Hello everyone. My name is Mashkiki Littlefish, I am Ken's daughter.
I joined this group because there was a thread on here about my father Ken Littlefish (link below).
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=25.msg30717#msg30717I did not join here to belittle anyone or talk badly of any one person who is a member of your organization but rather to clear some air here about what my father was and was not.
I am not 100% sure what kind of "threat" you perceived this man as - but someone did, for reasons I am unsure of.
Knowing my father for all of 24 years (the amount of time I was able to spend with him, from the time I was born until he passed away.) I want to say that my father was no more than a man. The labels people gave him were their own but he himself never wanted to be viewed as anything more than a man and never called himself anything more than a man.
Living my life growing up in the native american church my father traveled, we as a family traveled to teach others about native american traditions, we never charged for these actions. My father never asked anything of anyone other than to be true to themselves and follow their own life paths where ever they may lead them.
He was always happy to answer any questions people had to the best of his ability and touched many through his kindness and good will towards man.
What people did with the things he told them are their own, my father was invited to travel to many different cultures to talk about our beliefs and spirituality.
He did run native american church ceremonies, but like a lot of "roadmen" he was quite clear on the fact that it was a sacred way to talk to god. People need to understand that "roadmen" in these ways are not anything more than mere men, they hold a safe place to learn to understand ones self better through communication with your own spirit. Though many people do get healings through these ways and traditions it is NOT the work of the person running the ceremony but the work of ones faith in their own self healing. And while I have seen many men place themselves on some type of pedestal and ego trip behind being a native american roadman my father was never that way.
People are often scared of what they do not understand and there is no way someone can understand something if they have a closed mind to it, and I see this very often with the majority of society, one person's ways may not be another person's ways but it does not make them any less valid in the eyes of the people who practice them.
My father always invited people of different faiths and religious background to sit with him in ceremony to get some kind of understanding about the way it was, he never belittled, criticized or looked down on anyone else because of their own religious faith - being connected to spirit is just that and there are many different roads to reach that connection there is no one road that is better than another - they're just different.
Likewise my father enjoyed learning about other people's ways of faith and often chanted with the buddhist monks, sat with those of middle eastern faith, and prayed with many different types spiritual people, he just chose the native american church as his way to talk to god.
My father was born in Chicago IL, he was Ojibwa of the otter tail pillager clan, his mother being a full blooded Ojibwa and his father being Ojibwa & 1/4 souix. He was enrolled with the white earth nation in MN.
We lived in California off and on when I was younger but moved to Washington when I was around 6yrs old to care for my grandmother on my mother's side. We have lived in Washington since 95' and my father passed away on the 2nd of March 2012.
He started the native american church charter here in the Suquamish nation and brought the native american church ceremonies to N.W. Washington via this legal charter which is now held by other elders that we were close to in this community.
Though the native american church ways were not ones that my father was born into, as his mother was part of the Midewiwin society and practiced their spiritual practices and beliefs - the native american church is the way of life my father took up after being introduced to these ways in the 60s.
He touched many lives both here in America as well as internationally by carrying integrity and being a kind individual despite all the hardship he endured throughout his life - which is more than I can say for a lot of people out there.
He battled just about every hardship you can imagine going through as a human being and walked out if it willing to move forward with his life and help those who needed love and compassion. He witnessed the death of his father, was placed in a catholic reformatory where he was subjected to abuse, neglect and experimentation for our now stable vaccines - contracted polio as well as a slew of other diseases/viruses after he was injected with 42 different live vaccinations at one time when he was 12yrs old, he endured the death of his first daughter, murder of his companion, loss of his children by means of dis association (mother's choice.) He endured segregation, living with the handicap of polio and the loss of his left hand, racism, skepticism (apparently) and to spite all of his pain and suffering he still reached out to others and offered them friendship, kind words and the understanding of our traditional beliefs.
Like I said in the beginning I came here to clear the air about who my father was and was not. He was a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, a son and a friend. He certainly was not one who wished any harm on any living being but just like any other ordinary man, he could not help those who were not willing to help themselves.
If anyone else has any direct questions about my father and our way of life I am happy to speak with any individuals on his behalf since he has since passed on.
Love and light to all, may god bless you from the tops of your heads to the tips of your toes and fill you all with a little bit of love and understanding.
