- Details
- By Darren Thompson
On August 2nd, Whitney Rencountre took the helm of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation as its new Chief Executive Officer. Rencountre is Hunkpati Dakota from the Crow Creek Dakota Indian Reservation and is the former Associate Director of the Indian University of North America.
When Rencountre learned of his new position, he was “full of emotion… I was honored, excited, and was just thinking about our ancestors and how much they loved the Black Hills,” Rencountre told Native News Online.
“To be in a capacity to educate people, to inspire people to build bridges among people, and to help the world understand the beauty of our ancestors through a process of healing is what dreams are made of,” he said.
The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation started off as a mountain carving of the Mniconjou and Oglala Lakota leader Tasunka Witko—Crazy Horse—by Korczak Ziolkowski on May 3, 1947.
The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation encompasses a campus that includes the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, the Indian University of North America, a restaurant, gift shop, and theater highlighting the history of the largest mountain carving in the world.
The organization’s mission is “to protect and preserve the culture, tradition, and living heritage of the North American Indians,” something Rencountre says his entire life has been about. “I’ve dedicated my life to this mission and it has been my family and our communities a lot of hope,” Rencountre told Native News Online.
“I was really excited, and also really proud of him because I got to see all the work he put in to himself and the community before this position,” Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre, Whitneys wife told Native News Online. “I’ve seen his role as a leader really grow over the years, and he has the ability to bring people together.”
When he did get the job, Taken Alive-Rencountre said “it just validated the dreams I had,” sharing that she had a dream earlier this year that Whitney became the new CEO of the the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.
Taken Alive-Rencountre is an accomplished author who has published four books and was recognized as the Great Plains Emerging Tribal Writer by South Dakota State University in 2017 for her book, “Peta Shows Misun the Light.”
“As a Dakota person, I think he will do a great job in bringing our perspectives as Native people to the organization,” Taken Alive-Rencountre said of her husband’s future. “People are very excited and proud to have one of our people in that position—we have a voice now.”
“Whitney often speaks of the importance of ‘building bridges’ and is widely known for his ability to establish strong relationships, forge alliances, and connect with advocates, supporters, and volunteers,” Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors chair, Steve Helmers said in a statement on the foundation’s website. “Further, Whitney honors his heritage as a member of the Crow Creek Hunkpati Dakota Nation through his commitment to family, and to work that promotes respect and healing among people of diverse cultures.”
The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation does not accept funding from any state or federal government entity, relying entirely on donations and visitors to the largest active mountain-carving in the world.
More Stories Like This
State-Funded Charter School Says Native 1st-Grader's Traditional Hair Violates Dress CodeRep. Peltola, Sen. Mullin Introduce Legislation to Protect 2nd Amendment Rights of Native Americans
Navajo Nation Mourns Loss of Former President Ben Shelly
Native American Church Chapter Sues Bank for Racial and Religious Discrimination
Legislature Moves to Name Highway after Blackfeet Chief
12 years of Native News
This month, we celebrate our 12th year of delivering Native News to readers throughout Indian Country and beyond. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation this month to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and to tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
