Introduction and a warning to Fake Shawnee Groups

[benbarnes]

I want to first introduce myself, before I get into what I really want to say:

My name is Ben Barnes and I am an enrolled Shawnee Tribal citizen living in NE Oklahoma. I am also Delaware by blood. I have been a member of our ceremonial community all my life, and now find myself holding the office of 2nd chief within the Tribal Office's government.

These last several years of being in office, I have begun to engage in the former historic homelands and institutions back east. The Shawnee lived in a vast area of the eastern US, covering more than 25 states. We are arguably the most traveled tribe in the United States. After our removals from the east and resettlement into Oklahoma, the Shawnee became three separate Tribal Nations: The Absentee Shawnee, the Eastern Shawnee, and the Shawnee Tribe.

I had always heard that there were these groups of phoneys back east, but until I was in office, I had no idea how damaging, disrespectful and insidious their activities truly were. Currently, there are 33 known Fake Shawnee groups calling themselves "tribes" organized as 501(c)3s which allows them to solicit for donations and participant in grants that are meant for real Native people. These 33 fake groups have also performed mockeries of ceremonies. Their pan-indian sideshows are minstrel shows and when encountered for the first time, it was quite shocking.

A few years ago, I encountered one fraud group that was performing a "Shawnee Green Corn" in the Cumberland Gap National Park. The Park Service had went so far as to even advertise the event to the public. There is only one place on earth that a Shawnee Green Corn can occur, and that is my home ground here in Oklahoma.

Since then, I have devoted myself to opposing these fakes at every opportunity. They engage at Historical Sites, Historical Societies and even on University Campus. We have our own versions of Ward Churchill, people that have claimed to be Shawnee that are not and have used that claim to advance themselves professionally.

The Shawnees were removed from their homelands. When they could not kill us off, they took our lands and tried to get our people to assimilate or to extinguish us. And now we find the same people wanting to *be* us. They claim that they hid out or got left behind, but meanwhile the historical record shows that 89 year old women were forced marched out of Ohio in the middle of winter. If any one of those elders could have stayed, they would have. These folks did not have a choice. Their tenuous fabrications of having black hair, cheek bones and noses is more than offensive, it pisses us off. They did not hide out.

Decades of anthropologists, ethnographers, and linguists spent time with the Shawnee documenting our people. We were fortunate that a great many of our former leaders were famous enough to generate this kind of attention. During that nearly century of work, NOT ONCE did those professionals obtain information about folks being left behind or staying back east. We were not allowed. We.Were.Not.Wanted. The removal of our people was a pogrom, plain and simple.

The following list is the 33 fake 501(c)3s that pretend to be us and are thieves, charlatans and guilty of minstrel shows. There are at least twice as many others that are not organized as non-profits. When these groups are encountered, I am the person to bring it to. While I may not be able to identify an individual as being one of the 3 REAL Shawnees, I can certainly tell you if an activity is Shawnee or if a group is a fraud.

For those Fakes that visit here, take this as a warning. I oppose your existence. I will use every remedy to extinguish you and your thieving appropriations. You will not make minstrelry of our ceremonies. Your pidgin language is offensive. I have and will continue to call Governors, Senators and Representatives to fight against your attempts at any form of recognition. You will not represent us in schools, universities and conferences.

This is a black wampum message to my fellow NDNs back east.  Help me and my fellow Shawnees put an end to their appropriations.

- Ben Barnes, Second Chief of the Shawnee Tribe and member of the White Oak ceremonial community

LIST OF FRAUDS BEGINS HERE-----
CURRENT LIST OF KNOWN FAKE SHAWNEE TRIBES, THEIR STATES AND AGENTS

ALABAMA
Piqua Shawnee Tribe
Picqua Shawnee Tribe (splinter of the Piqua Shawnee)

ILLINOIS
Vinyard Indian Settlement

INDIANA
Platform Reservation Remnant Band of Shawnee (Indiana HQ)
Upper Kiskopo Band of the Shawnee Nation

KANSAS
United Tribe of Shawnee Indians
Shawnee County Allied Tribes, Inc (?)

KENTUCKY
Ridgetop Shawnee
Southeastern Kentucky Shawnee

LOUISIANA
Kispoko Sept of Ohio Shawnee, Louisiana Chapter

MARYLAND
Yougiogaheny River Band of Shawnee Indians, Inc

NORTH CAROLINA
Near River Dwellers (Claiming kin to everyone on Dawes Rolls)

OHIO
Chaliawa (Cat Nation) Indian Reservation
Eastern Band Shawnee (led once by John Reese; not the same as Eastern Shawnee)
Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band of Ohio
Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band
Piqua Sept of Ohio Shawnees, aka Piqua Shawnee Tribe
Mekoce Shawnee
Morning Star Shawnee Nation
East of the River Shawnee
Lower Eastern Ohio Mekoce Shawnee (Listed as Non-profit Human Service Org)
Lower Eastern Ohio Mekojay Shawnee
Shawnee Nation Blue Creek Band
Piqua Sept of Ohio Shawnee
Piqua Shawnee
Platform Reservation Remnant Band of Shawnee (Indiana HQ)
Kispoko Sept of Ohio Shawnees (Hog Creek Reservation)
Chickamauga Keetoowah Unami Wolf Band of Cherokee Delaware Shawnee of Ohio, West Virginia & Virginia
Alleghenny Nation Indian Center
Tall Tree Tribe Piqua Shawnee Turtle Clan

VIRGINIA
Chickamauga Keetoowah Unami Wolf Band of Cherokee Delaware Shawnee of Ohio, West Virginia & Virginia

WEST VIRGINIA
Appalachian Shawnee Tribe
Chickamauga Keetoowah Unami Wolf Band of Cherokee Delaware Shawnee of Ohio, West Virginia & Virginia

[wolfhawaii]

Welcome to the board Chief Barnes. I visited White Oak back in 2004, nice community. Stay strong! Stiwi

[earthw7]

welcome to the board i am from the Standing Rock reservation good to see more Native stand up against frauds

[Defend the Sacred]

Welcome, Ben. It's good to have you here.

[E.P. Grondine]

Hello Ben -

These are my views, and I speak for no one else here.

I appreciate your effort, but I believe that both the Eastern and the Absentee have perfect right to conduct green corn if they wish.

While I can appreciate your effort, I find your new claim of the Loyal band as being THE "Shawnee" offensive.  There are also Shawnee in the Eastern Band, the Absentee Band, and in refuge among the Ojibwe of Kettle Point.  (These last have been petitioning for many years for separate Canadian federal recognition).

In my view, I would prefer the formation of a "Shawnee Nation" consisting of an Eastern Band, Absentee Band, WHITE OAK BAND, and the Canadian Band. Of course that would require you to humble yourself enough to meet with the other leaders and speak with them as equals.

Also changes in signage and letterhead.

In any case, in my view the Shawnee covenant belt needs to be healed, with your help or without it.

(I learned from Jeff Wilson about his very good sharing of a small part of the nation's history with you. It is the breaking of the convenant belt in Portsmouth in 1776 which needs to be healed.)

Actually, there were a lot of people who could "pass", and did.
I know this personally.

You can meet many of them by attending Oldtown Days held at Oldtown Maryland. (The real estate developers dropped the "Shawnee" part from the name "Shawnee Old Town".)

The effects of the conquest has provided various confused people with opportunities for both deliberate fraud and more innocently doing harm.
In my view, in recent times the state recognition processes have also led to confusion. Again, and importantly, this is simply my own view.

Again in my view, the only way to bring this confusion to an end is by the Shawnee Nation to form a Shawnee National Ancestry Organization.

But then the reformation of the Shawnee Nation that would require some changes in attitude on your own part.

I speak only for myself here, as it would be very presumptuous of me to assert any rights as a descendant of the Thewighila Division, or from clan.

I will simply note that its going to be a large and difficult job, and the question that presents itself is whether you are up to it.

You also need to understand that you can not do this alone.

In the meantime, I will simply work on recovering Shawnee history.

[Larry Cope]

Hello Ben.

I live in Ohio and have heard of everyone of those groups at one time or other. Having done research, dismissed each one as fakes and wannabes. I know one sect has acquired and operates Zane's Caverns near Bellefontaine. I think it's the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band. The caverns impressed me, but nothing else.

[E.P. Grondine]

Hello Ben.

I live in Ohio and have heard of everyone of those groups at one time or other. Having done research, dismissed each one as fakes and wannabes. I know one sect has acquired and operates Zane's Caverns near Bellefontaine. I think it's the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band. The caverns impressed me, but nothing else.

Hi Larry -

I do not live in Ohio, but I have heard much about these groups.

I was told that Jerry Pope has met his fate, and the United Remnant Band affair has nearly come to end,
with but a few  details yet to be cleared up.

He leaves behind great damage and many victims.

I will have to disagree with both your and Keely Dennison's assessment of the East of the River.

Some of the individuals involved in it have done great work in preserving ancient ceremonial sites
while working under extreme difficulties.

[Diana]

Good article on fake Shawnee. Click on the link for a video. It was absolutely sickening. Also here's another link for their Facebook page where Keely Denning is giving them a well deserved smack down. https://www.facebook.com/FortAncient. Go to April 2 date. Also http://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/  good genealogy work on a lot of these fakes.



An Imitation Pow Wow? Controversy Haunts Fort Ancient’s Gathering in Ohio



Tish Leizens



5/19/15




On its 25th anniversary this June, a gathering in Oregonia, Ohio, hosted by Fort Ancient, is still answering questions about the integrity of their educational and inter-tribal celebration.

The controversy comes from the misrepresentation of the Shawnee people, and other Native tribes’ cultures. The organizers of the pow wow are not Native American, but at least one dancer, Charles Hodges (head male dancer), is part of a federally recognized tribe, according to Jack Blosser, the site manager at Fort Ancient.

An interview by ICTMN also reveals what seems to be a lack of substantive and continual discussions between leaders of federally recognized tribes and the host of the gathering. “We need to sit down and have a conversation. We have to remove stereotypes. This is not the way Indians are,” said Ben Barnes, second chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Barnes said that he has corresponded with the Ohio Historical Society, a private nonprofit organization that administers the Fort Ancient site, but they have not specifically talked about the pow wow.

In the absence of a conversation between Fort Ancient and tribal leaders, social media is buzzing with public comments on sites like Facebook. “It looks to me that this group is a bunch of wannabees attempting to find any federally recognized tribe for an endorsement. I was born a Choctaw 63 years ago and know what being an Indian is about. I resent you people playing Indian,” James Brown wrote on Fort Ancient’s Facebook page.

“This is a hobbyist gathering, they are claiming to represent the Shawnee and other tribes, but they are dressing wrong and dancing wrong. It has become a full mockery of all Indian people from all tribes,” said Keely Squirrel Denning, a member of the Shawnee tribe, who referenced a Youtube video.

For instance, Denning said, in what is called a “long dance,” a teen female appears wearing a light blue shawl and wearing a Pocahontas Halloween costume and cowboy boots. Some people wear war bonnets and that’s offensive, she said.

Video of Long dance

“I believe the majority of the Shawnee people, and people from other tribes who are falsely represented, would like to make their presence known at Fort Ancient. Instead of having these people who are not from our cultures, teaching things they believe to be true -- step aside -- and let the real descendants teach the right way. Let us tell our story. Let us dance for their people,” Denning said.

Acknowledging that there are concerns, Fort Ancient on its page in April, said, “While plans for the 2015 event are well under way, we do take these concerns seriously, and have implemented measures to address legitimate concerns.”

Kristy Creel, director of marketing of public relations of Dayton Society of Natural History, the organization that operates Fort Ancient, said, that for this year anyone who has been invited to participate in any official capacity, including vendors, security and presenters have been asked to sign an agreement.

The agreement, according to Creel, is in additional to their normal contract and states that the person involved in the gathering is aware of and will adhere to all applicable federal laws. “All vendors must include signage that indicates their status, and we will be spot-checking vendors to ensure that no false claims are being made,” she said.

As for the Shawnee tribes, Creel said Lynn Hanson, their vice president of collections and research, has been working with Barnes and Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma on the issues raised. “[Hanson] has been working to bring representatives to our sites, encouraging individuals to come and simply dance, or participate in a more official capacity. This is something we have not yet reached an agreement on,” Creel said.

“We have not been to this pow wow. The Native tribes in Oklahoma would love to participate,” said Barnes, adding that he is concerned that the public may think of the event as a circus.

In the meantime, come June 13-14, Fort Ancient will host the 25th Annual Fort Ancient Celebration: A Gathering of Four Directions on their grounds. They said the public is welcome to watch featured performers: flutist Douglas Blue Feather, 100 dancers and three drum groups. Other performers are Randy Church, MC; Charles Keith, head Vet; Charles Hodges, head male; Tammy Woods, head woman; and Southern Singers and Sky Hawk, drums.

“We are simply trying to educate the public about the prehistoric and historic past as best as we can,” Blosser said.


Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/05/19/imitation-pow-wow-controversy-haunts-fort-ancients-gathering-ohio-160409?page=0%2C1





Lim lemtsh,

Diana

[Larry Cope]

I will have to disagree with both your and Keely Dennison's assessment of the East of the River.

E.P I was merely making a personal observation being within state proximity. There are many people, native and non-native, that have worked to maintain ancient ceremonial  sites in Ohio including but not limited to Newark Circle Earthworks, Hopewell Cultural Historic Park, Serpent Mound and various mound sites around the state.

[AClockworkWhite]

Diana, thanks for linking that thread to Facebook. OMG I love seeing fakes smashed like that. It is heart-warming and inspiring. Keely is a warrior! The others also on there, too. Two Thumbs Up, folks. That's what REAL looks like. People who claim all this and that are EASILY debunked in this day and age. You'd think anyone dumb enough to claim non-existent ancestry would be smart enough to at least know an active community that claims them, but nah.

[AClockworkWhite]

Wow. Linette Torbet's FB profile is a rabbit hole of pretendian MUCK.

[E.P. Grondine]

Here is the situation, to the best of my knowledge.

The Ohio Historical Society is a private organization;
Dick Shiels and Brd Lepper are professional archaeologists whose status depends on controlling sites.
No Shawnee are consulted by them. 
Marti at the Newark center is a very confused sioux lady. 
(just to clear this up, I knew Wendell, who fought for the right to keep his hair, and crafted tipis, pretty well.)

The Shawnee were scxattered into 3 federally recognized Bands, and a Canadian remnant. None of the leaders talk with each other at any depth.

The more remote descendants back east were seriously damaged by Jerry Pope's fraud.
(One of the most hilarious pictures is Pope with the leaders of the federally recognized tribes at a major event.
Another of my "favorite" items is a vocabulary list that Pope had the nerve to send to Eminie Vogelin.)

The federally recognized bands have more immediate business to tend to than the remains back east, not only here in Ohio but in other states as well.

The Ohio Historical Society did not allow powwows to be held at any of "their" sites,
 up until Dick worked with Marti to bring in Sioux to one of White Hawk's rings here at Newark.

Other than that, back in 1992 the Ohio Historical Society  leased out the other ball court-ring complex to a golf club for 100 years.
To my knowledge, Dick and Brad raised no objections.

This ceremonial complex was gifted to the Ohio Historical Society by the citizens of Newark so that it would be preserved and people could visit it.

[E.P. Grondine]

As regards the Fort Ancient Celebration, it is more than a powwow, as colonial re-enactors have always been participants.

Remember, the Ohio  Historical Society does not allow powwows to be held by any people with ancestral connections to the sites,
and this includes Cherokee.

Jakc Blosser has the complete support of the community,
who use food sales at the event to fund charitable activities.

No one has ever been allowed to misrepresent their crafts.
While due to the recession cheap knick knakcs for children are now hesitantly allowed,
in general, if you don't make it, you can't sell it.

Carded nationals have traveled to the event from as far away as Canada,and the Pacific Coast.
The event is inter-tribal, always has been, and always will be.
Those nationals attend year after year, and would not hesitate to speak up if anything were wrong.

The celebration is one of Ohio's best events.

[E.P. Grondine]

I will have to disagree with both your and Keely Dennison's assessment of the East of the River.

E.P I was merely making a personal observation being within state proximity. There are many people, native and non-native, that have worked to maintain ancient ceremonial  sites in Ohio including but not limited to Newark Circle Earthworks, Hopewell Cultural Historic Park, Serpent Mound and various mound sites around the state.

Hi Larry -

I've met at lot of them as well.
Most are entirely fed up with the Ohio Historical Society.

Id like to mention here some of the better Ohio archaeologists.
Hooge, Pacheco, Romaine, De Regnacourt, Tanklersley, and other folks from, the Univerity of Cincinatti,
many people with the Archaeological Society of Ohio, and many rescue field excavators.
Hell, the archaeologists from Germany who worked on the Scioto and Paint Rivers are better than Shiels and Lepper.
Their graphics and notes used to be downloadable.

[E.P. Grondine]

"As for the Shawnee tribes, Creel said Lynn Hanson, their vice president of collections and research, has been working with Barnes and Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma on the issues raised. “[Hanson] has been working to bring representatives to our sites, encouraging individuals to come and simply dance, or participate in a more official capacity. This is something we have not yet reached an agreement on,” Creel said."

Note that Ms. Hansen has to get Barnes and Wallace together. 
And no one from the Abserntee has spoken with her yet.

(By the way, carded Absentee participate in one of the drums at the Celebration.
You can also meet former members of an organization that no longer exists there as well.)

Once again, the Celebration is inter-tribal, and more than a native event.

The Dayton Historical Society also runs Sunwatch Village, and all the people at their events there are carded.
( I know this because one of their members asked me to get a CIDB so I could participate.
I have not done this yet, but instead I keep my genealogy and DNA test with me.)