It is a living question about the relationship between their community and a significant ancestor — a question about what is owed to him, what protection should be maintained, and how his memory should be carried forward.

Those questions are answered differently by different community members, and they will continue to be answered over time as the community evolves and as the broader historical context changes.

What will not change — what is structural — is that the community has the primary authority over those answers.

Outside researchers, documentary filmmakers, journalists, and enthusiasts can investigate, speculate, and claim, but the authoritative answers belong to the people whose history this is.

Crazy Horse’s Place In The Longer Story