Lakota might find a bit irritating. The Custer legend that most people know is an elaborate falsehood, largely put forth by Mrs. Custer who had ambitions for her husband and herself, therefore. Custer was a Trump of his time, whose military prowess was far exceeded by his deviousness, false claims of achievement, and constant mendacity. He was court-martialed once, and his military moxy is what led to his end at the Little Bighorn.
Mr. Ramsdell’s point is well taken that naming a beautiful, history-laden state park for Custer is like naming a park for Hitler in the middle of Israel. However, having done so is revealing of the character and values of a good proportion of non-indigenous America.
mike from iowa
2018-10-16 11:14
Once again OldSferbrains goes off the rails. Senator Warren never once said she was an Indian, She has always claimed Indian ancestry and she is 100% right, TROLL!
o
2018-10-16 11:14
OldSarge, Senator Warren’s native heritage was made famous from the mocking of President Trump. She never made it an issue, she never used it as a means to get ahead, The President (and the GOP) used it an attempt to mock her – along the way their tactics showed a disdain for Native culture and sensibilities. It was a despicable taunt from despicable people at their worst.
Glad to see that now that her claims have been verified, you still want to dogwhistle out those racist sentiments (for I judge your re-naming post as insincere). But the way, when you say Democrats call everyone racist, look back her, look back to this very instance: I AM calling your jibe racist; I am calling the entire episode of how the GOP treated Sen. Warren with the “Pocahontas” label, with the waving of the hands over the mouth “Indian call,” with the “tomahawk chop” as racist. Keep teeing them up, and I will keep hitting them out.
Perhaps you would care to match President Trump’s million dollar donation as you eat those taunts?
Maybe it’s me! Maybe when I watched her claim her parents eloped because mom was half Cherokee I heard and saw it wrong! Damn, black is white, up is down, communist are right wing and killing babies isn’t killing babies.
Folks, you dems have to stop this. You have gotten to the point that you lie just to lie. Even Sutton is claiming to be a conservative Christian. Warren is an Indian. Beto is Mexican. Blumenthal claims to have been in Vietnam. Hillary ducked sniper shots. It just doesn’t stop. Is it like an oath you all take to lie at every occasion? How can anyone trust any of you if you continue to lie like this?
Otter
2018-10-16 12:00
Granite State Park -or- Gneiss State Park
Jason
2018-10-16 12:23
Since Jerry brought up Heitkamp,
She has a very big problem on her hands.
In a statement, Heitkamp said her campaign recently discovered “several of the women’s names who were provided to us did not authorize their names to be shared or were not survivors of abuse.” She said her campaign worked with victim advocates to identify women who would be willing to sign the letter.
How did women who were never sexually assaulted included in the newspaper ad?
Jason
2018-10-16 12:39
o,
Her claims have not been verified.
Geneticists, however, have historically had a fraught relationship with American Indian tribes, and few members in North America have given samples for these databases. Instead, Bustamante compared Warren’s DNA with that of indigenous peoples in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.
OldSarge, thank you for the link to the BroadSide interview with Jim Braude. I have watched it several times.
1) This is clearly Sen. Warren telling a story she had been told by her parents. She obviously would have no first-hand account of her parent’s actions years before her birth.
2) Sen. Warren clearly states that her mother was “part” native. You have inserted the actual number of “half” with your criticism. You are right, he mother was not “half” Cherokee, but Warren never made that claim – you did. So, in your words — Yes, you did “see it wrong.” (Deliberately misrepresenting her claim to make your own claim of falsehood?)
3) Warren has only ever claimed she has native heritage, not tribal membership. That claim has been supported by the DNA test.
I suppose it is like my red-haired daughter. My wife and I have repeatedly told her that shock of red hair is the Irish in the family coming out: a physical trait associated with what I believe to be my heritage. I must admit that my daughter would have to go back at least 6 to 10 generations to ever find a blood relative who lived on the Emerald Isle.
You also avoid any defense of the GOP’s overtly racist portrayal of Natives that were woven into your attacks on Sen. Warren.
Jason
2018-10-16 12:55
Almost every American has a sliver of Native American ancestry
Wanting to know your ancestry is a powerful motivator that many DNA testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com have exploited for great profit. But apart from individual curiosity, genetic studies into our ancestry also offer the ability to peer into the history books, offering a DNA time machine, and a unique window into the history of civilized people.
Now in the largest study of its kind conducted so far, researchers at 23andMe and Harvard University have published the results of a genetic analysis of ancestry among the American people.
[Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on the GLP on January 7, 2015 and is reposted to provide some context to the controversy over Senator Elizabeth Warren’s possible American Indian ancestry.]
The park in question is on stolen Indian land. Give it back and the bad karma SD lives with daily may begin to be mitigated … in about as many years as the Wasi’chu have been oppressing the indigenous. (To speed the healing, the mortal sacrifice of the blasphemous Grudznik would appease the Great Spirit.)
OldSarg
2018-10-16 14:17
Porter, you want to give land back. Give the land back in the state you live in first. It would be a good example for those of us who live in South Dakota.
Porter Lansing
2018-10-16 14:28
OldDeskJockey … There was NO South Dakota when the land was stolen. The Ȟe Sápa was sacred land and revered by the good, white people of the West. I understand your feelings of guilt. I lived with it, too. Then I moved to Gillette and denounced your theiving ways.
OldSarg
2018-10-16 16:30
Hey, were any of your names on Heitkamp’s list of sexually assaulted folks? How could that have even happened? There has to be a mistake!
mike from iowa
2018-10-16 16:42
So, OldSalvationarmitrage, are you suggesting naming Custer Park after Heitkamp? I don’t see a real connection, kinda like you being totally off the rails again.
mike from iowa
2018-10-16 16:48
There are so many better names for that place than a mass murdering, rogue scoundrel of dubious human worth. Seriously, do the Native Americans need constant reminders of the one who opened up, illegally, the heart of sacred territory and allowed it to be stolen from them? I’m guessing not.
Robin Friday
2018-10-16 18:05
I have often thought the same thing throughout my years. Why honor Custer, of all people? We should rename everything named for him, including all the cities and counties named in the West for him and other military generals. But the Park, that would be a great start. I have no new name to offer, but maybe we should ask our Lakota people for their opinions. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen anytime soon, the way things are going, but re-naming the highest peak in America east of the Rockies gives one hope that things can change.
OldSarg
2018-10-16 18:06
mikey~ “are you suggesting naming Custer Park after Heitkamp” Nope but I think Elizabeth Warren would be a great name. She isn’t Native American but she claims to be Native American so the new name would honor real Native Americans by demonstrating the theft of not just a Native American heritage but would show people today those people that use real Native American’s minority status for their own advantage. I know she would just be confused at times with other democrats, with all the lies of late, but people that read would know the truth.
OldSarg
2018-10-16 18:11
Robin, you should do your part by going to your local public library, check out all the books that mention Custer and then burn them. That would be a good start for you.
Robin Friday
2018-10-16 18:15
Isn’t “Absaroka” also the name of the mountain range just outside of Yellowstone? Seems a bit removed from the Lakota. And no, Elizabeth Warren DOES NOT “claim to be Native American”. She claims to a Native Ancestor, which is true, but not the same as “claiming” to be Native American.
Robin Friday
2018-10-16 18:20
If I remember correctly, I believe Montana changed the name of the battlefield south of Hardin, Montana where Custer died, from Custer Battlefield to Little Big Horn Battlefield.
Robin Friday
2018-10-16 18:36
The attempt to divert this discussion to a political discussion having nothing to do with nature and demographics and geography is an insult both to the blog and to the guest writer. Thank you, Mr. Ramsdell for a great letter and a great suggestion. And also to Dr. Newquist and all others who chose to take it seriously. Can you work on that when you get to Pierre, Cory?
owen reitzel
2018-10-16 18:38
Obama State Park
OldSarg
2018-10-16 18:41
Robin claiming to be an “ancestor” or a “party of” is no different. She claimed to be Native American period. Name the park after her. I don’t think we have any parks in South Dakota named after women or fake Native Americans.
RJ
2018-10-16 18:48
OS, why do you feel the need to even comment here? Robin said some objective statements and you attacked her and you sound quite unhinged.
Robin Friday
2018-10-16 18:51
This is NOT about Elizabeth Warren, OS, as I remind you again in case you didn’t get it the first time. And
you, sir, are a troll, and that’s how you get your jollies.
But it’s not my problem.
OldSarg
2018-10-16 19:20
This posting is about the renaming of Custer State Park. Why do you hate Elizabeth Warren? She is almost a Native American. What do you have against people that are almost Native Americans? I think Custer State Park should be named after someone that brings the plight of Native Americans to light. To simply hide what has happened to Native Americans is almost criminal. It is like trying to hide the holocaust!
David Bergan
2018-10-16 19:31
How about Silent Cal State Park… for our 30th President’s fondness of the area? It was like a second White House to him.
Kind regards,
David
mike from iowa
2018-10-16 20:10
DFP needs armed air marshals with shoot to severely wound highjackers. Just to piss off the NRA use Chinese made weapons.
happy camper
2018-10-16 21:27
Remember history keep it Custer but you need to whitewash the Sioux massacred and pushed out other tribes but you feel so enlighted and superior by your white guilt which only reflects your own stupidity life is survival always was always will be.
RJ
2018-10-16 22:05
Happy camper, you missed a comma and and some basic humanity in there.
jerry
2018-10-16 22:21
How about ceding over the Park as well as Bear Butte to the United Sioux Tribes. They can surely run it as well and even better than the State of South Dakota. Plus, I am sure the tribes would find names they would deem more appropriate that would keep happy camper happy as well.
Robin, I’ll be happy to open up that discussion in Pierre.
On John Sweet’s opening question, I wouldn’t open the discussion of changing the name of the town or school district or county of Custer—that’s up to the local governments… though it would be fun to open up an RV mailbox service for hippies in Custer, recruit a couple thousand liberal itinerants to make their homebase there, and then put forward a local name-change initiative. :-)
The state runs Custer State Park. The state has authority to change that name.
You know, David, “Silent Cal” might not fit with the spirit of Lakota/Euro reconciliation that Dale has in mind, but it would fit with the “Presidential” branding of the Black Hills. I wonder: would “silent” be a good marketing term, encouraging visitors to come enjoy the peace and quiet of the Hills? Or would we get accused of false advertising, especially during the Sturgis Rally?
Owen, I’d get a kick out of honoring President Obama, but I don’t think we can tie him as closely to our biggest state park as we can tie Coolidge. The Summer White House of 1927 was a great idea—we should do it again… in 2021, when we have an actual President again.
If Hap acknowledges that all men are conquerors and oppressors at some point, then let’s not name it for any person, but for some natural feature or flora or fauna. Why honor any historical demons?
Jason
2018-10-17 06:45
Cory,
Jerry brought up Heitkamp.
leslie
2018-10-17 08:14
As I understand it, Pres Grant, sympathetic to Indians, was played by his lesser military leaders who concealed war plans against ND unceded 1868 treaty land dwellers (requiring a 3/4s Indian vote to amend treaty boundaries), Hunkpapa and others, those very Indians who elected Sen Heitkamp, ND’s former AG (note Jackley did not have the Indian vote). Now ND seeks to suppress the Indian vote. Heitkamp voted against Kavanaugh, but Manchin and Murkowski failed in courage to follow. To unseat Heitkamp the GOP will again resort to subterfuge against Indian voters! Custer was the blunt instrument Sheridan used to attack after BIA Watkins’s manufactured report that the Indians were “hostile”. They had 30 days to return to reservation in the winter. Instead 10,000 Indians weathered into the spring, redevouzed at Chalk Buttes MT before arriving at Greasy Grass after Sitting Bull’s vision of soldiers falling upside down from the sky. He was later killed on the SD side of Standing Rock (remember the recent SRST engagement of Keystone XL and ND/SD retalliation).
The guest columnists letter may stir up the white hornets nest of GOP voters in Custer SD which wrote so vorciferously against the Indian name change for the peak in the Black Elk Wilderness.
Jason appears to ignorantly apply false time frames against Indian leaders again.
leslie
2018-10-17 08:32
“GRANT’S ILLEGAL WAR” Cozzins, Smithsonian Nov 2016. Perhaps Grant’s success putting down white supremacists of the Civil War caused PTSD self-medication w/ alcohol which is beyond comprehension of our wanna-be general who brags HE (trump) doesn’t drink but stigmaticly mismanages the opioid crisis.
And you, Jason, keep whining and moaning about who said what rather than just dropping it and getting back on topic. You are an inferior, tiresome discussant.
Debbo
2018-10-17 21:08
I wonder what the Lakota and other tribes called that area? Something descriptive certainly.
Renaming a place isn’t so hard. It’s done all the time. Veteran’s Highway, Police Officer X Memorial Bridge, etc. Minneapolis just renamed their biggest and most used lake Bdè Maka Ska, I think. That’s it’s Ojibway name I believe. Everyone seems to have survived quite well, even the avowed racists who felt it was good to continue to honor John C. Calhoun.
I think renaming places to get rid of someone who, in a different time may have been thought worthy, is a good thing. The concern isn’t long ago sensibilities. Just like everything else a government does, it should be focused on the welfare of the present citizens. Things like changing names that we’re discussing here make a positive difference in the lives and psyche of sufferers of historical, generational trauma.
It’s one of the more positive and inexpensive ways a government can benefit it’s citizens.
Robin Friday
2018-10-17 21:12
Richard Schreiver’s suggestion is a good one. “Tatanka” is the Lakota word for what we call the great American Bison. Makes me think of a time at Blue Bell Lodge when a small dog was having a fit near our cabin. Went out to see what it was, and there he was, browsing around between the cabins–Tatanka, paying no attention to the mini-canine. Canine surely better off for that. Tatanka could have put him into the next county with a swish of his head.
It has been suggested that
Tatanka State Park
would be a good idea
Tatanka means Buffalo
There are many Buffalo in the Park
Perhaps it would be easier to convince the Governor and Legislature to change the name this way, although Sitting Bull State Park would be a very appropriate name as well
Would changing the name of the City of Custer and the Custer School District follow?
“How can we get the tribes and Heidi Heitkamp the resources to make these new ID’s happen? I just learned from Kat Snyder below that you can make a donation to CrowdPac here. Here’s a link to the Heitkamp campaign.
These broad-daylight, democracy-thieves aren’t going to get away with it again, if we all pull together and help the folks on the ground in North Dakota do what supposedly our constitution protects: the right to vote. Thanks!” For the links and particulars, visit https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/15/1804674/-Native-American-Group-Fights-North-Dakota-Voter-ID-Sham-That-Could-Cost-Senate-How-Do-We-Help?utm_campaign=recent
Check it out and invest in our future.
Absaroka State Park
They should call it “Elizabeth Warren Park” as it would be more all inclusive. She is a famous Native American law professor.
jerry, Custer State park is in “South” Dakota now. Heitkamp is from “North” Dakota. Different state.
Shortbull State Park. There are, apparently, two Shortbull family lines. Both have had notable people with links to Lakota and South Dakota history, and Thomas Shortbull was a state legislator and currently leads Oglala Lakota College.
Tatanka
Rather than naming it for a person, which Native Americans have avoided doing, it should be named for an event or a feature. Absaroka is what was proposed as the name of a state in 1939 when some ranchers from South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana wanted to secede from the union. It is also the name of the Crow nation, which the Lakota might find a bit irritating. The Custer legend that most people know is an elaborate falsehood, largely put forth by Mrs. Custer who had ambitions for her husband and herself, therefore. Custer was a Trump of his time, whose military prowess was far exceeded by his deviousness, false claims of achievement, and constant mendacity. He was court-martialed once, and his military moxy is what led to his end at the Little Bighorn.
Mr. Ramsdell’s point is well taken that naming a beautiful, history-laden state park for Custer is like naming a park for Hitler in the middle of Israel. However, having done so is revealing of the character and values of a good proportion of non-indigenous America.
Once again OldSferbrains goes off the rails. Senator Warren never once said she was an Indian, She has always claimed Indian ancestry and she is 100% right, TROLL!
OldSarge, Senator Warren’s native heritage was made famous from the mocking of President Trump. She never made it an issue, she never used it as a means to get ahead, The President (and the GOP) used it an attempt to mock her – along the way their tactics showed a disdain for Native culture and sensibilities. It was a despicable taunt from despicable people at their worst.
Glad to see that now that her claims have been verified, you still want to dogwhistle out those racist sentiments (for I judge your re-naming post as insincere). But the way, when you say Democrats call everyone racist, look back her, look back to this very instance: I AM calling your jibe racist; I am calling the entire episode of how the GOP treated Sen. Warren with the “Pocahontas” label, with the waving of the hands over the mouth “Indian call,” with the “tomahawk chop” as racist. Keep teeing them up, and I will keep hitting them out.
Perhaps you would care to match President Trump’s million dollar donation as you eat those taunts?
o~ She never made it an issue? She claimed her parents eloped because her mother was part Cherokee. Here is the video: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Warren+claims+her+parents+eloped+video&&view=detail&mid=E414533549930E95E607E414533549930E95E607&&FORM=VRDGAR
Maybe it’s me! Maybe when I watched her claim her parents eloped because mom was half Cherokee I heard and saw it wrong! Damn, black is white, up is down, communist are right wing and killing babies isn’t killing babies.
Folks, you dems have to stop this. You have gotten to the point that you lie just to lie. Even Sutton is claiming to be a conservative Christian. Warren is an Indian. Beto is Mexican. Blumenthal claims to have been in Vietnam. Hillary ducked sniper shots. It just doesn’t stop. Is it like an oath you all take to lie at every occasion? How can anyone trust any of you if you continue to lie like this?
Granite State Park -or- Gneiss State Park
Since Jerry brought up Heitkamp,
She has a very big problem on her hands.
In a statement, Heitkamp said her campaign recently discovered “several of the women’s names who were provided to us did not authorize their names to be shared or were not survivors of abuse.” She said her campaign worked with victim advocates to identify women who would be willing to sign the letter.
https://bismarcktribune.com/news/election/heitkamp-to-issue-retraction-after-open-letter-misuses-women-s/article_b5d8c002-a068-5ab4-a690-11153be8bace.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
How did women who were never sexually assaulted included in the newspaper ad?
o,
Her claims have not been verified.
Geneticists, however, have historically had a fraught relationship with American Indian tribes, and few members in North America have given samples for these databases. Instead, Bustamante compared Warren’s DNA with that of indigenous peoples in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/elizabeth-warren-dna-test/572998/
OldSarge, thank you for the link to the BroadSide interview with Jim Braude. I have watched it several times.
1) This is clearly Sen. Warren telling a story she had been told by her parents. She obviously would have no first-hand account of her parent’s actions years before her birth.
2) Sen. Warren clearly states that her mother was “part” native. You have inserted the actual number of “half” with your criticism. You are right, he mother was not “half” Cherokee, but Warren never made that claim – you did. So, in your words — Yes, you did “see it wrong.” (Deliberately misrepresenting her claim to make your own claim of falsehood?)
3) Warren has only ever claimed she has native heritage, not tribal membership. That claim has been supported by the DNA test.
I suppose it is like my red-haired daughter. My wife and I have repeatedly told her that shock of red hair is the Irish in the family coming out: a physical trait associated with what I believe to be my heritage. I must admit that my daughter would have to go back at least 6 to 10 generations to ever find a blood relative who lived on the Emerald Isle.
You also avoid any defense of the GOP’s overtly racist portrayal of Natives that were woven into your attacks on Sen. Warren.
Almost every American has a sliver of Native American ancestry
Wanting to know your ancestry is a powerful motivator that many DNA testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com have exploited for great profit. But apart from individual curiosity, genetic studies into our ancestry also offer the ability to peer into the history books, offering a DNA time machine, and a unique window into the history of civilized people.
Now in the largest study of its kind conducted so far, researchers at 23andMe and Harvard University have published the results of a genetic analysis of ancestry among the American people.
[Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on the GLP on January 7, 2015 and is reposted to provide some context to the controversy over Senator Elizabeth Warren’s possible American Indian ancestry.]
https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/10/16/claims-that-us-is-a-genetic-melting-pot-appear-overblown-if-youre-white/
He has a fair point.
The park in question is on stolen Indian land. Give it back and the bad karma SD lives with daily may begin to be mitigated … in about as many years as the Wasi’chu have been oppressing the indigenous. (To speed the healing, the mortal sacrifice of the blasphemous Grudznik would appease the Great Spirit.)
Porter, you want to give land back. Give the land back in the state you live in first. It would be a good example for those of us who live in South Dakota.
OldDeskJockey … There was NO South Dakota when the land was stolen. The Ȟe Sápa was sacred land and revered by the good, white people of the West. I understand your feelings of guilt. I lived with it, too. Then I moved to Gillette and denounced your theiving ways.
Hey, were any of your names on Heitkamp’s list of sexually assaulted folks? How could that have even happened? There has to be a mistake!
So, OldSalvationarmitrage, are you suggesting naming Custer Park after Heitkamp? I don’t see a real connection, kinda like you being totally off the rails again.
There are so many better names for that place than a mass murdering, rogue scoundrel of dubious human worth. Seriously, do the Native Americans need constant reminders of the one who opened up, illegally, the heart of sacred territory and allowed it to be stolen from them? I’m guessing not.
I have often thought the same thing throughout my years. Why honor Custer, of all people? We should rename everything named for him, including all the cities and counties named in the West for him and other military generals. But the Park, that would be a great start. I have no new name to offer, but maybe we should ask our Lakota people for their opinions. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen anytime soon, the way things are going, but re-naming the highest peak in America east of the Rockies gives one hope that things can change.
mikey~ “are you suggesting naming Custer Park after Heitkamp” Nope but I think Elizabeth Warren would be a great name. She isn’t Native American but she claims to be Native American so the new name would honor real Native Americans by demonstrating the theft of not just a Native American heritage but would show people today those people that use real Native American’s minority status for their own advantage. I know she would just be confused at times with other democrats, with all the lies of late, but people that read would know the truth.
Robin, you should do your part by going to your local public library, check out all the books that mention Custer and then burn them. That would be a good start for you.
Isn’t “Absaroka” also the name of the mountain range just outside of Yellowstone? Seems a bit removed from the Lakota. And no, Elizabeth Warren DOES NOT “claim to be Native American”. She claims to a Native Ancestor, which is true, but not the same as “claiming” to be Native American.
If I remember correctly, I believe Montana changed the name of the battlefield south of Hardin, Montana where Custer died, from Custer Battlefield to Little Big Horn Battlefield.
The attempt to divert this discussion to a political discussion having nothing to do with nature and demographics and geography is an insult both to the blog and to the guest writer. Thank you, Mr. Ramsdell for a great letter and a great suggestion. And also to Dr. Newquist and all others who chose to take it seriously. Can you work on that when you get to Pierre, Cory?
Obama State Park
Robin claiming to be an “ancestor” or a “party of” is no different. She claimed to be Native American period. Name the park after her. I don’t think we have any parks in South Dakota named after women or fake Native Americans.
OS, why do you feel the need to even comment here? Robin said some objective statements and you attacked her and you sound quite unhinged.
This is NOT about Elizabeth Warren, OS, as I remind you again in case you didn’t get it the first time. And
you, sir, are a troll, and that’s how you get your jollies.
But it’s not my problem.
This posting is about the renaming of Custer State Park. Why do you hate Elizabeth Warren? She is almost a Native American. What do you have against people that are almost Native Americans? I think Custer State Park should be named after someone that brings the plight of Native Americans to light. To simply hide what has happened to Native Americans is almost criminal. It is like trying to hide the holocaust!
How about Silent Cal State Park… for our 30th President’s fondness of the area? It was like a second White House to him.
Kind regards,
David
DFP needs armed air marshals with shoot to severely wound highjackers. Just to piss off the NRA use Chinese made weapons.
Remember history keep it Custer but you need to whitewash the Sioux massacred and pushed out other tribes but you feel so enlighted and superior by your white guilt which only reflects your own stupidity life is survival always was always will be.
Happy camper, you missed a comma and and some basic humanity in there.
How about ceding over the Park as well as Bear Butte to the United Sioux Tribes. They can surely run it as well and even better than the State of South Dakota. Plus, I am sure the tribes would find names they would deem more appropriate that would keep happy camper happy as well.
Heitkamp, Warren—irrelevant. Write your own blog posts on those topics.
Robin, I’ll be happy to open up that discussion in Pierre.
On John Sweet’s opening question, I wouldn’t open the discussion of changing the name of the town or school district or county of Custer—that’s up to the local governments… though it would be fun to open up an RV mailbox service for hippies in Custer, recruit a couple thousand liberal itinerants to make their homebase there, and then put forward a local name-change initiative. :-)
The state runs Custer State Park. The state has authority to change that name.
You know, David, “Silent Cal” might not fit with the spirit of Lakota/Euro reconciliation that Dale has in mind, but it would fit with the “Presidential” branding of the Black Hills. I wonder: would “silent” be a good marketing term, encouraging visitors to come enjoy the peace and quiet of the Hills? Or would we get accused of false advertising, especially during the Sturgis Rally?
Owen, I’d get a kick out of honoring President Obama, but I don’t think we can tie him as closely to our biggest state park as we can tie Coolidge. The Summer White House of 1927 was a great idea—we should do it again… in 2021, when we have an actual President again.
If Hap acknowledges that all men are conquerors and oppressors at some point, then let’s not name it for any person, but for some natural feature or flora or fauna. Why honor any historical demons?
Cory,
Jerry brought up Heitkamp.
As I understand it, Pres Grant, sympathetic to Indians, was played by his lesser military leaders who concealed war plans against ND unceded 1868 treaty land dwellers (requiring a 3/4s Indian vote to amend treaty boundaries), Hunkpapa and others, those very Indians who elected Sen Heitkamp, ND’s former AG (note Jackley did not have the Indian vote). Now ND seeks to suppress the Indian vote. Heitkamp voted against Kavanaugh, but Manchin and Murkowski failed in courage to follow. To unseat Heitkamp the GOP will again resort to subterfuge against Indian voters! Custer was the blunt instrument Sheridan used to attack after BIA Watkins’s manufactured report that the Indians were “hostile”. They had 30 days to return to reservation in the winter. Instead 10,000 Indians weathered into the spring, redevouzed at Chalk Buttes MT before arriving at Greasy Grass after Sitting Bull’s vision of soldiers falling upside down from the sky. He was later killed on the SD side of Standing Rock (remember the recent SRST engagement of Keystone XL and ND/SD retalliation).
The guest columnists letter may stir up the white hornets nest of GOP voters in Custer SD which wrote so vorciferously against the Indian name change for the peak in the Black Elk Wilderness.
Jason appears to ignorantly apply false time frames against Indian leaders again.
“GRANT’S ILLEGAL WAR” Cozzins, Smithsonian Nov 2016. Perhaps Grant’s success putting down white supremacists of the Civil War caused PTSD self-medication w/ alcohol which is beyond comprehension of our wanna-be general who brags HE (trump) doesn’t drink but stigmaticly mismanages the opioid crisis.
And you, Jason, keep whining and moaning about who said what rather than just dropping it and getting back on topic. You are an inferior, tiresome discussant.
I wonder what the Lakota and other tribes called that area? Something descriptive certainly.
Renaming a place isn’t so hard. It’s done all the time. Veteran’s Highway, Police Officer X Memorial Bridge, etc. Minneapolis just renamed their biggest and most used lake Bdè Maka Ska, I think. That’s it’s Ojibway name I believe. Everyone seems to have survived quite well, even the avowed racists who felt it was good to continue to honor John C. Calhoun.
I think renaming places to get rid of someone who, in a different time may have been thought worthy, is a good thing. The concern isn’t long ago sensibilities. Just like everything else a government does, it should be focused on the welfare of the present citizens. Things like changing names that we’re discussing here make a positive difference in the lives and psyche of sufferers of historical, generational trauma.
It’s one of the more positive and inexpensive ways a government can benefit it’s citizens.
Richard Schreiver’s suggestion is a good one. “Tatanka” is the Lakota word for what we call the great American Bison. Makes me think of a time at Blue Bell Lodge when a small dog was having a fit near our cabin. Went out to see what it was, and there he was, browsing around between the cabins–Tatanka, paying no attention to the mini-canine. Canine surely better off for that. Tatanka could have put him into the next county with a swish of his head.
Yes, purge the infamous Custer name from all public entities save the history books. The park, the peak, the county, the town, the national forest, everything. Custer was a serial rapists, among other crimes. Nothing public should exist glorifying his name.
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Custer-Sitting-Bighorn/dp/0143119605?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-ffhp-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0143119605
Oyate State Park
It has been suggested that
Tatanka State Park
would be a good idea
Tatanka means Buffalo
There are many Buffalo in the Park
Perhaps it would be easier to convince the Governor and Legislature to change the name this way, although Sitting Bull State Park would be a very appropriate name as well