Unfortunately, the person I responded to on the list did not get it at all. Her response included:
"Quero' is Maria's word for the people that existed prior to the Apache, before the split
into so many different tribes throughout the region, used as a sort of reference to an even
older way of life."
The poster also asked what NDN means too.
Well I tried, and at least others on the list can see the info about Maria and make an informed decision.
ETA- I replied to her thusly:
NDN is a way many indigenous people in the US and Canada identify
themselves, as an alternate to 'Indian' or 'Native American.' The
Quero already are a tribe, incidentally, in South America, and have no
relation to the Apache. Another problem which is evidenced in your
reply is the use of the word Shamanism. Native traditions are often
called Shamanism, but actual Native people with first hand knowledge
of medicine ways do not use the word.
I would urge you to read the home page of
http://www.newagefraud.org/index.html ; it could at least give you a
better understanding. Your reply was well thought out, but illustrates
exactly what most people say to justify cultural appropriation and
theft. People's guts fool them when their minds are filled with
misinformation. "There are more than two hundred impostors out there
posing as Cherokee medicine people alone. Multiply that by five
hundred Native nations in the US, and add on the exploiters who abuse
or lie about practices of Latin America's Indians, and you get an idea
of the sheer, massive scope of the problem." -- from NAFPS.org
Well anyway, I tried. Fact is your reply illustrated exactly the
problems people in the Native world are trying to fix. But I've said
what I can. I'll say no more on this subject. It's with a heavy heart
I watch people go on defending this kind of 'Native American'
spiritualism.
~kk
I've urged to look at this forum, and hope she does.
