The Technological Sublime, Flight, and the Crazy Horse Monument

I was interested in Indigenous perspectives regarding the “technological sublime”: the inspiring/perplexing effect that man-made machines create with the power to transcend time and space.  Over the weekend I read a CNN article about the image of the controversial memorial for the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse who is known for contributing to Custer’s defeat and death.  Although, many supported the carving of a mountain to construct the monument, other Lakota peoples protested the projects disregard of the sacred Black Hills burial grounds.  In this case the logic behind the technological sublime was not to “better mankind”, like the landing on the moon, but rather to better the status of indigenous peoples: “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also."

I can imagine that many indigenous peoples had the same reaction that Faustin had to the reasoning behind the Apollo moon landing mission.  The “cognitive estrangement” that Faustin experienced was not solely due to the technological achievements of the Apollo mission, but also at the logic behind the mission.  After reading about Faustin’s reaction to the moon mission, I wondered about the logic behind the Crazy Horse monument and other monuments of Indigenous heroes.  Is the monument of Crazy Horse a potential point of contact for outsiders with negative or mistaken views of the warrior?  Or is this a “machine monster” nightmare of utilizing western concepts of a “memorial” and ultimately a desecration of a sacred Indigenous site?  I don’t know, however; Simon Ortiz’s Men on the Moon definitely helped me think more critically about the Crazy Horse memorial.   

What if any affect does such a monument of Indigeneity have on self-loathing (internally colonized) youth, like “Zits/Michael” from Flight?  I liked this excerpt from Flight because it focuses on the multi-generational effects of colonization, both external and internal. One of the most powerful images for me was when Michael tries to shape shift into a little blond boy and realizes that “I cannot be him.” (54)   I thought that Michel’s ability to jump from one time/identity and to another was a metaphor for the vulnerability of youth that “Alexie [the author] might argue typifies reservation youth today.” (53)  Perhaps monuments of Indigenous heroes, like Crazy Horse, can reinforce pride of indigenous heritage for those trying to run away from it.  But again, according to an interview with the founder of the Native Sun News in the CNN article: “he has never heard "a single Native American say, 'I'm proud of that mountain.' "