Crazy Horse Monument
Crazy Horse Monument
Up there! On the Black Hills Mountain,1
A work in progress sculpted in granite
Of a stern-faced warrior,2 strong and determined,
Unadorned in a war bonnet, with his hair flowing in the wind,
And the White Buffalo Calf Woman’s3 seven values4
Written into his face.
Mounted upon his steed, Crazy Horse scans the horizon
And captures a vision within the edges of the sun’s position
Among the four winds in between the seasons
Of Wakan Tanka’s5 promise for his people
And resists foreigners trespassing onto their territory
In the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Where now exists a tampering of history
Through lies and destruction that appeases criminals
With forked tongues, trampling paths with mischief
For gold,6 disrespectful of sacred burial grounds.
The Lakota chieftain led his people
To defeat Custer7 at the Little Bighorn River.8
***
Notes:
1 Crazy Horse Monument: In 1939, Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear (c. 1874–1953) wrote to Polish sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908–1982) asking him to build the Crazy Horse memorial. In his letter to Korczak, Chief Standing Bear (Mat?ó Náži?) wrote, “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too.” Korczak began carving the monument on Thunderhead Mountain, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in 1948.
2 Crazy Horse (Thašúnke Witkó): Crazy Horse was born in 1840 and named Chá? Óha? (“Among the Trees,” meaning one with nature) and died on September 5, 1877 (age 36–37), at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
3 White Buffalo Calf Woman: White Buffalo Calf Woman was a holy woman in Lakota belief who (at a time of severe famine plaguing the Lakota) taught them that if they followed her instructions, the Lakota would rise again. Buffalo were considered sacred by the Lakota, and the beautiful young woman was dressed in white buckskin.
4 The Seven Lakota Values: i) Praying, ii) Respect, iii) Caring and Compassion, iv) Honesty and Truth, v) Generosity and Caring, vi) Humility and, vii) Wisdom.
5 Wakan Tanka: "Wakan Tanka" is the Great Spirit and creator of the Lakota Sioux First Nations people.
6 Black Hills Gold Rush: In 1874, Lieutenant. Colonel Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills of South Dakota and confirmed earlier reports of placer gold found in French Creek, a tributary of the Cheyenne River, located east of present-day Custer, SD. The amount of gold discovered was small; however, this led to a massive influx of foreigners into the area, setting off the Black Hills gold rush and conflict with the Lakota.
7 Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839–1876): Lt. Colonel Custer was a graduate of West Point who achieved promotion to Major General of Volunteers during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Following the end of the Civil War, America expanded westward, and Custer assumed command of the newly formed 7th Cavalry as Lt. Colonel to enforce American government objectives of subduing First Nations people and relocating them onto reservations.
8 Little Bighorn River: The Little Bighorn River is located in the state of Montana, where the Crow Indian Reservation was situated and where the battle was fought between Custer’s 7th Cavalry and the alliance of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho on June 25 and 26, 1876. Custer and his men were defeated at the “Battle of the Little Bighorn,” known as the “Battle of the Greasy Grass” by the Lakota and Plains Native Americans.
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