Tasunke Witko

As a ten year old boy Tasunke Witko - "Crazy Horse" and his parents attended the historic signing of the 1851 TREATY OF FORT LARAMIE along Horse Creek on Long Meadows in what is now called "northwestern Nebraska". The Lakota call the 1851 TREATY the "Treaty of Long Meadows". The 1851 Treaty is an international agreement between the government of the United States and seven Indigenous Red "Indian" nations of the northern plains region of Great Turtle Island (the "western hemisphere"), whose homelands surround the Big Horn Black Hills Mountains and the Black Jagged-Rocky-Mountains (misnomer "Black Hills") of present day "Wyoming and South Dakota". Included in these seven nations are the N/DN/D/Lakota (Nakota Nation, misnomer "Sioux"). The original White Buffalo Calf Canunpa (misnomer "Peace Pipe"), which holds the Seven Great Ceremonies of the Nakota, was present during the Treaty of Long Meadows signing. The signing ceremony was attended by over 50 thousand Indigenous people. It was one of the largest gatherings of Indigenous peoples in recent times. The camp was so large, it moved three times in three weeks and was finally signed in present day "western Nebraska" near "Horse Creek". The important Treaty of Long Meadows is to be protected from violation through Article VI of the Unites States Constitution, which states, "treaties made with Indian nations shall be the supreme law of the land."

Tasunke Witko, like all traditional Indigenous peoples who lived in freedom, believed that nature and All That Is Wakan Tanka - "The Great Mystery". Wakan Tanka is the Grand Mother Earth and Grand Father Sky. Tasunke Witko understood that all of the natural world - even the storms, rain, lightning and thunder - was superior, good, and positive. Today, when ceremonies in his honor take place, the lightning and thunder of the Great Mystery can appear to recognize the goodness and spiritual balance of Indigenous ancestors.

Tasunke Witko grew as a very spiritual person whom his people trusted as honest, fair and committed to Indigenous principals and way of life. Crazy Horse believed that the Earth is our Grand Mother and that no one could possibly "sell her". He often fasted - not eating or drinking water - offering thanks to Grand Mother Earth on behalf of the people, who at his time were struggling to maintain their lands, ceremonies and happy communities from the onslaught of non-Indigenous, male dominating systems of greed. As was his belief, Crazy Horse never had his "spirit captured" through photography or "false idols". This revealed not only his commitment to his spirituality, but his great humility as an Ikce Wicasa - a "Common Red Man".

Crazy Horse was also a very skilled hunter - as most men were at the time - which made him a great "Defense Chief" when the United States began its campaign to violate the 1851 Treaty. He is well known for his successful organization of his relatives and friends against a surprise attack by U.S. army brigadier general Custer - the top general of the day - at Greasy Grass (the "Little Big Horn Battle") on June 25, 1876, a victorious day his people call "Indigenous Peoples Day - June 25".

In the fall of 1877 Tasunke Witko was asked by U.S. government officials to come to "Fort Robinson" (present day Nebraska) to "negotiate". There, on September 6, 1877, Tasunke Witko was assassinated by the United States government and their agents. Tasunke Witko sacrificed his life protecting the Grand Mother Earth, elders, women, children and ultimately, the future unborn generations who are the Indigenous people today. Although the actual story of the Lakota and of Tasunke Witko are not "captured" in U.S. history books, Tasunke Witko remains a mentor and hero to Indigenous peoples and to millions of people of all races of human kind throughout Grand Mother Earth.