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Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 22, 2007 8:33:17 GMT -6
BARRE [Massachusetts]— American Indians who believe the spirits of their ancestors are trapped among items from the 1890 Wounded Knee, S.D., massacre in a museum at the Henry Woods Memorial Library plan to visit the facility and hold a peaceful protest later this month.
The group hopes to encourage library officials to return the artifacts to tribe members during a visit slated for June 30.
Peter Bormuth, one of the organizers of the event, said that since members of the Lakota Sioux tribe of South Dakota first visited the library in 1993, only one of about 100 artifacts displayed there has been repatriated, despite requests that the items be returned to the tribe.
A lock of hair believed to have been taken from the body of Chief Big Foot, the Sioux leader at Wounded Knee, was returned to his great-great-grandson, Leonard Little Finger, in 2000. The hair was burned in a sacred ceremony to release Big Foot’s soul, in accordance with the tribe’s beliefs. Article: www.telegram.com/article/20070621/NEWS/706210562/1116
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Post by calvinspottedelk on Jan 28, 2011 1:26:25 GMT -6
"A lock of hair believed to have been taken from the body of Chief Big Foot, the Sioux leader at Wounded Knee, was returned to his great-great-grandson, Leonard Little Finger, in 2000. The hair was burned in a sacred ceremony to release Big Foot’s soul, in accordance with the tribe’s beliefs." Leonard Little Finger is not the great grandson of Chief Spotted Elk (also known as Chief Bigfoot) although he very publicly claims to be and has for a long time because he wrongfully and illegally obtained a letter of administratrix for the estate. He was held in contempt of court for going against Judge Sydney Witt's order to hold onto the lock of hair until a future court date was set because it was in dispute. Mr. Little Finger was ordered to produce a legitimate family tree, probate papers or any other certified documents showing his lineage. In court he had only shown a half-filled family tree he put together based on his "family oral history" and a copy of controversial book as his proof of identity. (the family tree had previously been at Rootsweb under Chuck A Benson. Since Calvin has gone public, this tree has since been deleted but it should verified through the internet archives and copies were made of the original links. wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jacobs_stevens&id=I13501 Judge said this was not acceptable as Jasper Spotted Elk had provided probate papers and other certified and sealed documentation. He gave Mr. Littlefinger time to go and gather the same. Mr. Little Finger then went against his order and called in the media to document a so-called "releasing of the Soul" ceremony. This was documented on national radio and sent out to 450 stations titled the "Healing of the Wound at Wounded Knee" ceremony. www.prx.org/pieces/4961/transcripts/4961He immediately burned the lock of hair on his own private land knowing full well that it was DNA evidence since Jasper Spotted Elk had already consented to DNA testing. To the uninformed, it may have looked like a legitimate ceremony but in fact it was not and and this can be verified by third party sources. It should not have been burned. It should have been buried there at Wounded Knee.
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Post by Dark Cloud on Jan 28, 2011 11:41:46 GMT -6
DNA testing has proven a hoot in Wasichu Land, where supposed descendents aren't, and many bastards are revealed along with reflections on the behavior of ancestors, previously extolled as exemplary. People proud of their all white or all black ancestry are cousins often enough. People are vain and silly wherever they are.
I'd bet DNA tracing of ancestry in American Indian tribes would be the same level of amusement and silence some of the more annoying. Not a few, though, resent DNA and prefer the oral histories - that conflict and are mutually exclusive in the same proportion as European family tales - because they fear that Indians may not have been the first, and earlier people might be revealed. That has all sorts of legal baggafge, and was the reason the supposed 'caucasian' skeleton found from tens of thousands of years ago scared everyone, and they fought to keep the bones as their own and subject to their law alone. This atop the usual concerns.
It would be difficult for Indians to only allow DNA for some things and not others, as for anyone. Also, they were a lot looser in inclusion, and a someone with no blood relationship might be considered a 'legal' son and his descendents heirs with no connection currently honored by current law.
Just saying, this is potentially really interesting above the norm, because to ascertain the truth, certain traditions have to be superceded. And truth in genetics may not be truth in actuality. Same everywhere, really.
That said, I have no knowledge of this incident nor take a side. But it is interesting to me.
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Post by bc on Jan 28, 2011 14:08:22 GMT -6
Smells and sounds like a Jerry Springer show to me.
bc
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Post by calvinspottedelk on Feb 3, 2011 8:59:36 GMT -6
Smells and sounds like a Jerry Springer show to me. bc This is true about the Judge and I will provide documentation about this. It saddens me that someone calling themselves an expert compares this with a Jerry Springer show. I'm just trying to tell the truth. I never asked for this. It was forced upon me because he tried to take my family identity. Just how else does someone protect their family name from being abused like this? The law hasn't worked.
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Post by bc on Feb 4, 2011 11:59:03 GMT -6
Smells and sounds like a Jerry Springer show to me. bc This is true about the Judge and I will provide documentation about this. It saddens me that someone calling themselves an expert compares this with a Jerry Springer show. I'm just trying to tell the truth. I never asked for this. It was forced upon me because he tried to take my family identity. Just how else does someone protect their family name from being abused like this? The law hasn't worked. Welcome to the board Calvin. You surprised us by reviving a 4 year old thread and responding to a story/news item that was posted so long ago. Apparently no one else that was here cared enough to reply to the one and only post until you did. It appears to be a little late to do much with your beef with the judge now. There is a lot of kidding and joking around on this board. To get used to it, I'd suggest you start reading a thread called BrokenSword's Nut House. By the way, I don't hold myself out to be an expert and an examination of any one or all of my posts will prove it. That expert tag is something that Proboards assigns based upon number of posts. Not to worry though, if you keep posting you will be an expert too before long. You bring up an excellent question about protecting the family name and preserving sacred objects like hair for proper burial. Maybe you and I and others can ban together to preserve our family names and things that are sacred. One of my relatives, James Troy with I troop, was killed, scalped, mutilated, descrated, and all his personal belongings were stolen by the NAs. Somewhere his scalp, rifle, pistol, and other sacred personal belongings may be hidden in someone's house on the reservation. Let's ban together and you can begin reporting all the old 7th cav scalps, equipment, and personal effects that you know of and find hidden around the reservation. Just like you wanted to do with your relative's hair, we can do some DNA testing and make sure they are rightfully buried by the proper next of kin. All the equipment, guns, watches, clothing, and other personal effects that were stripped from the dead and wounded when they were descrated by the NAs are now sacred religious artifacts that need to be restored to surviving relatives or rightful owners. I'm sure you will do your part in protecting what is sacred to our relations while we work to protect and return what is sacred to your relations. bc
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Post by crzhrs on Feb 4, 2011 14:41:34 GMT -6
As for returning artifacts . . . good luck. "Soldiers" have been taking war souvenirs for centuries. Do we expect great-granddad to return a Reb's hat, great-great-granddad to return Santa Anna's knife, great-great-great ganddad to return a Redcoat's knickers . . . and so on.
PS: Many Native Americans are still waiting for their ancestors "relics" to be return from museums and other collections.
And the Greeks are still waiting for the British to return parts of the Parthenon.
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Post by Dark Cloud on Feb 4, 2011 15:10:49 GMT -6
Calvin isn't referencing trivial ass artifact ownership or war trophies.
He's in this because someone is claiming lineage from an individual that Calvin has reason not to believe, and the issue is very near identity theft. His emotion is no different than if someone appeared to claim descent from your ancester killed at the LBH - say from one of many underage women he supposedly kept - and a lock of hair from the first haircut of that ancester was burned before that lineage could be disproven and the story exploded.
Frankly, I'd suspect nobody here tears up, nor throat constricts, at the desecration of Custer's soldiers given our own hypocrisies in such matters, well documented, and the fact that anyone, for any reason attacking our households and killing family and neighbors in the process would be lucky to be indentified as human by the time the coroner arrived. War trophies hold an odd place in legal realms, and the United States, of all nations, does not want to be put in the position of returning them by mandate. We stole and pillaged with the best.
You go off on Calvin for something he doesn't claim or reference.
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Post by crzhrs on Feb 5, 2011 10:17:41 GMT -6
<All the equipment, guns, watches, clothing, and other personal effects that were stripped from the dead and wounded when they were descrated by the NAs are now sacred religious artifacts that need to be restored to surviving relatives or rightful owners>
I was referring to the above statement by bc not Calvin who I agree with 100%
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Post by calvinspottedelk on Mar 21, 2011 12:51:42 GMT -6
BC,
I don't know you and you don't know me so I am going to ignore your tirade and stick to the facts which is why I posted in the first place. This discussion is about my family geneaology and it contains errors. I know why it contains errors because the man who destroyed my grandfather's lock of hair had a lot of access to the public and used my family name as his own, all because of a piece of paper he wrongfully obtained in the first place. I was raised to tell the truth and it saddens me that some of our own native people have used my family name and Wounded Knee to further their own agendas. This thread is about my grandfather's lock of hair. What people didn't realize was that my father agreed to DNA testing and I will agree to it. I don't speak for all native people. I am here to speak for myself and my family. I also have my father's hair and I am not the only person who possesses strands of his hair. A crime was committed and this is important to me for that reason.
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Post by fred on Mar 21, 2011 14:00:45 GMT -6
Calvin,
I know BC-- personally-- and I would be stunned to think he would have deliberately insulted you or wrote anything that would hurt your feelings or sensitivities. He just is not that type. You may have taken something out of context or else he misunderstood what you were talking about.
I wish you the very best of luck in your quest and you can be assured there are those of us who stand behind you... for whatever that is worth. All injustices needed to be righted.
Best wishes, Fred.
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Post by calvinspottedelk on Mar 21, 2011 16:15:09 GMT -6
Thank you Fred. I'm sorry if I took anything out of context but when I read words like no one else cared enough to reply but you and it appears to be too late to do anything, I take offense. This may be of historical interest to some people and it may be light reading for others but for me, this continues, as it is a part of *my* life. I had no idea what people were doing using my name out here until I came out off of the reservation and saw with my own eyes. I knew from local newspapers that Little Finger and some others were making claims and we even went to court about this many years ago. Unfortunately my father did not have an attorney at the time and a lot of other terrible things happened to our family after that but this letter that he wrongfully obtained is the source of a lot of people being misled about my family ancestry. I intend to fix that, as best as I can.
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