MINNEAPOLIS -- Where did the "Sitting Bull" statue in front of Ralph Engelstad Arena come from? Who is the artist who created it? What specific Native American, if any, was it intended by the artist to depict?
After so many years, and with the UND "swastika scandal" fouling the very air of Grand Forks like the stench of Simplot, isn't it about time to get the truth and to find answers, no matter where that might lead us?
FACT: No artist or country of origin ever has been revealed in regard to the statue in question.
FACT: Ralph Engelstad liked to collect antique Nazi bric-a-brac.
FACT: It is highly unusual, almost unheard of, for a statue to be installed and for nobody to know the name of the artist or the origin of the statue. Statues might sit around and their origins be forgotten, but newly installed statues are never anonymous. Why has everybody in Grand Forks looked the other way for so long? What shame is lurking in the shadows?
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I strongly suspect the statue has origins in Nazi Germany. I am still waiting for management at Engelstad Arena to provide specifics -- the name of the artist, the date and place of creation -- to prove me wrong.
