CAORANN

... and back away slowly.

Because Graham Greene is armed and dangerous!



cross-posted, because it bears repeating

Skin Coloured is intended to be a collaborative, visual exploration of what it is to be non-white in a white culture. Make-up, plasters and tights - even when they’re marked “flesh-coloured” - are not the colour of skin that isn’t white. And whilst white women may have trouble matching these items to their skin, for women who don’t class themselves as white, this inconvenience is symptomatic of a wider problem. To help illustrate this problem, therefore, Skin Coloured is looking for submissions. Send us photographs that illustrate the inadequacy of provisions for non-white people, and we’ll post them on the blog, and hopefully both those submitting, and those who’re here to learn, will gain something from it. Further information can be found here. Please help us by reposting this.

Indian at heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Tk0asdWoI

Rachel Holzwarth
There are lots of frauds out there - spiritual leaders who are using aspects of Native American ceremonies, against the wishes of those in the very communities they are stealing from. In the Gaelic and CR communities we are dealing with this when some white person decides they will justify their theft by calling it "Celtic", and hoping people are stupid enough to not know that the ceremonies and beliefs of the diverse Celtic Nations are different from those of the various First Nations. While some settle for the ugliness of painting a triskele on a fake Indian drum and doing their idea of a chanupa (pipe) ceremony, the really shameless have even gone so far as to publicly tack a mis-applied Gaelic (or other Celtic) name on their idea of an Inipi or smudging ceremony, stupidly thinking that no one out there who is actually part of these cultures will notice. Though not always confronted in public, these people are being laughed at by those who speak the languages (Native American and Celtic languages).

( One example of what happens when enough is enough (including video footage)... )

crossposted to Pàganachd Bhandia

This is an official statement by Richard L. Allen. EdD, who is the Research & Policy Analyst for the Cherokee Nation. I am reposting it here (and over at my Pàganachd Bhandia blog), because we still have the problem of people thinking that any person of American Indian ancestry, or who claims such ancestry, is somehow a representative or spiritual leader for a particular Nation, or indeed all Native Americans. Hopefully this will clear some of that up.

Additionally, if someone claims to be a spiritual leader, ask for details: who trained them, where are they from, and then contact the tribal offices to check on their claims. Most Nations have websites now, but if google doesn't turn up an official site, feel free to contact me for help finding their phone numbers or mailing addresses.

Greetings --

The Cherokee Nation is overwhelmed with those charlatans who fraudulently claim to be shaman, spiritual leaders or descendents of a Cherokee princess.

Such individuals make such claims without ever having lived within the Cherokee communities. They claim to be descended from some nebulous and mysterious ancestor who was from "a reservation in North Carolina" (there is only one) or "a reservation in Oklahoma" (there are none). The ancestor is never just a plain ordinary everyday Cherokee citizen but a "Cherokee Princess," a "Cherokee Shaman," or a "Cherokee Pipe carrier" none of which actually exist or ever have. Those who claim to be "shaman" do not reside within the known boundaries of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.

Cherokee medicine people and spiritual leaders are known to the Cherokee people and do not practice medicine for a fee nor sell "shamanic" lessons to anyone. They do not advertise their services through any form of media and certainly not over the internet.

Traditional Cherokee healers and spiritual leaders provide their services to the Cherokee people. A Cherokee medicine person or spiritual leader is fluent in the Cherokee language and would conduct any medical or spiritual practices by using the Cherokee language. Therefore, our medicine people are those who were born of a Cherokee mother and a Cherokee father and would have been reared within a Cherokee community speaking the Cherokee language. Our traditional Cherokee healers and spiritual leaders are humble people and would not present themselves as such nor "hang out a shingle" so to speak.

Cherokee medicine people are acknowledged and recognized by members of the Cherokee community as effective healers and leaders. It is the recognition of the Cherokee people that validates these persons as medicine people and healers not self-proclaimation. We may provide them small gifts, a token amount of money or foodstuffs in payment for their services. They do not charge for their services nor would they withhold their services when asked and they certainly would not prescibe payment by credit card.

Cherokee medicine people may provide services to recognized members of other tribes or may provide services to non-Indians who would seek them out for treatment, but certainly would not mix their spirituality or medicine with that of other nations.

Cherokee medicine and spiritual practices do not include tarot cards, palmistry, psychic readings or sweatlodge ceremonies.

One may assume that anyone claiming to be a Cherokee "shaman, spiritual healer, or pipe-carrier," is equivalent to a modern day medicine show and snake-oil vendor.

You have my permission to print this response as is.

Richard L. Allen. EdD
Research & Policy Analyst
Cherokee Nation
P.O. Box 948
Tahlequah, Oklahoma 74465

Swedish TV, which declined to air the award-winning documentary, Spirits for Sale, is now instead repeatedly airing the film Historiens fångar ("Prisoners of the Past"), a propaganda piece consisting of an hour of relentless paternalism, offensive stereotypes, and racism both subtle and blatant. The central premise of this ugly, inconsistent piece of work is that indigenous people are having social and economic problems only because they are "stuck in the past", their cultures are "dead", and the only way to fix all these problems would be to abandon all traditional ways and adopt the cultures of their white oppressors. Curiously, the oppressors are never named as oppressors, even though they are the voices that guide and contextualize the film. Yes, they actually hired known White Supremacists to provide commentary, with one of them even posing as an American Indian. (more on this later.)

The film actually proposes that traditional cultures and traditional peoples are the cause of suffering in indigenous communities. Not colonialism or racism, traditionals. No traditional people speak in the film. (And the filmmakers are also clueless about who is and isn't traditional. At one point they seem to be implying that casino magnates are the traditionals. Or something. Like I said, they're confused.)

The actual Indigenous people who speak in the film (Australian Aboriginal, Inuit, Cheyenne, and Sami individuals) are basically there only to tell of the difficult or abusive periods and situations in their lives, especially when these involved conflicts with other Native people. But then their experiences are taken out of context and their stories exploited to serve the racist aims of the producers. The only positive things that are ever said about indigenous people in the film are when an indigenous person has assimilated into mainstream, white culture. Even the Sami people, who are portrayed in the more positive light, are outraged about the misrepresentations and white supremacist agenda in the film.

One of the reasons we are concerned about this film is that it was made for an international audience, and there is reason to believe they may soon be trying to sell it to an American market, if they aren't already.

The can see the film on the SVT website. It will be viewable on the Internet for the rest of the month, then it´ll be removed. (note - you will need to go to the menu on the right and select Historiens fångar)

Who to write to in protest:
The guy who made the film, Poul-Erik Heilbuth: PLH@dr.dk
The documentary department of SVT. The head of the dept. is Ingemar Persson: dokumentarfilm@svt.se

If you have enough of the language to navigate the site, you can lodge a complaint at the Granskningsnämden för radio and TV (broadcast standards tribunal) in Sweden here: www.grn.se/ here

I'm also reproducing here an open letter to the producers from Dr. Al Carroll, historian, professor, and founder of NAFPS

( An Open Letter to Poul-Erik Heilbruth and Ingmar Persson: )

A film about the exploitation and misrepresentation of First Nations traditions has been completed and will be premiering this month. For more info, check out http://www.spiritsforsale.com

Congratulations to Annika and the rest of the crew for all their hard work!

from their website:

About protection of ceremonies

The information in Europe about Native Americans and Native Canadians is most often full of fantasies and lies. People in general know very little about American Indians and their general view is based on stereotypes, mascots and film clichés. In some cases the belief is that “Indians do not exist.” Europe has also seen a growing interest in so called Native American spirituality. Ceremonies and rituals together with sacred objects are being sold on websites and in papers. Cults and organisations offer people to become “an Indian shaman” or a medicine man during a weekend course. Seldom or never do Native voices get heard and because of the lack of information, con-men make a considerable amount of money while they violate the spirituality of mostly Plains Indians.

This film will address the issue of spiritual exploiters and the harm they do towards Native cultures but also to followers who, in many cases, “don´t have a clue”.

*crossposting encouraged*

A friend of mine and myself are starting a Celtic Reconstructionist Organization entitled "An Chuallacht Ghaol Naofa (CGN)" or "Gaol Naofa" for short. We currently are not accepting official membership. However there is a public forum which we are excepting members on. We would greatly appreciate anyone interested in Celtic Reconstructionism check out the forum. Thanks

www.gaolnaofa.org

Okay, on facebook I have encountered some very annoying people. I joined a group named "Celtic Pride" thinking it would be a good way to get to know some people who shared an interest in all things Celtic. But a conversation started on the Wall. It started as a discussion about the purity of the various Celtic Languages and which Celtic Language was more alive today. However it gradually degraded from there. Then one of the people on the group went and said

"I just hate the yankees banging on about being celtic especially when there a new englander"

Now understand, I originally come from New England. And I have Celtic Ancestors, so I consider myself both a New Englander and a Celtic. So I found this comment rather insulting. I then informed the person that I was Germanic, Welsh/English, and Irish, all of which as we all know are countries with Celtic Heritage. I also informed him I was a Celtic Reconstructionist. Unfortunately this person continued to berate me. He simply could not see reason. Then another person has the gaal to say:

"I Love These Yankees Who Think They Know All About Celtic Culture And What Is The Oldest Surviving Celtic Culture They Know Jack Shit About Its All Ireland Ireland Ireland, Scotland Scotland Scotland, I have Scotish And Irish Family But Its Safe To Say, The Scots Have a Massive Viking Influence Over Their Celtic And The Irish Are Divided By English Dilution, Galica Is Almost Gone In Celtic Hertiage, Cornish Is Maing A Comback, But At The Moment Wales And Brittany Are The Last Ones Standing"

Then the topic turned toward the nature of how one gains citizenship in Ireland for a little while. However that was not long lasting. Then someone said that the Celts died out in England. Followed by a statement that the members of the discussion had to get themselves laid. Then someone said that because I am not moving to Ireland I should quite wasting my time with all the Irish Facts and history and get some "pussy".

What strikes me is some of these people on this Celtic Pride group who are debating against the members of the group, aren't even Celtic in the first place. Some on the other hand are. Simply put, I think it is really terrible that people who do have a Celtic Heritage are treating other Celts in this manner. And I think its even worse that people who don't have a Celtic Heritage need to bug those with a Celtic Heritage left and right.

I wasn't sure where else to post about this, so I thought I would post it here.

Configuring layout, tweaking colors.