Brown County Democrat
Brown County, Indiana
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PROTESTS DON'T STOP SUNDANCE
July 7, 2004
By Laura Thigpen
Special to the Democrat
Newsroom@bcdemocrat.com
The threat of protests won't deter participants in the 13th annual Salt Creek Sundance held each July in the Hoosier National Forest in Brown County since 1992.
Despite a controversy raging since last year over who should and shouldn't participate, the four-day ceremony began at sunrise today, Wednesday July 7, as dancers fast and pray, in one of the Lakota (Sioux) Nations most sacred rituals.
But there are those who want to see the traditional ceremony stopped.
Claiming the speak for Native American tribes, Bernard Red Cherries, a northern Cheyenne from Montana, and Albert "Running Wolf" Ortiz, a Brookville resident who says he part Kiowa and part Hispanic, asked the forest service to revoke the special use permit granted to Steve McCullough for more than a decade.
"We have an issue with non-natives participation in and running our ceremonies," Mr. Red Cherries said "There are over 300 Sundances across the U.S. being run by non-natives who are not only disregarding and disrespecting our protocols but our way of life".
That way of life is one that McCullough says he grew up in as a teen-ager in White Plains, S.D. Adopted by the Chasing Horse family in 1971, Mr. McCullough attended ceremonies, learned their traditions and supported the American Indian Movement during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation. And since being adopted by Native Americans is itself a sacred ceremony, he never felt he was doing anything wrong.
"It's hurtful emotionally and I feel for them," Mr. McCullough said, just days before the ceremony is to begin. "I'll be praying for them this year during our Sundance but the majority of the input I hear is to keep going forward."
Last year, as the ceremony began, Mr. Red Cherries and Mr. Ortiz approached officials with the National Forest Service, asking that the Sundance be stopped. Citing the constitutional separation of church and state, they refused, and again issued the permit for this year's Sundance.
"Some Native Americans feel this event is not properly sanctioned, but there are card carrying Native Americans who wish to participate" said Les Wadzinski, special programs director. "We view this as an internal religious conflict and it is not our role to pass judgment over who has the appropriate religion."
As far as they are concerned, the permit issued Mr. McCullough will be given again next year since the group has always complied with the rules. "They have a good track record in regards to the use of the land, and have complied with the terms of the permit", Mr. Wadzinski said.
Still, Mr. Red Cherries, who has for a year conducted a fierce Internet attack against Mr. McCullough and his group, says he won't stop until the non-natives in Indiana and other locations around the country stop participating in native ceremonies. Backed by Arvol Looking Horse, a Lakota who carries the ancient White Buffalo Calf Pipe for his tribe, Mr. Red Cherries and others have asked Mr. McCullough, who lives in Bicknell, to stop leading ceremony, saying he abuses traditional ways.
But other Indians support both McCullough and the dance, saying they have received spiritual help from the event and it's leader.
"They're always going on about white people this and white people that, but they stand back and judge like white people do", said Jeannine Johnson, a full-blooded Potawatami Indian who has supported the Sundance for over a decade. "They have never been here or danced here, and besides, there is no one man in charge of the Lakota nation or any nation. There were tribal councils and holy men, but the spiritual leaders who had visions that weren't exclusive, but were inclusive of all."
Frustrated at Mr. Ortiz's analogy of comparing Mr. McCullough to a Catholic priest, Ms. Johnson says the argument doesn't work. "They can compare all they want to but the difference is, the Catholic Church would allow them to learn Catholicism and participate, and the church doesn't exclude other races from going to seminary to become priests," she said.
And Mr. Ortiz, who says he Sundances at the AIM Sundance in Pipestone, Minnesota, admits he's not a full-blooded or an enrolled tribal member but has been accepted based on work he's done for Indian people.
Mr. McCullough, who spent 3 days in the Hot Springs jail in 1973 for helping AIM members, and who later protected Indian burial sites in Uniontown, Kentucky, from collectors, believes he's been accepted in much the same way. He also doesn't understand why, after over a decade, the Indiana Sundance is causing so much conflict now. "I don't understand but whatever occurs I won't let it stop me," he said "I will pray with the pipe and keep walking forward as I have been."
Once outlawed and observed in secret on reservations, the Sundance is all about prayer for all people, which is why some of Mr. McCullough's supporters oppose efforts to exclude their non-Indian family members and friends.
"To want of these ways for only yourself or your family, and not share them with all of mankind, shows a selfishness that goes against everything the Red Road (Native American teachings) stands for", said Matthew Cordes, a full-blood Native American who is registered with the Long Plain Ojibwa Tribe in Manitoba, Canada, but also has Dakota ancestors making him part of the Sioux Nation. "I think God doesn't see the color of our skin. He sees the goodness of our hearts, and somewhere along the line I wish they could understand.if people can find a peace here they can't find elsewhere, why can't they let them find the peace they deserve?"
Despite probable protests, Mr. McCullough says the dance will go on and he won't stop the ceremony started in Indiana by a Lakota medicine man.
"He was working with his vision when he came here saying he felt led to bring the Sundance," said Mr. McCullough about Elmer Running, a full-blood Lakota from South Dakota who ran the first Sundance in 1992.
"He wanted to honor the ancestors of Indian people in the area by having a dance here. The Sundance is one of the oldest ways among our people and it is a profound, powerful ceremony among Lakota people where we fulfill our commitments and being new commitments for the coming year.
Let's dance."
Laura Thigpen is a reporter with Vincennes Sun-Commercial.
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