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This Message Is Reprinted Under The FAIR USE
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use)
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FROM: _http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415443_
(Speaking out on the theft and abuse of spirituality : ICT [2007/07/20])
Speaking out on the theft and abuse of spirituality
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: July 20, 2007 by: _Shadi Rahimi_
(Indian Country Today - Authors)
SAN FRANCISCO - It was a strange sight, at least in East Los Angeles.
While walking her dogs recently at Arroyo Seco Park, Marisol
Crisostomo-Romo, 26, said she spotted a van with a tipi on it. Into it piled a group of
white children clutching bows and arrows.
They were members of the five-week-long Camp Shi'ini, ''a Native
American-themed summer camp'' that is named after ''a Native American word meaning
'Summer People,''' according to its Web site.
The 60-year-old camp divides children into nine ''tribes'' and offers
activities ranging from horseback riding (in the tradition of the Navajo, Comanche
and Eskimo, its Web site stated) and archery (Mohawk, Seminole and Blackfoot)
to fishing (Zuni, Iroquois and Apache).
Crisostomo-Romo, who is Pascua Yaqui, immediately wrote the camp a letter
and e-mailed 422 people to do the same, beseeching all those ''offended and
disgusted by cultural exploitation and mainstream society's self-entitlement.''
Her anger is echoed across the country by Natives who continue to be
frustrated with what they view as misappropriation and abuse of spiritual and
cultural practices.
Similar Native-themed camps, nonprofits, centers, programs, workshops,
retreats and seminars offered mostly by non-Natives thrive across the country. And
the number of non-Native people operating as medicine men and shaman - and
often charging for their services - has only grown despite opposition from
traditional elders, groups and Native activists.
''We don't charge for ceremonies. People with real sicknesses actually go to
these people; we've heard of these people even taking advantage of women,''
said Charlie Sitting Bull, 54. ''That's the danger in people being
misinformed. We battle it all the time.''
Sitting Bull is a traditional Oglala Lakota from South Dakota who said he is
a direct descendant of Chief Sitting Bull. He began noticing the misuse of
Native culture as a teenager, when he first saw a Boy Scout troup ''dressed as
Indians,'' he said.
Since then, he has confronted Native and non-Native people falsely claiming
to be descendants of Chief Sitting Bull and has worked to stop non-Native
people from charging for spiritual teachings. Most recently, Sitting Bull said
he prevented a white man from charging to teach Sun Dance songs at a
Washington state bookstore, which the man had learned from a legitimate medicine man.
Responding to a request from the medicine man himself, Sitting Bull
confronted the white man, telling him he could not hold the workshop, and asking for
a written apology. The man was arrogant, but eventually obliged, he said.
A non-Native person practicing Native spirituality presents a similar danger
to all Natives as a Native person who practices but ''isn't clean'' - taking
drugs or not ''living a good life,'' - Sitting Bull said.
''They actually infect us like a sickness,'' he said, referring to both
scenarios.
In 1993, a decree passed at an international gathering of 500
representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota, titled the ''Declaration
of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality,'' stated that immediate
action be taken to defend Lakota spirituality from ''further contamination,
desecration and abuse.''
It detailed what it described as the destruction of sacred traditions,
reminding Natives of their highest duty - ''to preserve the purity of our precious
traditions for our future generations, so that our children and our
children's children will survive and prosper in the sacred manner intended for each
of our respective peoples by our Creator.''
Among the ''disgraceful expropriation'' that even then had ''reached
epidemic proportions in urban areas throughout the country,'' according to the
leaders, were corporations that charge money for sweat lodges and vision quest
programs; Sun dances for non-Natives conducted by charlatans; and cult leaders
and new age people who imitate Lakota ceremonial ways and mix in non-Native
occult practices.
The decree urged traditional people, tribal leaders and governing councils
of all other Indian nations to join ''in calling for an immediate end to this
rampant exploitation of our respective American Indian sacred traditions.''
The decree was published in a newsletter, in controversial author Ward
Churchill's 1994 book ''Indians Are Us? Culture and Genocide in Native North
America,'' and online.
Since then, an active stand has been taken by medicine men and traditional
practitioners even against ''Native healers that are out of line,'' Sitting
Bull said.
Responses to the decree from non-Native people on various Web sites explain
why they engage in Native spiritual practices.
''I understand the importance of the statement and feel money is being made
by the stealing of the traditionalists,'' Mark Montalban wrote. ''I also feel
that ghosts and spirits can enter your life and give purpose and
direction.''
But many Native people disagree, arguing that the appropriation of
spirituality is not only disrespectful, but also dangerous if practiced incorrectly
and by non-Natives.
''One can study Native culture all they want, but if it's not Native blood
flowing through their veins then they'll never truly understand those ways and
how to use them,'' said Anthony Thosh Collins, 25, of the Pima, Osage and
Seneca-Cayuga tribes. ''I support the use of our Native culture to help heal
this world, but only through the guidance of one of our own qualified
elders.''
The movement against non-Natives appropriating and sometimes selling Native
spirituality is growing, with younger Natives joining the forefront.
In her letter to Camp Shi'ini, Crisostomo-Romo explained the sacred nature
of the face paint and war bonnets displayed on its Web site, saying,
''Non-Natives don't have business messing with these things.''
She suggested the camp instead teach children about modern issues faced by
Native people, including the desecration of sacred sites, poverty and
substance abuse.
It is important for non-Natives to understand that Natives do not exist only
in museums or in Western movies: ''We are a people who have a future and who
want the best for our children,'' Crisostomo-Romo said.
''The very notion of trying to recreate a lifestyle of a people that are
still in vibrant existence is purely ridiculous,'' she said. ''Native people are
not just about bows and arrows, feathers and dream catchers. The depth and
beauty of our cultures can never be captured in a summer camp.''
This Message Is Reprinted Under The FAIR USE
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use)
************************************************** ******************
FROM: _http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415443_
(Speaking out on the theft and abuse of spirituality : ICT [2007/07/20])
Speaking out on the theft and abuse of spirituality
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: July 20, 2007 by: _Shadi Rahimi_
(Indian Country Today - Authors)
SAN FRANCISCO - It was a strange sight, at least in East Los Angeles.
While walking her dogs recently at Arroyo Seco Park, Marisol
Crisostomo-Romo, 26, said she spotted a van with a tipi on it. Into it piled a group of
white children clutching bows and arrows.
They were members of the five-week-long Camp Shi'ini, ''a Native
American-themed summer camp'' that is named after ''a Native American word meaning
'Summer People,''' according to its Web site.
The 60-year-old camp divides children into nine ''tribes'' and offers
activities ranging from horseback riding (in the tradition of the Navajo, Comanche
and Eskimo, its Web site stated) and archery (Mohawk, Seminole and Blackfoot)
to fishing (Zuni, Iroquois and Apache).
Crisostomo-Romo, who is Pascua Yaqui, immediately wrote the camp a letter
and e-mailed 422 people to do the same, beseeching all those ''offended and
disgusted by cultural exploitation and mainstream society's self-entitlement.''
Her anger is echoed across the country by Natives who continue to be
frustrated with what they view as misappropriation and abuse of spiritual and
cultural practices.
Similar Native-themed camps, nonprofits, centers, programs, workshops,
retreats and seminars offered mostly by non-Natives thrive across the country. And
the number of non-Native people operating as medicine men and shaman - and
often charging for their services - has only grown despite opposition from
traditional elders, groups and Native activists.
''We don't charge for ceremonies. People with real sicknesses actually go to
these people; we've heard of these people even taking advantage of women,''
said Charlie Sitting Bull, 54. ''That's the danger in people being
misinformed. We battle it all the time.''
Sitting Bull is a traditional Oglala Lakota from South Dakota who said he is
a direct descendant of Chief Sitting Bull. He began noticing the misuse of
Native culture as a teenager, when he first saw a Boy Scout troup ''dressed as
Indians,'' he said.
Since then, he has confronted Native and non-Native people falsely claiming
to be descendants of Chief Sitting Bull and has worked to stop non-Native
people from charging for spiritual teachings. Most recently, Sitting Bull said
he prevented a white man from charging to teach Sun Dance songs at a
Washington state bookstore, which the man had learned from a legitimate medicine man.
Responding to a request from the medicine man himself, Sitting Bull
confronted the white man, telling him he could not hold the workshop, and asking for
a written apology. The man was arrogant, but eventually obliged, he said.
A non-Native person practicing Native spirituality presents a similar danger
to all Natives as a Native person who practices but ''isn't clean'' - taking
drugs or not ''living a good life,'' - Sitting Bull said.
''They actually infect us like a sickness,'' he said, referring to both
scenarios.
In 1993, a decree passed at an international gathering of 500
representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota, titled the ''Declaration
of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality,'' stated that immediate
action be taken to defend Lakota spirituality from ''further contamination,
desecration and abuse.''
It detailed what it described as the destruction of sacred traditions,
reminding Natives of their highest duty - ''to preserve the purity of our precious
traditions for our future generations, so that our children and our
children's children will survive and prosper in the sacred manner intended for each
of our respective peoples by our Creator.''
Among the ''disgraceful expropriation'' that even then had ''reached
epidemic proportions in urban areas throughout the country,'' according to the
leaders, were corporations that charge money for sweat lodges and vision quest
programs; Sun dances for non-Natives conducted by charlatans; and cult leaders
and new age people who imitate Lakota ceremonial ways and mix in non-Native
occult practices.
The decree urged traditional people, tribal leaders and governing councils
of all other Indian nations to join ''in calling for an immediate end to this
rampant exploitation of our respective American Indian sacred traditions.''
The decree was published in a newsletter, in controversial author Ward
Churchill's 1994 book ''Indians Are Us? Culture and Genocide in Native North
America,'' and online.
Since then, an active stand has been taken by medicine men and traditional
practitioners even against ''Native healers that are out of line,'' Sitting
Bull said.
Responses to the decree from non-Native people on various Web sites explain
why they engage in Native spiritual practices.
''I understand the importance of the statement and feel money is being made
by the stealing of the traditionalists,'' Mark Montalban wrote. ''I also feel
that ghosts and spirits can enter your life and give purpose and
direction.''
But many Native people disagree, arguing that the appropriation of
spirituality is not only disrespectful, but also dangerous if practiced incorrectly
and by non-Natives.
''One can study Native culture all they want, but if it's not Native blood
flowing through their veins then they'll never truly understand those ways and
how to use them,'' said Anthony Thosh Collins, 25, of the Pima, Osage and
Seneca-Cayuga tribes. ''I support the use of our Native culture to help heal
this world, but only through the guidance of one of our own qualified
elders.''
The movement against non-Natives appropriating and sometimes selling Native
spirituality is growing, with younger Natives joining the forefront.
In her letter to Camp Shi'ini, Crisostomo-Romo explained the sacred nature
of the face paint and war bonnets displayed on its Web site, saying,
''Non-Natives don't have business messing with these things.''
She suggested the camp instead teach children about modern issues faced by
Native people, including the desecration of sacred sites, poverty and
substance abuse.
It is important for non-Natives to understand that Natives do not exist only
in museums or in Western movies: ''We are a people who have a future and who
want the best for our children,'' Crisostomo-Romo said.
''The very notion of trying to recreate a lifestyle of a people that are
still in vibrant existence is purely ridiculous,'' she said. ''Native people are
not just about bows and arrows, feathers and dream catchers. The depth and
beauty of our cultures can never be captured in a summer camp.''
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