Located in South Dakota's Black Hills, 8 miles from Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial was started in 1948 by Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians. When completed it will be the world's largest sculpture. (Mount Rushmore could fit inside just Crazy Horse's head alone.)
Sculptor Ziolkowski Korczak depicted Crazy Horse with his left hand pointing in answer to the derisive question asked by a white man, "Where are your lands now?" Crazy Horse replied, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."
There is some controversy surrounding this project however. While Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear's motives were undoubtedly sincere, many traditional Lakota and Native Americans oppose this memorial. In a 2001 interview, the activist and actor Russell Means stated his objections to the memorial: "Imagine going to the holy land in Israel, whether you're a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim, and start carving up the mountain of Zion. It's an insult to our entire being." In a 1972 autobiography, Lame Deer, a Lakota Medicine Man remarked: "The whole idea of making a beautiful wild mountain into a statue of him is a pollution of the landscape. It is against the spirit of Crazy Horse." To this day, the memorial remains controversial within the Native American community.
The Crazy Horse Memorial website can be found at http://www.crazyhorse.org/
