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Lewis & Clark re-enactors face anger, protests from American Indians
modbee ^ | 9-21-04

Posted on 09/21/2004 9:42:49 AM PDT by LouAvul

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A group re-enacting the Lewis and Clark expedition was confronted in South Dakota by American Indian leaders who questioned the legacy of the 200-year-old trip and its effects on native culture. An American Indian delegation greeted the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles over the weekend with protest signs, including one suggesting the original expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led to genocide of their people and destruction of their culture. The re-enactors were asked to go back home.

"I went as a peaceful emissary and asked in a kind way if they would leave," said Alex White Plume, a Lakota from Pine Ridge, S.D., who led the protest. "They should go home and rethink what they did to the native population."

Jon Ruybalid, a spokesman for the re-enactors, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the group expects more dialogue with the American Indians they met Saturday near Chamberlain, S.D.

"It wasn't easy listening," Ruybalid said. "What they said was filled with a lot of pain. We are being educated and, in the process, we are a platform for people to express their concerns."

About 20 people taking part in the expedition left St. Charles, Mo., on May 23 on its planned journey along the path of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06. The expedition is heading up the Missouri River in a replica boat.

Ruybalid said members of several South Dakota tribes planned to take part in bicentennial events this weekend near Pierre, S.D. But White Plume said he was "saddened that some tribes welcome them with open arms."

(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: americanindians; lewisandclark; rewritinghistory
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To: LouAvul

From the strength of protests we might assume that the protestors are wrong in their premises. If they were correct, everyone would know and there would be no need to protest.


41 posted on 09/21/2004 11:02:46 AM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
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To: Travis McGee

Coincidentally I've almost finished reading "The Journals of Lewis and Clark", up to the point where they had reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers.

All the Indians to date meet them with curiosity and such hospitality as was possible. Seems like a whole lot of smoking went on in the evenings with the Discovery Corps and the various chiefs.

Wish these latter day morons actually knew something of their own history.

Amazing journey, well worth the read even in the abridged version.


42 posted on 09/21/2004 11:03:21 AM PDT by Covenantor (CBS Counterfeit But Sincere)
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To: Jaysun

""They should go home and rethink what they did to the native population.""

I don't understand why these people are not thankful their ancestor's were spared, least they would not exist today.


43 posted on 09/21/2004 11:04:27 AM PDT by Rebelbase ("let them go naked for a while"...Theraaazaaaaa Heinz-Kerry)
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To: familyop
While we're on the subject, maybe some of you good Freepers can answer a, albeit admittedly trivial, question I've been wondering about for a long time re: American Indians.

Indians-- male naturally-- as a group are always shown to be beardless. Was this always the case?

I've wonder about this b/c the continent of North America is a huge land, roads (as opposed to trails) were essentially non-exhistant, communications between peoples primitive, if at all. And yet from the shores of the east coast to those of the west the American Indian male is shown as having neither beard and/or mustache and, we are apparently lead to believe, throughout the lumbering centuries.

How is this possible? Statistics alone -- given the area of land, the various natures of tribes, the span of time -- would seem to suggest that somewhere, at sometime, some group(s) of men sported facial hair.

Like I said before, this is a trivial question and human lives don't hang in the balance. But still and all if anyone can give me an answer...well, I'd be much obliged.
44 posted on 09/21/2004 11:12:40 AM PDT by yankeedame ("Born with the gift of laughter & a sense that the world was mad.")
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To: LouAvul

Maybe they would rather have a visit from the General George Crook Reenactors?


45 posted on 09/21/2004 11:12:57 AM PDT by azcap
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To: 2banana
The judgement of history is merciless.

Well said. Why can't the descendants of the Indians come to an understanding with the reenactors? Both sides represent a part of our country's history.

The French and Indian War commemorations that have been going on this year, celebrate the contributions of all cultures to the developing events of our nations. Reenactors portray the battles of the French and Indians and the British and the British colonists. Memorial services are conducted which include a Native American ceremony (chanting, dancing, etc.) See link in next post.

46 posted on 09/21/2004 11:17:55 AM PDT by Ciexyz ("FR, best viewed with a budgie on hand")
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To: Ciexyz

http://www.frenchandindianwar250.org


47 posted on 09/21/2004 11:19:14 AM PDT by Ciexyz ("FR, best viewed with a budgie on hand")
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To: RonF; 2banana
A tribe with which I am somewhat familiar..

These are the people who traded with Lewis & Clark on the Missouri, and where they met the Shoshone woman, Sacajawea...

The Mandan and associated tribes were equestrian in habit and depended about equally on hunting and agriculture, cultivating large fields of corn, beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers (for the edible seeds), which they traded to the Plains tribes for horses and buffalo robes.

According to Maximilian the Mandan were vigorous, well made, rather above medium stature, many of them being broad-shouldered and muscular. They paid the greatest attention to their headdress.
Tattooing was practised to a limited extent, mostly on the left breast and arm, with black parallel stripes and a few other figures.
Some of the women were robust and rather tall, though usually they were short and broad-shouldered, and were adept potters.

Their houses were large circular communal structures of stout logs covered with earth, and their villages were sometimes palisaded.
They had the same organization of military societies common to the Plains tribes generally.
Polygamy was common.

Besides the Sun and the Buffalo, they invoked a number of supernatural personages, among whom was the "Old Woman who Never Dies," who presided over the fields and harvests, and in whose honour they performed ritual dances and sacrifices at planting and gathering.
They had numerous shrines and sacred places, and their great palladium was a sacred "ark," which was connected with their genesis myth, and which was carefully guarded in a house by itself.
Their great ceremony of the Sun Dance — described by Catlin under the name of Okeepa — exceeded that of all other tribes in the extent of barbarous self-torture practised by the participants.

The Mandan tribe was reduced to a scant 130 members due to smallpox..

48 posted on 09/21/2004 11:24:53 AM PDT by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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To: Rebelbase
I don't understand why these people are not thankful their ancestor's were spared, least they would not exist today.

I don't know. I don't have a beef with American Indians, I just hate the whole "poor me" act no matter who's doing the crying. People like that always make ridiculous demands of others in order to showcase how they were "wronged". It would be like me demanding that some small town not have a potato festival because it evokes painful memories of how devastating the potato famine of Ireland was for my family. It's so absurd and petty. I say piss or get off the pot.
49 posted on 09/21/2004 11:27:55 AM PDT by Jaysun (Taxation WITH representation isn't so hot either.)
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To: LouAvul

This whole BS victimology is why these "leaders" want any real history to be colored by PC guilt.

Consider that the indians who sold manhattan to the dutch thought THEY were ripping the europeans.

Consider that the indians had no concept of land ownership. (that is first year property law)

In stead of whining like the french, these indians should have taken this to facilitate more interaction. They COULD have used this chance to make the public aware fo their existence in the 21st century.


50 posted on 09/21/2004 11:30:49 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! NOV 2, 2004 is VETERANS DAY! VOTE!)
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To: LouAvul
They should go home and rethink what they did to the native population.

What? Civilized them? Brought them into the 18th century? Which one?

51 posted on 09/21/2004 11:34:13 AM PDT by asformeandformyhouse (Despite the high cost of living, it remains popular.)
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To: Jagdgewehr

Actually my understanding is that most of the casinos are "in partnership" with established casino operators.


52 posted on 09/21/2004 11:38:58 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! NOV 2, 2004 is VETERANS DAY! VOTE!)
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To: 2banana
As Will Rogers used to say, I never Metacomet I didn't like.

The Disney film Pocahontas shows John Smith as tall and blond whereas he was short and dark-haired. Other than that it's probably historically accurate--or at least as accurate as one of Dan Rather's news broadcasts.

53 posted on 09/21/2004 11:42:39 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: 2banana
They also commonly practiced slavery, genocide and cannibalism against other tribes. No matter how many times you watch "Dances with Wolves" and "Pocahontas," it will not change these facts.

Yes, but you see, these are indigenous pipples, and "indigenous pipples" can do all this stuff and believe the world is flat and get praised for their "otherness" by liberals.

I wonder . . . is it against the law to teach Darwin to "indigenous pipples?" I think it constitutes "cultural genocide." Only "rednecks" are required to subscribe to scientific materialism in order to be a better Abstract Host Population to the "gorgeous mosaic."

54 posted on 09/21/2004 11:43:24 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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To: GunnyHartman
The indians here get free medical care, a quarterly stipend from the US of A tax payer, a host of ridiculously generous housing subsidies, unlimited hunting and fishing rights (when whitey can't hunt here at all

That's because the Indians are indigenous to this planet and not Alien Invaders from Outer Space like us "rednecks." Indians can kill and eat animals for the same reason wolves or pumas can . . . they are part of the quaint "circle of life" whereas we are not.

I'm still pissed off that they can believe in the supernatural and I'm supposed to be scientific naturalist.

55 posted on 09/21/2004 11:48:34 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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To: F16Fighter
This is yet a another example of professional grandstanding "protesting" by Tree-Huggers and the Left...

Correction: the "tree huggers" disappear whenever the "indigenous pipples" appear, and, like anti-hunters and atheist scientists, only come out when there are "rendecks" around to pummel(sp?).

PS: As a rural person I must confess the terrible "crime" of being fond of trees, wildlife, and thinly settled places. It's a shame this sentiment has been radicalized" by city slicker lefties.

56 posted on 09/21/2004 11:53:38 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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Comment #57 Removed by Moderator

To: tom h
When the white man came, the Indians were already running around killing each other. Had any of the tribes had the technology, the number of soldiers, or the discipline that the whites did, they too would have gladly taken over the continent and made it the Native States of America.

And like the independent Black Southern Confederacy the Communists used to advocate, no liberal would condemn it.

58 posted on 09/21/2004 11:56:13 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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To: yankeedame
I generally am sympathtic to the sentiments of Native Americans,...

You mean "American aborigines" or, to use the British term, "Red Indians". A "native American" is anyone born w/i the goegrpahical borders of the United States.

But since liberals advocate fascist ideology for favored races, they apply Charles Maurras/Oswald Spengler to them and insist that ze Volk is a Single Organism in which individuals are mere cells, constantly dying and being replenished for the sake of the Whole. And since ze Volk is the racial organism native to America then only its "cells" have the right to that title.

59 posted on 09/21/2004 12:00:53 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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To: Ursus arctos horribilis
PUlleeeze. And the PC crowd raises hell about celebrating southern heritage. But if it is Indian heritage, some of what we all know was not too damn glorious at times, that is a very profound thing.

Bingo. Except that there are plenty of white nationalisms that are politically correct: mostly Celts (Sinn Fein/Irish Republican Army, Scottish National Party, Scottish National Liberation Army, Plaid Cymru [Party of Wales], etc. [even Breton and Cornish nationalists are supported by the Left]); but also the Basques and other separatists in Spain (Leonese, Catalonians); the Greeks and Armenians (Papandreou's Pan-Hellenism, the "Dashnaks" and Communist Armenian terrorists); and even the Parti Quebecois here on our own continent (which is admired to no end by our "neo-Confederate" movement but is a member of the Socialist International). There may even be some liberal support for French Cajun nationalism.

In other words, anti-Southerners are even more hypocritical than you thought they were, because they not only advocate non-white nationalisms (including now Japanese and Arab) but also plenty of white nationalisms. The "anti-white" ideology of the Left isn't really anti-white; it's ANTI-ENGLISH. The Anglo-Saxons of the world are supposed to constitute a blank, monochromatic, abstract humanity against which the "beauty" of all the "ethnics" shines forth. This is true not only in America, but even in the UK where Irish, Welsh, and Scottish (white chr*stian) nationalism are politically correct but any manifestation of English identity is labelled "racist" (didn't know those Scots were People of Color, did you?). In fact, England is the only one of the four countries of the UK that has no legal existence; it's merely an Abstract Federal District. The other UK countries have legal existence with parliaments/assemblies of their own. England has only the British parliament, which means the Celts have double-representation and can legislate for England in the British Parliament whereas the English can't legislate in the Celtic parliaments/assemblies.

The next time you think that the Left is single-mindedly opposed to white nationalism, remember these three words: St. Patrick's Day. (When have you ever heard of St. George's Day or Orange Day being celebrated in the US? They wouldn't be tolerated, and lily-white Irish would be leading the chorus.)

60 posted on 09/21/2004 12:17:29 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki kol 'elohei-ha`ammim 'elilim . . . veHaShem Shamayim `asah!)
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