Tasunka Witko

Good time traveling.................................................1962

In the summer of 62, my parents took my two siblings and me on a driving trip across the US. We lived in New York and the destination was California via as many points of interest as possible. It was a great trip. Besides the usual such sites...we visited off beat ones...mostly having to do with Indian America...largely thanks to my elder sister...who...upon coming to this country...had immediately understood that we...with our Taino blood...had deep connections to the rest of the native people of this hemisphere. Many stories could be told about that trip...and others....since my parents...forced into exile in the US at the beginning of the brutal reign of the Duvalier government...believed in the power of travel...and all it encompassed...in shaping character and opening minds.


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One of the places we visited that summer was the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. The idea for the memorial had come from Chief Standing Bear...and other Lakota chiefs... as a reaction to the Rushmore memorial...the chiefs wanted to have one of their own memorialized...on their own land...and asked one of the carvers of the Rushmore memorial....Korczak Ziolkowski...to undertake the project...to carve a likeness of Tasunka Witko...Crazy Horse...one of their greatest and most respected chiefs...on a mountain in their sacred Black Hills. The first blast occurred in 1948...and when I saw it in 1962...the outline of Crazy Horse’s face...which had never been photographed or drawn... was barely distinguishable. It seemed a formidable project...and the task at hand was impressive indeed....


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Although I’ve been back to South Dakota several times since then...the chance to go to the Crazy Horse site never came...until last month. I couldn’t wait.... Located about ½ hour from Rushmore...our first view of Crazy Horse came when we were about 2 miles away...from which the more distant pictures are taken. Although 58 years have passed since the first blast...the carving is still...relatively...in its beginning stages. When completed the mountain will be transformed into a rendering of Crazy Horse on his horse...pointing towards the ancestral lands... his lands..."where his dead lie buried..."


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So large is the planned carving that...all four presidents at Rushmore would fit into his head. Face and upper arm completed...the blasting has begun on the horse’s head. During the course of the work...not everyone has welcomed or condoned the memorial...but it seems that the protests have died down in the past years...maybe because as the outline becomes more visible...it is obvious to see...as Crazy Horse himself predicted... that he has "come back in stone" to watch over his lands. It is a powerful sight....


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The memorial is...and has always been...a family project...even though Korczak passed away some years ago...he left detailed plans and instructions...and his wife and 7 of their 10 children continue the dream. Work on the memorial is funded entirely by public and private donations and contributions, and the entrance fees charged to enter the memorial grounds. Korchak...and the family...have turned down millions in government money... preferring to honor the promise to keep it a "people funded" memorial. When the carving itself is completed... there are plans to build an Indian University, medical center/school, and museum at its base. It’s an ongoing dream...showing tenacity...perseverence...and love...the completion of which will well surpass my lifetime........


©pralinanmi