In the Black Hills of North Dakota lies an unfinished monument of Lakota-Sioux leader Tasunke Witko, famously known as Crazy Horse. A Polish-American sculptor named Korczak Ziolkowski began the monument in 1948, but it has remained unfinished since his death in 1982. Ziolkowski's children have since taken over promoting the project to tourists.
Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday to explain the intentions behind the project.
"It's a privatized monument that's exploiting the tourist rush to Mt. Rushmore, which is not too far away," said Beam. "It's being done clearly for money only, for the descendants of the Polish-American sculptor."
The project had initial support from the Lakota people, but many now see it as an insult, Beam said.
"Some Lakota-Sioux support the idea of a monument to one of their great resistance leaders and genuine military hero," he said. "Others say it's kind of horrific, and it makes you ask out loud, 'Why isn't our country building a monument to Crazy Horse?' It's never going to be finished, it's disgusting and really it's just another insult to Native Americans."
