NAFPS Forum
General => Research Needed => Topic started by: pemibear on August 12, 2015, 02:15:09 am
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Has anyone done any research on Dori Midnight, western MA? A friend just called and asked me about her because she was recommended to her as an herbalist and she notice that she claims Native heritage on her website. She is concerned and doesn't want to support an imposter/fraud. I did a search but couldn't find anything on her.
Here is her website: http://www.dorilandia.com/
"Dori Midnight is a community healer, herbalist, and educator, weaving traditional healing practices and social justice in her work. Drawing on her training as a clinical herbalist and interfaith minister, as well as her heritage of Roma, Ashkenazi, and First Nations (Cherokee and Shawnee) ancestry, Dori's work is grounded in self-determinism, collective liberation, and the belief that healing ourselves is inseparable from healing our communities and the planet. Dori lives in Western Massachusetts, where she maintains a local and distance healing practice and teaches magic and community healing".
Lots of red flags, for me. Thanks~
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Her real name is Dori Elizabeth Ehrlich.
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She also goes by Dori Morninglory on Facebook. Her FB community page is Dori Midnight Healing Arts.
She's using her heritage claims to appear special, this definitely is a red flag.
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I've researched her paternal ancestors to Morris J. Erhlich who was born in Russia. He married Ray Ellerin who was also born in Russia in 1887. Her paternal line is Jewish and also includes the surnames Dimond and Goldberg.
I've traced her maternal ancestors to Fredrick W. Straehle born about 1872 Ohio and his wife, Emma, who was born about 1876 in Canada. Their race is listed as
White on U.S. Census records.
I have not found anything yet to support her claim of having Native American ancestors.
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On her Dori Midnight Healing Arts Facebook page she has captioned an old photo of a woman as "grandma dimond". And she has added in a comment that this is where her own "magic" comes from.
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My heritage is a mix of Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Roma Gypsy, and First Nations (Cherokee/Shawnee)
http://www.dorilandia.com/ (http://www.dorilandia.com/)
The "Roma Gypsy" identification is pretty much indication of outsider status also. Her self branding as "Roma Gypsy" is very problematic.
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“Most people don’t know that appending the name ‘gypsy’ to my people is both wrong and pejorative,” says Hancock, the official ambassador to the United Nations and UNICEF for the world’s 15 million Romanies and the only Romani to have been appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. “‘Gypsy’ is simply a shortened form of Egyptian—that’s what many outsiders thought Romanies were.
“Most people don’t even have a minimal education about Romanies. They don’t know that seventy percent of the Romani population of Nazi-occupied Europe were murdered during the Holocaust. Or that we’re the largest ethnic minority in Europe but have no political strength, military strength, economic strength or a territory. Or, for that matter, that there are over one million Romani Americans.”
https://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2003/romani.html (https://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2003/romani.html)
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Some folks from those communities do self-identify as "Gypsies." It is not universally seen as a slur or outsider term.
Which is not saying this woman has any kind of heritage from those communities, btw, just that you can't tell much based only on whether or not someone uses that term for themselves. You have to find out which community they are claiming, then whether that community claims them, AND whether members of that community use that term to self-identify.
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Most of my family heritage is tough and tiny Eastern Europeans- romanian, latvian, ukrainian, and roma gypsy. Throw in a little Cherokee and Spanish and now you understand why I am so short.
http://midnightapothecary.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=19
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IMHO, she just can't seem to figure out which persecuted people she wants to claim as her own heritage in her marketing since it constantly changes -- but we have seen that before unfortunately.
Sometimes, it is Ashkenazi
Sometimes, it is Ashkenazi and Sephardic
Sometimes, it is Cherokee
Sometimes, it is Cherokee and Shawnee
Sometimes, it is Roma
Sometimes, it is Roma Gypsy
Sometimes, it is Spanish
Sometimes, it is romanian, latvian, ukrainian
In all of this, however, she is simply saying that she is of Jewish heritage (Ashkenazi, Sephardic), from the former Russian Empire (Romania, Latvia, Ukraine) with a touch of NDN (which is questionable). She seems to be throwing in the Roma Gypsy for good measure. Perhaps she has that in her heritage but I doubt it.
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I’m a community- based healer who sees people individually for healing work, as well as teaching and offering healing in community contexts. My work is rooted in collective liberation and self-determinism and draws on traditional healing modalities passed down to me through my bloodline of Roma, first nations Shawnee, Cherokee, Ashkenazi, and sephardi peoples.
http://midnightapothecary.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=4
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Birth: unknown
Death: Jan. 11, 2011
Published in the Cleveland Jewish Times:
"Lucile Ehrlich (née Dimond), beloved wife of the late Arthur Ehrlich and Stan Markow; devoted mother of Ken and Steve Ehrlich; loving grandmother of Matthew, Gillian, Dori and Jason; great-grandmother of Ollie; dear sister of Bobbie Rosman, died Jan. 11 at age 92.
A longtime Cleveland resident, she moved to south Florida in 1983. She was much loved by her family and friends and will be missed. Her long marriage to Arthur A. Ehrlich was a happy and devoted one, and her subsequent marriage to Stan Markow in Florida was the same.
Lucile E Dimond
mentioned in the record of Arthur A Ehrlich and Lucile E Dimond
Name Arthur A Ehrlich
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 25 Aug 1940
Event Place Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States
Age 27
Birth Year (Estimated) 1913
Father's Name Morris J Ehrlich
Mother's Name Ray Ellerin
Spouse's Name Lucile E Dimond
Spouse's Age 21
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1919
Spouse's Father's Name Nathan I Dimond
Spouse's Mother's Name Frances I Goldberg
Citing this Record
"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2QWC-T8S : accessed 15 August 2015), Arthur A Ehrlich and Lucile E Dimond, 25 Aug 1940; citing Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States, reference ; county courthouses, Ohio; FHL microfilm 1,902,385.
She treasured her active life in Cleveland where she participated in numerous charitable organizations.
Her parents, the late Frances and Nathan Dimond, were longtime and active members of Park Synagogue.
Contributions are suggested to the Nathan and Frances Dimond Camp Fund at Park Synagogue.
Funeral services will be held Sun., Jan. 16, at 11:45 a.m. at Star of David Funeral Chapel, 7701 Bailey Road, North Lauderdale, Fla. 33068."
Burial:
Unknown
Specifically: Private services were held.
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Nathan Dimond
United States Census, 1910
Name Nathan Dimond
Event Type Census
Event Year 1910
Event Place Perth Amboy Ward 3, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States
Gender Male
Age 15
Marital Status Single
Race White
Race (Original) White
Relationship to Head of Household Son
Relationship to Head of Household (Original) Son
Birth Year (Estimated) 1895
Birthplace New Jersey
Father's Birthplace Russia
Mother's Birthplace Russia
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Lube Dimond Head M 40 Russia
Sarah Dimond Wife F 40 Russia
Fanny Dimond Daughter F 17 New Jersey
Nathan Dimond Son M 15 New Jersey
Emma Dimond Daughter F 14 New Jersey
Samuel Dimond Son M 12 New Jersey
Philip Dimond Son M 11 New Jersey
Simon Dimond Son M 6 New Jersey
Walter Dimond Son M 5 New Jersey
Mary Schocklet Servant F 24 Russia
Citing this Record
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKB4-H25 : accessed 15 August 2015), Nathan Dimond in household of Lube Dimond, Perth Amboy Ward 3, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 30, sheet 5A, family 71, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,374,912.
There is another Nathan Dimond who was born in 1885 in Romania. His wife's name was Sarah. Her claim to being descended from Romanians may be the result
of sloppy genealogy work.
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My teacher/mentor/spirit mother is someone I have been working with since I was 22. Cybele http://www.cybeleswell.com/ mentored me in intuitive healing practices and stone medicine
http://midnightapothecary.blogspot.com/
Her teacher, Cybele, AKA Suzette Rochat, cites Starhawk as one of her teachers. Starhawk is mentioned on the NAFPS forum many times, although she does not have her own thread.
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Starhawk thread: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3740
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Midnight emailed me, giving her account of her mostly Jewish and a bit of Roma ancestry. Her family has a vague confused account of distant Native ancestry, but she does not claim to teach Native ways.
First is her email followed by my response.
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Hello there,
My name is Dori Midnight- I am a community based herbalist and counselor in Western Massachusetts. I recently found a thread about me on your website and I wanted to reach out directly and address the concerns expressed. First, I want to say that I completely share the concerns about people falsely claiming to be Native- I am aware of how often that happens and that is an extension of the racism and genocide of a White supremacist culture. It is also a deep concern of mine when white people appropriate any Native healing traditions, symbols, or practices. I really want to honor the intentions of your site.
I understand that your goal is to create a forum for people to research and warn others about people who are pretending to be Native or who appropriate Native traditions. I think that is important work and I'm writing because I want to be clear and honest about my heritage and my work. I read on your website that you are willing to retract warnings when you receive new information and I'm hoping that this will be clarifying.
Most families, as you probably know, have more to them than the facts that can be dug up on the internet. While everything on the thread is true, there are missing pieces. My legal name was Dori Elizabeth Ehrlich. I changed it to Midnight, which was a name on my grandmother's side, when she died as a tribute to her. My father's side is almost completely Ashkenazi Jewish- his grandparents immigrated from Latvia and Romania at the turn of the century. My father's mother's mother's mother's mother was Roma Gypsy. I understand that is a controversial word, but it is the term my great- grandmother used to describe her great- grandmother. I grew up very close to her and she passed down a lot of wisdom to me.
My mother's side is a bit more complicated because there has been a lot of secrets and hiding, in order to assimilate. My mother's father is both Sephardic (Spanish/North African) and Ashkenazi (Ukrainian) Jew- his father (Estes) took his wife's name (Stromberg) so that he would sound more white. As for my mom's maternal side, I grew up not knowing anything about her history- I was told she was perhaps Irish. As she was dying, when I was in my early 20s, I learned more- she was an orphan, in and out of foster homes and orphanages until she was adopted by the Strahle's (the people who were cited on your site) when she was 14. My uncle revealed to me that she was Shawnee and/or Cherokee, and part Irish and that she was part of a massive removal of young Indian and mixed children in the 1900s. I have never been able to find out more, but have tried. As far as I know, she was not enrolled or claimed any affiliation and I don't know any of the original names and can't find any records so far.
In my work, I don't claim to practice any kind of Native American traditions or use language like "medicine woman" or "shaman". My practice is informed mostly by Eastern European Pagan and Jewish healing traditions, Western herbalism and my own intuition- this is what I know and feel comfortable practicing. I offer counseling and affordable plant medicine to help support people's healing. Though I yearn for more information about my family history, I have made peace with the fact that colonialism has erased my maternal grandmother's story, like it has for many people of mixed heritage. I spoke with a few Native and Rom elders over the years to get their thoughts on how to identify publicly, since I appear white and am culturally Jewish, and they encouraged me to reclaim what was lost. So when I list the different lineages I come from, it is not to seem "special" but to be honest and transparent, and honor those who came before me. I hope to do it with respect and integrity.
I hope this is clarifying. In an ideal world, the people who initiated the thread would have contacted me directly to ask me about my heritage. It's painful to read the things people wrote on the site, though I understand where it's coming from. I'm wondering if you would consider removing the thread- I have worked for many years to create a thriving practice and I'd like to continue to be of service to the communities I work with- mostly LGBTQ people, activists of color, and low income folks. The thread contains incomplete information about my ancestry, leading to questions about my credibility. While I was upset about what was posted, it has led me to want to share more about my story, and hopefully will be helpful for other people of mixed heritage. Thank you for considering my request and for the work you do.
In gratitude,
Dori
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Hello,
Thanks for writing us. We always welcome more information that may get to the heart of these matters. I will post your email to give your side of this.
I don't claim any expertise in Roma culture, but there are others on the site knowing far more than I do. As far as the Shawnee or Cherokee family claim, this seems very vague. I do not know of any removal of either tribe or their children in the 1900s. This sounds like a misunderstanding or confusion over either the Trail or Tears or boarding schools. But if you do not claim to be teaching Native ways, this needs to be noted also.
When a person turns out to be not involved in exploitation or making false claims, the thread is moved to Archives and marked No Longer a Matter of Concern. We'll discuss if we should do this with the thread on you.
Al Carroll, moderator
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Dori wrote in her email above: " It is also a deep concern of mine when white people appropriate any Native healing traditions, symbols, or practices. "
and "In my work, I don't claim to practice any kind of Native American traditions or use language like "medicine woman" or "shaman". "
My experience of her is that she instead claims things like smudging and medicine wheels and other cermonial fragments are "universal." She's one of the apppropriators who thinks she can rip off Natives if she calls it something else, and repeatedly says, "I don't claim to be Native." Yet, when people who have hired her have been questioned about her offering native ceremonial fragments under different names, they were told by the shop owners that Ms. "Midnight" is native, so it's OK.
On her website right now, she claims:
"Background/Lineage/Training ... First Nations (Shawnee). ... I draw upon all my ancestors healing traditions in my work."
Over the summer she had a more prominent claim up top, I think claiming to be Cherokee as well. So the claims are still there, just moved further down the page after the Reiki and other nuage stuff.
I don't think she is being honest. Actually, I know she's not.
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Whether the alleged distant ancestors existed or not doesn't really matter.
Distant heritage gives no rights to ceremony or other Indigenous intellectual property. It especially gives no rights to ceremonies and intellectual property from other Nations.
If you claim Shawnee, it means nothing unless a Shawnee community claims you. :) Then to have a right to any Shawnee ceremonies you would have to be fully accepted in that community, live in that community, be recognized and trained and authorized in that community - which may take a lifetime, then stay in that community and help the people who've adopted you.
I'm sorry, but that is something wholly different from advertising mix-and-match spiritual services on the internet and selling your services to strangers at nuage events.
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Information about Dori's maternal great grandmother:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=straehle&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=68226656&df=all&
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Dori's maternal grandmother was Mildred Florence Straehle who was born on April 12, 1914 in Ohio. Mildred's parents were Fredrick W. Straehle and Cassie Eva
Briggs. Cassie died May 20, 1914 when Mildred was less than 2 months old.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=68226677
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=76241743
It is quite possible Fredrick's second wife, Emma Barnes, adopted Mildred in 1914 or when Mildred was 14 years old. Fredrick Straehle was her biological father.
Emma had a sister, Elizabeth J. Barnes who married Frank Midnight (1866-1944).
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=35701595
Frank's father was Valentine Midnight:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=128833010
Valentine changed his surname to Midnight by the time he died in 1885.
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DM sent this email response. Looking at her site, she has taken down the ancestry and ceremony claims.
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Thanks for your email. I checked the site and read the posts. I want you to know that I am taking this very seriously and want to do the right thing. I am writing now to 1) clear up some factual inaccuracies on the site and 2) let you know that your group's feedback has led me to think deeply about how I share about my heritage publicly and to make some changes. First, to clarify some factual inaccuracies on your site:
1) I do not claim to teach any Native ways or do Native ceremonies and never have.
2) I do not sell and never have sold any Native goods or fragments and have not used another name in my work.
3) I also do not believe that the Medicine Wheel is universal. I firmly believe that people should only practice those things if that is their heritage and they have had extensive learning from teachers from that heritage. My practice is based in Eastern European and Jewish earth based traditions- it is how I was raised and what I know.
As far as my ancestry, it is true that I have written that I have Shawnee ancestry, which I was told and believed to be true. A DNA test I did confirmed that I am 1/16 Native. It is true that my family's information on this part of our history is vague and I think you have a good point that it may do more harm than good to claim Native heritage when it is somewhat uncertain and/or very distant. Therefore I have removed information about my heritage from my from my website and my blog and will not use it in my bio going forward.
I respect your work and value the feedback you have offered to me.
Thank you,
Dori
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In Romani culture if you have no community (Romanipen) you're not Romani. When one emmigrates they either become a part of their community in the new country (if the community remains intact as a sub-community it is not internally considered to be diasporic), join a diasporic Romanipen of members of a variety of communities (an example would be the Romnipen in Brocton, Massachusetts) or assimilates and becomes Gadjo (non-Romani). It doesn't matter if a person is a descendant of a Romani family, or even if an individual has a Romani parent, claiming to be Romani or Roma is offensive to members of the living culture because it goes directly against their cultural teachings if you do not belong to or participate in community.
While there are absolutely Romani Peoples who themselves use the term Gypsy, they are generally older to elderly individuals. They are also members of a Romanipen. They have the right to self identify as they please. A however many generations removed individual does not, it is them using their own privillege and entitlement.
***edited for clarity