After losing billions of dollars in value in recent weeks amid backlash over its LGBT merchandise, Target is under fire again for donating to an organization that called for closing Mount Rushmore because of its links to "white supremacy."
The group, NDN Collective, advocates for "Indigenous Peoples," called the landmark in South Dakota a "symbol of white supremacy," and wants to demilitarize the "violent" U.S. military. The embattled retail giant Target donated money to the group in 2021, according to tax documents.
The development comes as Target has lost $13 billion in value in its stock price in recent weeks after unveiling a "Pride" collection that included "gender neutral" clothing for adults and children. Some of the products Target featured were made by the LGBTQ brand Abprallen, whose designer wears a "Satan respects pronouns" shirt in a photo on his Instagram.
It's unclear how much Target gave to NDN. When Target responded to backlash last month by pulling some of the items from its stores, Democratic governor Gavin Newsom (Calif.) called out the brand and said it was "selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists."
The group has promoted several left-wing causes, including shuttering the iconic American landmark, the New York Post reported:
The group has called the "very existence" of Mount Rushmore "a symbol of white supremacy" since the national memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota — with the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved into the mountainside — is set on "stolen Lakota land."
"NDN Collective for the closure of the national monument indefinitely," said a press release, which was posted in July 2020 before then-President Donald Trump visited Mt. Rushmore in celebration of Independence Day.
The organization also condemns militarization "as a pathway for exploitation and destruction of Indigenous communities within the so-called United States," according to its website.
NDN Collective has also launched a campaign called "LANDBACK" which demands America give up its public land.