Author Topic: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference  (Read 2515 times)

Offline fairbanks

  • Posts: 51
Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« on: October 10, 2024, 11:42:13 am »
The Minnesota Men's Conference is basically the Godfather of the so-called Men's Movement that was named in the 1993 Declaration of War against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality. That same year a man by the name of Miguel Rivera came on as a teacher in the Minnesota Mens Conference. Rivera is of Guatemalan and Eastern European ancestry. He claims Wallace Black Elk and Sun Bear LaDuke as a couple of his teachers. Most importantly he claims that Albert White Hat Sr. specifically gave him permission to share teachings and ceremony such as the sweat lodge. Miguel has been running sweats for decades as part of reform programs for gang members in Los Angeles.

The Minnesota Mens Conference just celebrated its 40th anniversary with 60 men in attendance. The price for a ticket was $995 which included a sweat lodge experience for those in attendance. The 2003 Looking Horse proclamation on the protection of ceremony states clearly that there should be no price tag associated with the participation in sweat lodge.

I'm wondering if anybody can speak more to Albert White Hat Sr. in this case, as I already know the clear controversy around Wallace Black Elk and Sun Bear LaDuke.

Miigwech!

Offline fairbanks

  • Posts: 51
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2024, 12:07:54 pm »
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Miguel Rivera: a musician and drummer, is a man who is in love with the language of sound. He has helped introduce Humberto Ak'abal to new audiences and has been helping nuture community and preserve the rich cultural traditions of his heritage throughout his activities.

Miguel Rivera was born in Guatemala, then moved to the United States at the age of 13 in 1966. He started playing music professionally as a Percussionist in 1973. He toured and recorded with several major artists and in a variety of musical styles: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Reggae, and traditional African and Brazilian drum ensembles.

Miguel taught Drumming at the Men's Conferences in Mendocino and Los Angeles from 1991 to 1995 and in Minnesota from 1993 to the present. There is has collaborated as presenter with Robert Bly, James Hillman, Daniel Deardorff, Martin Prechtel, Haki Madhubuti, Robert Moore, Jack Kornfield, Luis Rodriguez, Malidoma Some, Ed Tick, John Lee, Francis Weller. He currently serves as a teacher at many conferences.

In 2001 in collaboration with Robert Bly, Miguel translated and published an English collection of the poetry of Humberto Ak'abal "Poems I Brought Down from the Mountain" in the United States. Miguel also has collaborated on two bilingual Humberto Ak'abal poetry editions published in Uruguay and Guatemala "Tejiendo las Huellas" (2006) and "El Animalero" (2008).

Miguel Rivera has been a board member of Shade Tree, a mentoring group in Los Angeles, since its inception in 1996. Shade Tree introduces at-risk youth to traditional Native American ceremonies and ways of knowledge.

Miguel serves also on the Board of Directors of Western Gateway Roots and Wings Foundation, an organization dedicated to bring back rites of passage to youth.

Miguel serves as well on the board of Soldier's Heart, that provides healing retreats and support to veterans suffering from PTSD.

Miguel Rivera resides in California and is an Award-winning Supervising Sound Editor for Films and Television, 1984 to the present.

https://www.akabal.com/rivera.html

Offline fairbanks

  • Posts: 51
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2024, 12:17:15 pm »
Rivera is Executive Director of the Western Gate Wings and Roots foundation. https://www.wgrw.org/mission-index-impact

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Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation is a group of Elders, mentors, and teachers using Native American and indigenous teachings to cultivate a deeper respect for the trauma and harm suffered by veterans and disconnected youth.

The director of programs is a man by the name of Glenn Schiffman, who may deserve a thread of his own. Here's a bio:

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Glenn Schiffman is the Director of Programs for Roots and Wings. An Elder and mentor for Roots and Wings, he has built more than 100 sweat lodges in all regions of the US, and has personally conducted over 1000 Inipi and sweat lodge ceremonies. He has been interviewed by print and TV news organizations including CNN, and appeared in two TV docu-dramas regarding Native American lore. He is a prolific writer of several works of creative fiction including “The Way I Was Taught”; a gifted story teller of Lakota Tribe legends; and a proud grandfather to baby twins.

Offline Advanced Smite

  • Posts: 193
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2024, 09:30:25 pm »
Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation has a list of partner organizations on their website. One of the organizations is called “Youth Mentoring Connection.” This is how Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation describes Youth Mentoring Connection:

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YOUTH MENTORING CONNECTION
HThe (sic) Mission of Youth Mentoring Connection is to awaken at-risk youth to their power, unique gifts and purpose by matching them with caring adult mentors and placing that “match” within a structured group dynamic that provides the resources youth need to reach productive, conscious adulthood. We further seek to awaken society to the needs, promise and value of this overlooked population.


Source: Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation - Partners
Direct Link: https://www.wgrw.org/partners
Archive Link: https://archive.ph/vTi9D

There are two excerpts from Youth Mentoring Connection’s website below. Bold text was added by me for emphasis.

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Initiation Weekends
Our four-day Initiation Weekend mountain retreats are where our deepest work is done. This intensive experience uses initiation rituals drawn from indigenous cultures to create a community in which youth begin identifying their wounds and discovering their gifts. YMC’s partner organizations, Street Poets, Rhythm Arts Alliance, and Western Gates Roots and Wings, help provide opportunities for creative expression through poetry, writing, music, dance, and ceremonies that awaken the ancestral wisdom living deep within their bones.  Other activities include a ropes course, drumming, climbing walls, and hiking. The retreat is followed by nine months of innovative mentoring.


Source: Youth Mentoring Connections
Direct Link: https://youthmentoring.org/
Archive Link: https://archive.ph/xhSC1

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ECHO
ECHO is a monthly gathering where we come together to share stories, uncover wounds, and discover gifts. We use indigenous rituals, ancient stories, poetry and sometimes music to create a space for deep healing conversations. Facilitated by Youth Mentoring Connection staff, men and women meet in separate concurrent spaces for two or more hours of open sharing. These gatherings are open to all guests, though the nature of discussion is usually best suited for high school age and above.


Source: Youth Mentoring Connections
Direct Link: https://youthmentoring.org/
Archive Link: https://archive.ph/xhSC1

Youth Mentoring Connection touts using “initiation rituals drawn from indigenous cultures” and “indigenous rituals.” Considering how heavily Youth Mentoring Connection’s model seems to rely on (alleged) indigenous initiation rituals and ceremonies, I was surprised to see the graph of race and ethnicity on their GuideStar profile. It doesn’t look like any of the 11 board members, 13 staff, or 5 senior staff are Native American. Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation, as a partner, doesn’t improve the situation based on what Fairbanks has posted.

These people and organizations look like an interesting rabbit hole.

Offline Advanced Smite

  • Posts: 193
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2024, 09:40:21 pm »
Here’s the link to Youth Mentoring Connection’s GuideStar report:
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/95-4845105

Offline fairbanks

  • Posts: 51
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2024, 01:58:22 pm »
It would be much more healing for these kids to be connected to their own ancestors and cultures in each unique case.

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 361
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2024, 04:23:15 pm »
Youth Mentoring Conference founder is Tony LoRe. Interview with him: https://voyagela.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-tony-lore-of-south-central-los-angeles/

He says one of his mentors is "West African elder Malidoma Some" who we have a thread on here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4323.0

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I run Native Medicine Wheel Ceremonies for our youth, mentors, and have done them for other organizations.


This is quite a rabbit hole, I bet we can find even more connections of these groups to other frauds already detailed here.

How many of these young people will now believe that they have "Native American" spiritual knowledge? How many will eventually set themselves up as ceremony sellers?

I agree with fairbanks:

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It would be much more healing for these kids to be connected to their own ancestors and cultures in each unique case.

Offline Sandy S

  • Posts: 361
Re: Miguel Rivera, Minnesota Mens Conference
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2024, 07:20:33 pm »
Miguel Rivera is also on the board ofTeo Alfero's Spring of Evolution Inc, dba Wolf Connection.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/262162310

Teo Alfero http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5698.0