Hi, I'm Angelica. I joined to post about my uncle whom ended up on the frauds section due to someone having question about him. I posted a reply but made an error that I was gonna fix before I hit submit, but too late. Don't know how to edit post. Anyway his name was Tis Mal Crow. He was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He was well known and respected. His traditional beliefs did not allow him to "sell" tradition, and his family and friends are all saddened and hurt to find his name mixed up in anything like this. I google his name, and this comes up. It appears that some of the moderators & administrators have addressed the question with respect, but they are not sure. There is quite a lot of good info out there in Google-land, but I would like to inform a bit about Tis Mal. He was trained for many years in traditional medicine by respected elders. He was known, loved, and respected by many in the community, and throughout the world. His travels were many. He was on pow wow circuit, had many friends, some of them also famous and activists in Native community. His list of accomplishments are numerous. He was an artist, author (the first enrolled member of a NDN nation to author a book on Native herbal medicine use), and an activist. I would offer to provide proof of his identity (i.e. Tribal enrollment card, references), but I don't feel that we should need to stoop to that. He showed that to people who needed to see it for his works including those with the state and smithsonian museum, among many others. It was his life's-work in the contemporary/modern world, as an artist and educator, to teach average people whom are (increasingly) interested in herbal medicine, about proper use and sustainable practices. We have seen careless poaching and clearing of these sacred plants increase in the years since his passing, thanks in large part to TV shows. Tis Mal was keenly aware of this situation before it became a popular topic of interest as it is now with many self described "herb hunters" or " herbalists". He would very likely have found an outlet to make his presence on TV with these major networks by now. He would wish to educate about conserving, and respecting thir use from a Native viewpoint, in response to this modern phenom of herb-hunting. Many people were perceptive to this message. He had a way of making people care. His presence as well as his concern, was undeniable. And he always seemed to find his way into public eye...
He did so in order to bring awareness of how important it is to respect the proper use, handling, and conservation of the plants of which many are sacred medicine to us. As with any public figure, especially being a Native American, the new Agers will be attracted to them. But he had no more control over them than anyone does. He did not sell-out for anyone or encourage or perpetuate false conceptions of traditional practices, and was not in the practice of sharing sacred knowledge of traditions with outsiders, or putting on a false show of them. In fact, he would have read the riot act to anyone falsely representing him or his work. Unfortunately, he would not have control over how someone may try to market his book, art or CD's in their stores. And apparently how someone may gossip about him, who did not ever know him. Thank you for you attention to this!
~Angelica
