In this new age of historical revision, and America choosing the right the wrongs of her past, there is no telling how far back we will go to appease the masses. This nation has a lot of dirt under the hood, and, after the death or George Floyd, it feels like we’re now using a fine-toothed comb to search for our previous trespasses.
Going after the Confederacy seemed like an easy one – after all, they were the side of the Civil War that seemed hellbent on keeping slavery around.
Then the statue-topplers came for Christopher Columbus who also had his fair share of troubling moments, particularly as it pertained to the native people here in the United States.
Next on the list were Presidents, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, whose separate visages have been removed in cities around the country.
Now, almost unbelievably, the New York Times seemed hellbent on putting Mount Rushmore in the crosshairs.
Ahead of President Trump’s scheduled Fourth of July celebration at the national monument, the Times ran a report with the headline “How Mount Rushmore Became Mount Rushmore,” which outlined how the upcoming event “invited even more scrutiny” regarding the landmark’s history.
Along with the criticisms George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt have faced in recent weeks, the Times reported the condemnation from Native Americans since the monument was built on indigenous land. It also noted how the sculptor Gutzon Borglum had “strong bonds with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan” and has a documented history of espousing white supremacist and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
However, it was a tweet from the Times that summarized an unflattering depiction of Mount Rushmore that really raised eyebrows on social media.
“Mount Rushmore was built on land that belonged to the Lakota tribe and sculpted by a man who had strong bonds with the Ku Klux Klan. It features the faces of 2 U.S. presidents who were slaveholders,” the Times wrote.
This feels more and more like a race to be the first to admit that some monument must be removed, and the New York Times is worried about missing the boat.
