Thank you both. Good points. I was wondering along those lines too..
Good to know that there is a valid (enough) part to Ed McGaa's persona..
During a time when the placement of a dump site on the Pine Ridge reservation (I can't recall now if it was for nuclear waste or other kinds of waste) was a controversial issue there -- because many natives opposed it -- Ed McGaa claimed to own land there and he offered it for sale to the company for this purpose.
Also, in the early 1970's, the sun dances held at Pine Ridge were held just east of Alfred Red Cloud's home on the northwest edge of Pine Ridge. It was peculiar, to say the least. As an example, when I went there, in 1972, the sun dance arbor was surrounded by vendors selling food, arts and crafts. There was a carnival with rides. However, the current prohibition of cameras at sun dances arose out of an event during one sun dance there when Ed McGaa had apparently hired his own camera crew to film him during the sun dance and the dramatic moment when he suffered, struggled and broke free for the sake of his Oglala Lakota people. A Dakota person who was there -- the year or so before I went there -- observed this and related to me how this particular incident was done in such a crass, self-serving way that it distracted from the entire event (rather ironic here, remember, there were vendors and a carnival going on, too) and inspired the prohibitions against allowing cameras at sun dances.
So, if one endorses the work of Ed McGaa, one has to be prepared to deal with the history of this particular individual and where his priorities apparently lie.
