An exchange of emails between me, Annika, and Nils Andersson, a leader of the Sioux Indian Club, almost the only one at the lecture not happy with my speech. The "chief" I referred in my original post was not him, but another named Svensson who got very red faced and angry.
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Mr. Andersson,
Annika fowarded your email to me. I will address your concerns one by one.
1) I repeatedly said in my lecture and afterwards that no one can be blamed for falling for con men such as Williston or cult leaders such as Sun Bear. After all, it´s not easy to find good sources living in
Europe, and most of the Natives (or imposters posing as Nativees such as Francis Talbot AKA Medicine Story) are people who make their living
deceiving or even abusing people.
I will take you at your word you intend no harm. However, intending no harm and doing no harm are two different things.
Now that you realize you have unintentionally harmed people by hosting frauds such as Williston, the right thing to do is admit your mistakes and refuse to make the same mistakes again, not wallow in self pity, get defensive, or resort to attacking my credibility behind my back.
It shows both cowardice and a lack of character to take your complaints to Annika instead of directly to me. You could have said these things on the forum, had her forward your email to me, or better yet said them to me face to face at the lecture.
From now on if you have something to say about me, have the courage to say it directly to me.
2) As far as your claim that you put a lot of money into my lecture, my understanding is that most of the money for speakers for your group comes from state education, what we in the US would call adult education courses. That is a matter of grave concern to me, since state funds are being used to subsidize lies and disrespect about Native people from characters like Williston. I will be writing to the agency responsible for these matters, urging them to develop guidelines to insure this never happens again.
As far as any time or money you or others devoted to my lecture being well attended, I sincerely appreciate it. And judging by the response, almost all the members of Sioux Indian Club appreciated it enormously.
Every person I spoke with of your club thanked me for "finally telling us the truth". Most said they had long had deep concerns about whether what they were doing was right, accurate, or respectful, but they just didnt know where to turn with their questions. Some said they were joining other organizations, others that they would work to turn the club into a far better place and end the disrespect and ceremony selling.
If you truly wish to show you are the good person you say you are, you should join them in your efforts and cease defending an exploiter like
Williston.
3) I did not see even one negative comment on the forum and I challenge you to show me one. All were very happy and enthusiastic about the
lectures.
I did not see one single lie either and I challenge you to show me one. The only one being negative so far is you.
4) As far as my post on the forum, I stand by every word.
It must be very painful for you to see Williston laughed at, with your own club members now finding his New Age name of Rainbow Eagle amusing for being such a stereotype. It probably is also painful for you to have to deal with many of your club members agree they were wrong to take
part in ceremonies and now pledging to change.
Again I challenge you to point to even one lie, or be shown to be a liar yourself.
