Iconic indigenous Black Hills site on block

Today's intersection: sacred land and US Dollars.

On August 25, nearly 2000 acres of land formerly reserved for prayer and now sharing a border with the Black Hills National Forest will be sold to the highest bidder.

Missoula's Buffalo Post, a blog hosted by Lee Newspapers of Montana, reposted a moving piece from Native Sun News' Jesse Abernathy:

Translated to English, “Pe Sla” means “Old Baldy,” a reference to the sprawling prairie’s sudden but natural juxtaposition against the heavy forest cover of Paha Sapa. For centuries before European invasion, the Lakota held their Wiping of the Tears ceremony undisturbed at Pe Sla. The sacred ceremony was performed every spring and helped the Oyate as well as the land, or Maka Ina (earth), cleanse and rejuvenate.

Archaeologists and historians tell us that the Lakota didn't occupy the Hills until 1750 or so: about a century and a half before the Custer expedition.

Seems like the perfect place to begin building a national monument where tribes and the Park Service work together.