Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story.
When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett first started holding meetings with climbers and Plains Indians to discuss a new climbing plan, consensus seemed possible. But one commercial climbing outfitter sued, and now the matter is in court. Liggett is a 17-year veteran of the National Park Service.
Deborah Liggett: “As a child, my Presbyterian mother used to place a wadded handkerchief or Kleenex on top of my hair whenever we entered a Roman Catholic church. When I watch the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball, I stand for the playing of the Canadian anthem. Despite these outward appearances, I am neither Catholic nor Canadian.
“I was struck when the president spoke from Arlington National Cemetery last Memorial Day. He spoke of hallowed and sacred ground. We prayed together as a nation and in the amphitheater there at Arlington no one flew kites or roller-bladed during the ceremony.
“On the western edge of the Black Hills, a granite monolith points skyward. Known as Devils Tower, this butte is a sacred altar to American Indians and a premier recreational climbing destination. A management plan based on mutual respect was carved out over a period of two years. During June a voluntary closure to climbing and an educational program respect the tower as a cultural resource, significant – yes, even holy – to Native Americans. No recreational activities are prohibited, but the time frame in which they occur is managed. In the first year of the plan’s existence it registered an 85 percent approval rating with both climbers and the visiting public.
“Yet the National Park Service stands accused of sponsoring, endorsing and promoting American Indian religion in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and a federal court has enjoined the portion of the management plan designed to accommodate Indian religious observance.
“I argue that a gesture of respect costs us little and benefits us as a people – first people, most recent people and Americans yet to come. I argue for reasonable accommodation. I argue for mutual respect.
“And I stand when they say, ‘May God save this honorable court.’ “
Adapted from an editorial by Deborah Liggett. The views expressed here are her own.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Mutual respect costs us little and gains us much.
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