Up close and personal at Crazy Horse Memorial

Thousands participate in the June 7 volksmarch at Crazy Horse in South Dakota. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Thousands of us walked on his arm—all at the same time. This warrior could handle the weight.

After all, this was Crazy Horse—a Lakota Sioux from the Black Hills of South Dakota. He was one of the leaders who successfully fought Custer, but was murdered a year later by an Army officer.

“Crazy Horse never put his mark on any treaty, nor ever slept in any man-made bed. He was willing to die for his beloved Black Hills and all its creatures—lands and buffalo no white man should rightfully take away,” according to thehistoryreader.com.

Crazy Horse’s hand points toward the Black Hills. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

On the first Saturday of June I joined others from my family reunion on the Crazy Horse Volksmarch. While it was touted to be a 10k, it was more like 5 miles. But the mileage isn’t what this event was about.

Twice a year the organization operating the memorial coordinates a walk, which allows people to see the progress, to be one with the monument, and raise funds for the work to continue.

The only way to get this close to the Crazy Horse monument is on a volksmarch. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

It’s about actually being on this sculpture being carved into private land.

The volksmarch afforded all of us the opportunity to walk along Crazy Horse’s arm, to look into his eyes. The detail was stunning.

This experience makes me even more appreciative of the work being done.

The Crazy Horse Memorial can be seen for miles as it sits above the tree line. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Considering work on the Crazy Horse Memorial started in 1948, I would bet against it being completed in my lifetime even if I live decades more.

Governments create monuments all the time, and usually in a reasonable period of time. No government money is being used to create this tribute. Instead, donations and revenues generated at the museum and through these walks are put toward the sculpture.

The feds twice offered sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski funds, but he and his successors preferred this be a nonprofit endeavor.

No longer is there a time line for when it might be finished.

This is what the sculpture is slated to look like when it is done. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

For years I have been visiting this memorial—nearly every time I’d go back to South Dakota with my parents, then seemingly every family reunion. I know there has been substantial change, but at times it’s hard to see.

“Crazy Horse Memorial honors all Indigenous people of North America, stands as a reminder of the importance of reconciliation, respecting differences, embracing diversity, striving for unity, and appreciating life’s deeper meaning as it has always been represented in Native American cultural values. This will never change,” the memorial’s website says.