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The Sioux - or more precisely: the Oceti Sakowin, the \"Seven Council Fires\" - venerate the Black Hills as the sacred center of their spiritual and cultural identity. Places like Pe' Sla or Bear Butte are regarded as holy sites for prayer, fasting, ceremonies, and visions. Further development - especially with statues of controversial figures such as Christopher Columbus, Andrew Jackson, or General Custer - is seen as desecration. The latter led the 1874 expedition into the Black Hills that triggered the gold rush and ultimately the dispossession of the land. For many Lakota, honoring him at this very place is a double provocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/batch_Kopie-von-Photo-by-ZVG83.webp?resize=640%2C382&ssl=1\")
Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/batch_Kopie-von-Photo-by-ZVG87.webp?resize=640%2C382&ssl=1\")
Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a> <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new letter from Governor Larry Rhoden to President Trump, dated March 18, 2025, highlights the political dimension. Rhoden officially offers a plot of land overlooking Mount Rushmore for the monument park. The family of businessman Chuck Lien, owner of Pete Lien & Sons, is reportedly willing to donate the land - including designs, historical correspondence, and support from former Governor Kristi Noem. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Senator Thune, Senator Rounds, and Congressman Dusty Johnson are also involved in the project. The proximity to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and the open terrain appear to be an advantage to South Dakota\u2019s government rather than a moral dilemma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/batch_Kopie-von-Photo-by-ZVG82.webp?resize=640%2C382&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li>Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kaizen-blog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/batch_Kopie-von-Photo-by-ZVG81.webp?resize=640%2C382&ssl=1\")
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Trump's project, first announced in 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, was always more symbolic counteroffensive than artistic gesture. While statues of Confederate generals were being toppled in the streets, Trump called for preservation - \"Angry mobs are trying to tear down the statues of our founders, desecrate our most sacred monuments, and unleash a wave of violence.\" In his vision, the garden is meant to be a counternarrative - with sculptures of Muhammad Ali, Steve Jobs, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King Jr., Christopher Columbus, and President Andrew Jackson, architect of the Indian Removal Policy. Trump himself is reportedly under consideration for a future statue, according to extensive research and conversations with members of his support network. General George Armstrong Custer, responsible for escalating conflict in the Lakota region, is also on the unofficial shortlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The criticism continues. Other tribes of the Great Plains, including the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Rosebud Sioux, call the plan a \"disgrace.\" In a joint statement, they wrote - \"We do not need idols made of stone. We need respect, restitution, and truth.\" Former tribal president Harold Frazier said - \"If Trump wants to immortalize himself as a hero, he should do it in Mar-a-Lago, not on stolen land.\"<\/p>\n\n\n
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Crazy Horse was a famous war chief of the Oglala Lakota who bravely resisted the displacement of his people by the U.S. government. He was a key figure in the Indigenous resistance against the United States, particularly in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), where General Custer was defeated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An often overlooked site near the proposed monument park is the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. Spanning over 11,000 acres, it has offered a protected home to wild horses - mostly rescued through Bureau of Land Management programs - for more than 30 years. Mustangs roam freely across the prairie, far from profit motives, in a landscape rich in both biodiversity and cultural meaning. Particularly striking is the Engler Canyon, a remote part of the sanctuary named after Dayton O. Hyde, the sanctuary\u2019s founder. Accessible only through guided tours, the canyon combines dramatic rock formations with grasslands, testifying to a vision of harmonizing nature and history - far removed from political instrumentalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n