QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 7, 2009 -> 08:04 AM)
Some opportunist jackass decided that he should build giant heads of Presidents, destroying a mountain that overlooks what little was left (at that time - now there is even less) of the land allowed to the Lakota, and so the people already routed by the United States got to look up every day and see the faces of that country's leaders staring at them. It was beyond insulting, even by the standards of that time.
Of course now, that's all national park and forest, as I believe the reservation has further shrunk and is now at the foot of that mountain any more. I'm not 100% sure on that aspect, though.
It is different than this case though, in key ways. That cross was not a horrible insult to anyone. And it wasn't a government funded mission either.
Not only that, but the guy who built the monument was a racist POS. Its one big "f*** you" to native americans. And, of course, tacky.