Little Grandmother / Kiesha Crowther

[quicksilverwade]

My name is Wade Crowe, enrolled with the Yanktonai Hunkpati Dakota nation of Crow Creek, South Dakota. We, the Dakota/Lakota/Nakota do not acknowledge Keisha Crowther or her ways. Her bad medicine will come back to haunt and destroy her. We have been pushed and marginalized for too long. It is now time for us to band together to stop this charlatan. Hoka hey!

[future pather]

Yikes sounds like a witch hunt and possible threat to me.

[quicksilverwade]

Yikes sounds like a witch hunt and possible threat to me.

So, you are calling Kiesha Crowther a witch? We call her a charlatan and an exploiter. She has to be dealt with and she will be judged. The elders have every right to take away her trinkets and destroy them.

[future pather]

Again if that was appropriate they should then bust in everyone with a dream catcher's house and take that too.

Every human has free will but in my book it's god's place to judge.

I'm sorry if you don't understand the witch hunt reference.

[Stephanie11]

Again if that was appropriate they should then bust in everyone with a dream catcher's house and take that too.

Every human has free will but in my book it's god's place to judge.

I'm sorry if you don't understand the witch hunt reference.

You are totally missing the point. People can have crosses and rosaries and other religious items in their home..bibles or dreamcatchers..whatever they believe.....But they CAN NOT get up in front of the congregation and say they are a PRIEST, or MINISTER or, in this case, a "Shaman"". It is a case of identity fraud, which is against the law, faking credentials, and stealing money. This woman is facing prison for not just the prostituting of my culture, but gaining monetarily under false pretenses.

Also, I will educate you a little bit. Natives do not recognize "shamans", and even the people who are spiritually gifted to do not shine a spotlight on themselves and say I am special. They have humility, and they know to NEVER EVER sell the gifts our Creator gave them for monetary gain. That is how you know when you are being led astray or if you are dealing with a legitimate healer.

She can't even pronounce the word SALISH right, and Sioux is a term we don't use. These are 2 different tribes with different customs altogether...she didn't even respect Natives enough to do proper research. I am 100% Native American, and if I got up and started wearing a priest robes, and offering communion, and then charging MONEY for it, all falsely of course, there would be repercussions of a legal nature. As there should be.

Just because we are marginalized as a race, doesn't mean we don't have a voice. We are the protectors of our culture, our beliefs. This is all we have left, and no one can take it from us. They tried and tried. They took our lands, they took our children, but they couldnt take our spirituality.

This fraud should be exposed. You can lie to yourself all you want about her messages of love and blah blah blah, but you can not get to the truth and find love by listening to the lies of an insincere and fraudulent person. For your sake, I ask you to pray for illumination, for truth, and to open your eyes. Ask Creator to guide your decision, in his love and wisdom. You don't need her to get close to him and nature. Ask for him to help you and you will see, in your heart, the truth, and you will find peace. Stop being deceived. And once you are free from her lies, and have an earnest need to learn our ways...it will just happen.

[future pather]

For your sake, I ask you to pray for illumination, for truth, and to open your eyes. Ask Creator to guide your decision, in his love and wisdom..

I have made it clear I have already done this and I received an answer which is that she is acting out of love.

You are really just harassing me asking me to do this again.

If harassment is what you wish your legacy to be then proceed and watch more and more start to move away from crap like that and towards beautiful people like Keisha.

No matter what anyone's heritage, it is action which shows ones true spirit. I respect her actions. I do not respect yours (the negative posting).

[Stephanie11]

I have made it clear I have already done this and I received an answer which is that she is acting out of love.

You are really just harassing me asking me to do this again.

If harassment is what you wish your legacy to be then proceed and watch more and more start to move away from crap like that and towards beautiful people like Keisha.

No matter what anyone's heritage, it is action which shows ones true spirit. I respect her actions. I do not respect yours (the negative posting).

I am not HARASSING you, or anyone. I never even posted anything to you before. It is NOT a negative posting, its a TRUTHFUL posting. If you fear the truth, then thats your problem, and there is something wrong there. There is nothing negative about posting TRUTH. And everything I typed is true.
You had made some silly comment about busting into people's homes and removing dreamcatchers, which is ridiculous. People who have religious items in their homes are not charging people money on a mass-scale through fraudulent credentials, and preying on the misguided for monetary gain. They are not exploiting and bastardizing a race's sacred beliefs, or claiming to be someone they are not in a mass deception.
If you choose to keep your eyes closed to the truth, fine. But someone, somewhere will have their eyes open to the truth. So I feel it is important to get this out there.
And as I continue to protest the bastardizing and prostitution of my culture, I hope she is petitioned by the IRS and by the legal system to expose her lies, and serve the prison time she has earned.

[quicksilverwade]

Again if that was appropriate they should then bust in everyone with a dream catcher's house and take that too.

Every human has free will but in my book it's god's place to judge.

I'm sorry if you don't understand the witch hunt reference.

Are you a witch? Will a house fall on you? Are you afraid? We have every right to judge an exploiter who is bastardizing our traditions. Kiesha is not Dakota, she is not Lakota nor is she Nakota. We determine who our people are. Please stand to the side and let us deal with this charlatan in the traditional way.

[quicksilverwade]

If harassment is what you wish your legacy to be then proceed and watch more and more start to move away from crap like that and towards beautiful people like Keisha.

You dare speak of harrassment? What do you know of harrassment? Were your people murdered and splayed with long knives like a butchered animal? Did your women have their breasts lopped off and used as tobacco pouches? Did your men folk have their testicles removed to be used as trinkets for the white folk? Were your people forced to wait at the bridge into Chamberlain, South Dakota for hours just to shop? Was your grandfather murdered by a Chamberlain, South Dakota police officer? This is harrassment, what we are doing here is our right.

[quicksilverwade]

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At the Lakota Summit V, an international gathering of US and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota unanimously passed a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality." The following declaration was unanimously passed on June 10, 1993
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Declaration of War
WHEREAS we are the conveners of an ongoing series of comprehensive forums on the abuse and exploitation of Lakota spirituality; and

WHEREAS we represent the recognized traditional spiritual leaders, traditional elders, and grassroots advocates of the Lakota people; and

WHEREAS for too long we have suffered the unspeakable indignity of having our most precious Lakota ceremonies and spiritual practices desecrated, mocked and abused by non-Indian "wannabes," hucksters, cultists, commercial profiteers and self-styled "New Age shamans" and their followers; and

WHEREAS with horror and outrage we see this disgraceful expropriation of our sacred Lakota traditions has reached epidemic proportions in urban areas throughout the country; and

WHEREAS our precious Sacred Pipe is being desecrated through the sale of pipestone pipes at flea markets, powwows, and "New Age" retail stores; and

WHEREAS pseudo-religious corporations have been formed to charge people money for admission into phony "sweatlodges" and "vision quest" programs; and

WHEREAS sacrilegious "sundances" for non-Indians are being conducted by charlatans and cult leaders who promote abominable and obscene imitations of our sacred Lakota sundance rites; and

WHEREAS non-Indians have organized themselves into imitation "tribes," assigning themselves make-believe "Indian names" to facilitate their wholesale expropriation and commercialization of our Lakota traditions; and

WHEREAS academic disciplines have sprung up at colleges and universities institutionalizing the sacrilegious imitation of our spiritual practices by students and instructors under the guise of educational programs in "shaminism;" and

WHEREAS non-Indian charlatans and "wannabes" are selling books that promote the systematic colonization of our Lakota spirituality; and

WHEREAS the television and film industry continues to saturate the entertainment media with vulgar, sensationalist and grossly distorted representations of Lakota spirituality and culture which reinforce the public's negative stereotyping of Indian people and which gravely impair the self-esteem of our children; and

WHEREAS individuals and groups involved in "the New Age Movement," in "the men's movement," in "neo-paganism" cults and in "shamanism" workshops all have exploited the spiritual traditions of our Lakota people by imitating our ceremonial ways and by mixing such imitation rituals with non-Indian occult practices in an offensive and harmful pseudo-religious hodgepodge; and

WHEREAS the absurd public posturing of this scandalous assortment of psuedo-Indian charlatans, "wannabes," commercial profiteers, cultists and "New Age shamans" comprises a momentous obstacle in the struggle of traditional Lakota people for an adequate public appraisal of the legitimate political, legal and spiritual needs of real Lakota people; and

WHEREAS this exponential exploitation of our Lakota spiritual traditions requires that we take immediate action to defend our most precious Lakota spirituality from further contamination, desecration and abuse;


THEREFORE WE RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
1. We hereby and henceforth declare war against all persons who persist in exploiting, abusing and misrepresenting the sacred traditions and spiritual practices of our Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people.

2. We call upon all our Lakota, Dakota and Nakota brothers and sisters from reservations, reserves, and traditional communities in the United States and Canada to actively and vocally oppose this alarming take-over and systematic destruction of our sacred traditions.

3. We urge our people to coordinate with their tribal members living in urban areas to identify instances in which our sacred traditions are being abused, and then to resist this abuse, utilizing whatever specific tactics are necessary and sufficient --for example demonstrations, boycotts, press conferences, and acts of direct intervention.

4. We especially urge all our Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people to take action to prevent our own people from contributing to and enabling the abuse of our sacred ceremonies and spiritual practices by outsiders; for, as we all know, there are certain ones among our own people who are prostituting our spiritual ways for their own selfish gain, with no regard for the spiritual well-being of the people as a whole.

5. We assert a posture of zero-tolerance for any "white man's shaman" who rises from within our own communities to "authorize" the expropriation of our ceremonial ways by non-Indians; all such "plastic medicine men" are enemies of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people.

6. We urge traditional people, tribal leaders, and governing councils of all other Indian nations, to join us in calling for an immediate end to this rampant exploitation of our respective American Indian sacred traditions by issuing statements denouncing such abuse; for it is not the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people alone whose spiritual practices are being systematically violated by non-Indians.

7. We urge all our Indian brothers and sisters to act decisively and boldly in our present campaign to end the destruction of our sacred traditions, keeping in mind our highest duty as Indian people: to preserve the purity of our precious traditions for our future generations, so that our children and our children's children will survive and prosper in the sacred manner intended for each of our respective peoples by our Creator.

Wilmer Stampede Mesteth; (Oglala Lakota); Traditional Spiritual Leader & Lakota Culture Instructor; Oglala Lakota College, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Darrell Standing Elk; (Sicangu Lakota); President, Center for the SPIRIT, San Fancisco, California, & Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Phyllis Swift Hawk; (Kul Wicasa Lakota); Tiospaye Wounspe Waokiye; Wanblee, South Dakota




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[Feralbeest]

What these nonidigenous derelict folk don't realize is that we have officially been at war since 1993. It may seem like a losing battle but if we hold our ground and intervene, we may have a chance for a future. Instead, we people like Future Pather who would rather see us with no voice and no hope.

I would like to see native nations recieve even a small fraction of what is owed. I am actually trying to get something moving for A.I.M. here in Austin, Texas. The level of apathy is incredible!

[admin]

Hi All,

We have deleted 8 posts from this thread because forum guidelines were not being followed.

We want everyone to be able to express their opinions here, as that is what this Forum is for, however, insults and derogatory comments to others character will not be tolerated.

Please express yourselves in a way that gets your opinions across without being aggressive or attacking towards others.

Thanks!

[future pather]

You dare speak of harrassment? What do you know of harrassment?

I appreciate the moderation.

Since the above quote was left (to date) I would like to take the opportunity to say I know personally of harassment in the form of years of domestic violence perpetrated against me by a Native American and can not support that type of brutality especially towards women.

I would also like to say that over 90% of the people in the village my grandfather fled from were killed over who they were.

Brutal violence is wrong period. Since I started this thread and feel responsible for it I feel compelled to express this since I feel the thread was going in a violent direction and some of the issues brought up remain in the thread.

[patientportal]

I'm sorry I don't know you and her info is public so I believe her regarding her ethnicity more than you.

However even if that were the case, why aren't you offended by other people who have dream catchers, perform ceremonies of their own spiritual choosing which may involve traditions from other cultures who do not have "your" approval - whatever that is - etc?

[somewhat]

A mental disorder

Kiesha's entrepreneurs may found some girl who had some mental disorder. I am not a psychiatrist but some young women has a fantasy that they are prophets or natives etc. I just follow the old movie Zelig by Woody Allen where the guy named Zelig always had a different personalty acoording to a time he was exited about. One period in his life he was Hitler another- jew etc. and it was so real that nobody doubt about his identity!
It is called multiply personalty disorder.
I'd say let her live in her illusory world but pity when other people earn big money from that.