The weatherman has said to hunker down and to expect a foot of snow tonight. It hasn’t started yet, but it has been ready for a couple of hours. It would be nice if it was a really wet snow but it looks like it won’t be that wet. I’m heading out to the discussion group, but as old-er citizens I’m sure that we will break up early if the snowfall gets bad.
A Native lady asked me to be her friend on FB. I don’t know her, but figured what the heck. I figured when we became ‘friends’ I could look at her friends list and see which of my friend’s knows her. No such luck…no mutual friends. She is one of those FB people who change her profile pic way too often. She has several kids and several grandkids and is from OK. Anyway, she has opened up a new way of looking at things for me. She is pretty anti-Anglo, which makes me wonder why she friended me. That aside, she also posts information on non-Natives who claim to do Native ceremonies. I had no idea how many ‘wannabe fakes’ there were out there. Some of these people spent time with Natives and claim that they were ‘initiated’ into that tribe’s spiritual path. Others just ‘copy’ the ceremonies…always for a big price. Some are from the Southwest, others from other parts of the US. None of these wannabes seems to be able to use their real names, but instead use their ‘Indian’ name. These people are not FB people, They have their own websites. I must say I am appalled. I know I do not have a very deep knowledge of spirituality. Those that I know that are into such things do not claim any Native connection, unless they are tribal members, and never from a different tribe. The practice of claiming Native ancestry is not new. But making money off it, and using the internet to find followers is kinda new. I see this as little more than fraud and hope that these frauds continue to be exposed and shut down. Of the 10 or so that she has exposed, none have any ties to a tribe and make no qualms about sharing their funds with a tribe. Several Plains tribes have made it clear that the person is not part of their tribe nor do they accept the claim that the person was adopted by any of their tribal members. FB sure has a lot to offer.
Side note: I once had an Anglo teacher who was transferred to our school after a problem at her previous school. She was young and single. She made friends with young bucks in the community. It was a little strange. One day she came to school and told her female aide that she had been initiated into the Navajo ‘Lizard Clan’. Hmmm. No such clan. You can draw your own conclusions as to what that ceremony must have been like. She was a good teacher and stayed at our school, minus the community involvement. She left a couple of years later and moved to OK. Within 6 months she was married to a Native from there and I guess lived happily ever after.
Now that Obama has come out for an end to the ban on gay marriage, many minority Church leaders (African and Hispanic) are on the talk circuit against Obama’s decision. This is going to become a big issue in the weeks ahead. Many seem believe that this will lose him his minority voters. Somehow they believe that pushing for a traditional marriage is the way to end teen pregnancy, drugs, gangs, and all the other ills of their community. I haven’t read anywhere that there is a movement in the gay community to push for any of those ills. It is amazing how fear of change guides so many.
Our discussion group lasted much longer than usual. All lists will return tomorrow.
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