I found this response on another site to the issue of the drum not being returned to the Wamponag warrior whose blood was spilled. The person who wrote this was chastising the people for not returning the drum to the Wamponag. I will speak to the warrior whose blood is on that drum and find what he wants, but I think the statements here are good and need to said to remind us all that there are many feelings here and we need to be mindful of that and respect those ways when we make our decisions. This person was told to speak to their elders because of the anger they had expressed at an individual who was not at fault in any of this but was learning why we are saying these things about the exploitation of our culture.
"A man who took me as a brother lost his nephew when he was murdered. He got caught between two gangs from two other ethninities. While he was trying to get ouit of the way, he ran between some buildings where he was ambushed by one of the gangmembers that was assigned to cut any of the other gang mambers trying to escape.
Now this was an extrodinary young man, great dancer, singer, warrior. He was lean, tall and had long flowing hair which he kept in two braids as is our way. When he was down, they took his hair. This happened right next to his home. He died in the arms of pregneant girlfriend. With the help of ome friends that I had with media connections we were able to get the two killers off the street, at least for a while. His hair was never recovered, we even offered to buy it back, no questions asked but to no avail.
So, I guess my question to her defenders is if they have a problem with what she did with this man’s blood. Do you condone it? Could you see any instance in which that behavior or action is called for? Could you even try to justify this action?
And no, I wasn’t in Mass for that melee. But I understand the emotions that are drawn on when confronted by things that one is sensitive to and very protective of. Yes there is much healing needed but one of the things you defenders need to understand is that we see these things differently from you. The things that we see her as “stealing??? are ours, given to us by the Creator for us to use. They are not interchangeable we can’t use Dine’ ceremonies, nor will they use ours. Our spiritual ways, except for the Peyote way, do not cross tribal lines, though each NAC Ytibal chapter does things a little differently each according to their tribe’s way. That’s all you need to know about that. So with that in mind, how can we be expected to accept or much less just turn our heads to to your friends activities while we aren’t even able or supposed to “give??? our ceremonies to our brother tribes. These are what makes us, US. This along with our language, culture and ways give us our tribal identities. I have told folks that I am American by consquence, if I am Christian, it is by choice but I am Indian by the Grace of God. If you can understand that, you are well on your way to understanding the underlying frustrations that make us challenge your friends ligitimacy to cinduct such activities. We do these things because we are supposed to, she does them by choice.
As for the rest of you who are trying to educate her defenders, I wish you luck. It is my feeling and prayer that they have heard you. By no means do I want her friends to dismiss her as a friend. That is not my intent, my intent is show them that many people, with legitimate ties to these ceremonies have a major beef with her. I am not even going to ask her defenders to accept our views but I hope that they will at least try to understand that many, many people are upset with this woman. I would hope that before they try to justify her actions, they will step back and look at it from the other side. I want them to say to themselves that they will be there to help her when it’s over but remember that any conflict that arises either through discourse or those unfortunate incidents in Massachusetts, it will be because she has chosen to proceed with her “Native American??? prayerformances. Respectfully, I have to remind you that she can no longer plead ignorance.
I must apologize to you Mr. Hannahulaku for singling you out earlier. I had to see what was lying beneath your elequent and well thought out responses to those questioning your friends actions. I believe that you are a sincere man and from what I can see, a very staunch and true friend. I have no pearls of wisdom for you but I wll give you this. See if you can find a Navajo that is well versed in “HOZO???, not the understanding you get from reading a book. Go out and actually find a Navajo or Dine’, as some prefer to be called. Ask them if they are willing to teach you. I am not Dine’, so it is not mine to give you. But if you can find that and someone to show you, I think it would help you see why conflicts like these arise and how to maybe help your friend with her problems. I have a feeling that you have spent time in New Mexico, Arizona or the Southwest, so you may have already had some exposure to it. I will ask you to convey to your friend rachel, that the opposition will not stop as long as she continues using any Native American aspect in her ceremonies. She has been told and I believe them when they that she will be left alone to do her thing as long as she doesn’t try to use or imply any Native American aspect to her ceremonies. At some point though she should address the blood taking incident, perhaps she should contact the one whose blood she took and try to make peace. I can’t give you any advice here because I don’t know how the Wamponoags handle situations like these. Sooner would probably be better than later. She also has to understand that this was a very grevious incident and might even be unforgiveable.
I have heard from some of the elders about what this woman did, We need to pity her, pray for her, she is lost and can’t find her center and she is trying to take the shortest path she thinks she can take to get there. I won’t share the rest of what was said because we have prolonged this enough, hopefully she will abide and we can all move on to other offenders."
