I am so sick of non=community members proclaiming someone an "Elder" or a "resepected Elder". I keep seeing that "so and so is a respecyted Elder" from the such and such tribe. When the person is an elder, but not an Elder. Being an elder means you have reached a certain age, but does not mean you are an Elder. AND, no one from outside the community can make that call. During the Makah whaling there was a group of anti-whalers who proclaimed one woman as an Elder of the Makah nation. She was most definitely an elder. But most at Neah Bay did not consider her to be an Elder. And Elder means you carry your tradition. It means people look up to you. IN YOUR NATION. Now I keep seeing the neagers proclaiming someone a "Respected Elder. " And why? Because that person said so? Uh, no one calls themselves that if they really ARE and Elder. Just like the word "shaman". If someone tells me they are and they are not Siberian, I make tracks.
