| Monumental Visitors say Crazy Horse needed By Stephen Buchholz They came for many reasons. Some to honor a great leader of their people, some to pay tribute to American Indians. Some came by accident. But once at the foot of Crazy Horse Memorial, they were all united by the same thought. "This was really needed to honor the Indian people," said Bruce Iverson of Minneapolis. "It’s about time." Iverson, like most of the estimated 7,000 people at the 50th anniversary of the memorial’s dedication Wednesday, has been here before. In 1979, Inverson stopped by the mountain during a layover in Rapid City. The face of Crazy Horse was nowhere near as complete as now, but Iverson still has the same feelings for the carving. Iverson’s traveling partner agreed. "This tells the Indian side of the story instead of always hearing about the whites," said Jerome Brady of Bloomington, Minn. Lance Fast Wolf of Red Shirt came to the celebration because the memorial portrays Indians in a positive way. At the mountain, Indians aren’t the Indians of Hollywood — savages who needed to be removed so white settlers could take the land. "That’s an Indian up there," Fast Wolf said. "You don’t see that very often in the United States. And people are coming from all over the world to see it. For whatever reason people came, everyone tried to capture the event. Fathers held their sons on their shoulders to see the carving. Still and video cameras worked overtime when a shroud was pulled to unveil the completed Crazy Horse face and when a chunk of granite near the top of the horse on the carving was blown away with dynamite. Scott Abbas of Emery knows the sculpture won’t be done before he dies. He wants his children to come back to see it. Abbas, his wife and their four children are vacationing in the Black Hills and happened on the annivesary by accident. They had never seen Crazy Horse Memorial. They were glad they stumbled on it. "This is a good thing they’re doing," Abbas said. "I just wish I could see it completed. I told my sons they have to come back when it’s finished — It’s that important of a project." Whites, blacks and Indians agreed with Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills, who said Wednesday that Crazy Horse was a hero — not just to Indians but to all people. And everyone said coming to the anniversary celebration was a way to honor Crazy Horse, his people and all he stood for. "It’s about time we did something to recognize the Indian nations of our country," said Sherry Cunha of Seattle. "I mean the Indian nations of their country." Some visitors see the memorial as more than just a carving on a mountain. For them, having a white family create an image of an Oglala Lakota warrior is a way for whites to make up for all the wrongs done to Indians. Some also see the carving as a way for white people and Indians to bridge the cultural and racial tensions that separate the races. "We are them and they are us," said Iverson, of Minneapolis. "Maybe this will make people believe that." |