Any serious treatment of the Crazy Horse burial mystery must ultimately acknowledge that the most important question is not “where is he buried?” but “what does the Lakota community want to happen with this mystery?”

The answer to that question is not uniform within the community, as noted earlier.

Different people hold different views.

But several broad principles emerge from the public statements and community discussions that have been reported:

Decisions about the burial site belong to the Lakota community, specifically the descendants and the Oglala Lakota Tribe.

Outsiders — journalists, researchers, documentary filmmakers, enthusiasts — do not have standing to make decisions about whether and how to investigate the site.

The site, if known, should be protected from disturbance.