Why are we the only ethnic group where all this misrepresentation takes place?
Finally something besides the Walam Olum and Burrows Cave.
I don't have any answers, but I do know some questions.
I don't know how the Cherokee Nation is going to handle it, but there were those who hid out or "passed" during the conquest, and those who moved to other areas, and now their descendants are left with holes in their lives.
The frauds offer to fill those holes, and go on to preying on those with spiritual hunger not satisfied by other religions. Or sometimes it works the other way around, they start with the spiritual hungers, and then go on prey on the stranded.
Until the nations develop some ways for relating to those outside the tribal roles, (and perhaps the Stranded would be better than PODIA, given the currently operating bq rules, etc.), and I have no idea of what they will be or should be, of filling those holes, the frauds will flourish.
Aside from the stranded, what of the European who wants to explore/study Native American spiritual systems?
Every nation will have to face these problems, now and into the future.
When I raised these questions before I was told of the three recognized groups that form the Cherokee Nation. And I know the three recognized Cherokee groups that form that nation have immediate pressing problems, but it appears that this is among them.
It also seems to me that even if you stop one fraud, others will come along, until the fundamental causes are addressed by some means. Again, I have no idea what those means should be, one means or multiple different means. But I can see a need for them.
It would seem to me that some responsible people in every nation need to think through these questions on a fundamental level and try to come up with some answers.