Custer And Chief Crazy Horse Going At It Again?

While the spirit of Chief Crazy Horse lives on bigger than life, who would have thought that the world's largest man made monument would come about honoring the man Crazy Horse.

Today, American Indians are asking the question, "Who do you think should be honored in America with their name on our national and state landmarks and parks around our country?" Indians, along with other Americans and people around the world, are asking the South Dakota Government to bring about a bill that would change the name of Custer State Park to Chief Crazy Horse State Park.

It's the battle of Little Big Horn all over again as some members of the South Dakota Government see it when asked to consider changing the name of Custer State Park.

First, to fully understand the scope of this issue you should know that Crazy Horse Monument is located in Custer County next to Custer City. Custer State Park is located just to the front of Crazy Horse Monument in the state of South Dakota.

Crazy Horse's words were, "My land is where my people lie." One big question comes to mind: "Why did the South Dakota Government name a county after Custer in the heart of Lakota Indian Country?" They know the true history of Custer's hate toward Indians. Custer proved he had no problem killing Indian men, women and children in the name of service to the United States of America.

Today, in our time, American Indians are requesting that some national landmarks and parks be placed back under their original Indian name. Across America state republican party members are on record saying "No" to each name change, especially when Indians are doing the asking.

The most recent renaming of a landmark in America was Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona. Governor Janet Napolitano a democrat, ordered the name change of Squaw Peak to Piestewa Peak. Army Specialist Lori Piestewa became the first Native American woman killed in combat on foreign soil - in southern Iraq.

Arizona Republican State Representatives launched a state wide campaign against Governor Napolitano. They demanded she should be held accountable for her actions in not waiting the five year time line to change the landmark's name. This issue went national and the republican members backed off when they were overwhelmed with calls and e-mails from Americans questioning their motives. The word "Squaw" referring to all Indian women in America has been used for decades in movies as a put-down toward Indian women. Some state governments have banned the word "Squaw" from the names of all state landmarks and parks.

With strong opposition from South Dakota Republican State Representatives no bill was brought about in the 2005 legislation calling for Custer State Park to be changed to Chief Crazy Horse State Park. State democratic representatives in support of a bill coming about, said, "Without republicans on board the bill would not make it out of committee."

In a letter to United Native America, a national Indian group in support of the park's name change, South Dakota Governor Michael Rounds, a "Republican," stated if a bill calling for the park's name change was presented to him, he would give it full consideration.

An Internet online petition has been setup for people wanting to show their support for changing the name of Custer State Park to Chief Crazy Horse State Park. This petition's support will be forwarded to South Dakota State Representatives and the governor to review in their 2006 legislative session. Hopes are high that state representatives will do the right thing and bring about this name change.

Park petition & information link: http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/issues/crazy_horse.html

Link to South Dakota Government: http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2005/mem.htm