When I made a pilgrimage to the Paha Sapa (known to non-native Americans as the Black Hills) some years ago I studied maps in order to make sure that I did not come anywhere near either the Mt. Rushmore monument or the Crazy Horse monument-in-progress. I adamantly refused to look at either tourist attraction.

I consider both monuments to be extreme desecrations to sacred land. And this is not to say anything negative about Crazy Horse who I hold in the very highest esteem. Desecrating sacred land is a very negative way to honor our great ancestors. It anchors negative energy into the land for endless years to come.

Josh O’Connor , while your article was an interesting read, you showed that your take on history is taken from a white perspective when you called Crazy Horse a “Sioux chief.” While Crazy Horse was briefly a shirt-wearer, he was NEVER a chief! (And ‘Sioux’ is the name white people placed on the Lakotah people. It is not what they called themselves.)

Crazy Horse had unparalleled mojo both on and off the battlefield. It is because of this that he became a de facto leader. But he was never a chief. Let me repeat that: He was never a ‘chief.’ From the white man’s perspective, ‘chief’ is the only word used to describe a Native American who was any kind of leader. The word, ‘chief,’ is part of an extremely limited lexicon developed by the white people to describe a people they had very little understanding of. (And still don’t.)

The Native peoples of Turtle Island were finely attuned to the earth, or Mother Nature as some now call it. They were deeply spiritual people who lived in harmony and appreciation of the natural world. They knew that to desecrate sacred land would create very negative energy that would come back to them a hundred-fold if they were to commit such an offensive act.

The invading white Christian immigrants did not know that and they still do not know that. To them, there is nothing sacred about the natural world. It is simply something to be plundered for profit. To them, the deeply spiritual ways of the native peoples were seen as ignorant, uncivilized, savage, and, being non-Christian, non-spiritual.

All the desecration that the invading white immigrants have suffered upon the land is now coming back to them a hundred-fold (or more). They still (most of them) cannot see, feel or understand the sacredness of the natural world. Until they do all the people of the planet are doomed.