Author Topic: Serle Lovell Chapman aka Rain Bear Stands Last, claims Romani, MMIW Filmmaker  (Read 10407 times)

Online Laurel

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Oh good! I disabled java to get the text, meaning I couldn't copy the photo.

Offline Defend the Sacred

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He has a business leading tours of Reservations and, if I'm reading this right, sacred sites, to anyone with the money to pay. The wording is careful, but it's clearly spiritual tourism and pay to pray is heavily implied.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/go-native-america-billings

https://www.gonativeamerica.com/

"What we do

We take you traveling like an insider with Native American guides, visiting the areas where tribal cultures were formed and history was made. You'll learn by experience - meeting Native people, hearing their stories as handed down through generations and witnessing true tribal lifeways.
?
How we do it

By curating special journeys based on connections . . .

meet Medicine people, powwow dancers, storykeepers, culture-holders tribal historians and dreamers.  We offer you the chance to immerse yourself in the indigenous philosophy embodied by "Mitakuye Oyasin" - All My Relations.

?Where you will go

You will visit reservations, cultural sites, historic hotspots and original homelands that are now designated as National Parks. It's a unique chance to visit places that hold tribal stories - the secrets that most tourists miss.

Why it works

. . . because we create the connections you can’t make for yourself.

People travel with us because they want to go places they can’t access alone, meet people they would never otherwise meet, and get an insider’s understanding of cultural, historic or spiritual matters that's off limits to the average tourist."
« Last Edit: January 20, 2022, 08:31:52 pm by Defend the Sacred »

Offline Bahesmama

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A Google search shows nothing of him under that name before 2014. In 2015 he appears as a co-founder of "Guardians of Our Ancestral Legacy" (GOAL).
https://wyofile.com/tribal-alliance-fights-to-maintain-yellowstone-grizzly-protections/

The webpage for goaltribal.org appears to empty throughout its existence, since 2014.

Yes, we found that his real name is Serle Lovell Chapman, an Englishman from Yorkshire. Also, his Romani claims appear suspect. We did his family tree and had a Romani researcher look at it and no dice.

Offline educatedindian

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He has a business leading tours of Reservations and, if I'm reading this right, sacred sites, to anyone with the money to pay. The wording is careful, but it's clearly spiritual tourism and pay to pray is heavily implied.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/go-native-america-billings

https://www.gonativeamerica.com/


At "Our Ethics." Bolding is mine.

-----------
Perpetual questions: Can I go in a sweat lodge, can I participate in a Sundance? Can I do a vision quest? And ironically folks often cite the desire to adhere to tradition and etiquette which leads them on their own personal Red Road.

Go Native America is not part of the tribal warrior societies that have the burden of ‘policing’ these kinds of ceremonial abrogation, and the arduous responsibility of stopping bogus ceremonies is not ours to shoulder. However in support of the wishes of Elders and ceremonial people across the continent, let’s be clear that no-one on an Go Native America journey will ever participate in ceremony of any kind as part of their tour with us.
 
Think of it like this: Meaningful, traditional and powerful ceremonies were given by the Creator to particular Peoples, and are their responsibility to conduct.

Ceremonies take time, understanding and long-term preparation. 

They are NEVER a vacation activity.

Anyone who is telling you otherwise is not being fair to you, or to the indigenous people to whom the right and responsibility to fulfill those ceremonies was given.

Offline RedRightHand

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"Our Ethics."

Lots of exploiters are smart enough to include these disclaimers in the fine print. Whereas on the first page, all the text about access to "secrets" and "authentic lifeways" is what is featured. The guy is a chronic liar. I believe what's on the front page. He's making a living misrepresenting himself. Though on the Yelp reviews it seems people who've signed up for tours have been ripped off and ghosted, so, I guess there's that.

Offline Sparks

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Serle Chapman has been mentioned once before in the forum, in this thread:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=858.0
[Arkansas Event: Sequoyah Research Center Symposium]

Serle Chapman (Cheyenne) “Whining Cheyenne Racists and Why Native People ‘Have No Understanding’ of their Noble Ancestors."

Offline ska

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"Pretendian Country Today" is a subscription portion of Indianz.com - they are featuring an expose on ". . . two Pretendian figures — Rain aka Rain Bear Stands Last aka Serle Chapman aka Serle Lovell Chapman and Sara Atiqtalik aka Sarah Ann Gilbertson aka Sarah Mathuin aka Sarah Anna Mathuin aka Sara Anna Mathuin aka Sarah Chapman — and their fascinating journey from the United Kingdom and into Indian Country, all with the help of the U.S. Department of Justice and tribal and taxpayer dollars . . ."

ska

Offline Sparks

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"Pretendian Country Today" is a subscription portion of Indianz.com - they are featuring an expose on "… two Pretendian figures …".

https://indianz.substack.com/p/from-cheyenne-royalty-to-federal

Part of it is visible to non-subscribers. Two photos and several links in there:

Quote
From Cheyenne royalty to federal informant to 'tribal member'

Or, how to exploit #MMIW for financial gain

This is the first part of a Pretendian Country Today series into Rain Bear Stands Last. It’s gonna be long!

The Indian internet lit up on the afternoon of Friday, July 1, 2022. And it wasn’t because y’all were getting ready for the Fourth of July — powwows, fireworks and all.

Instead it was an episode of Dr. Phil that got people talking. A rerun — no less — of a show that originally aired in November 2021, during National Native American Heritage Month.

But with Indians watching TV at home (or maybe watching at work? no judgment here!), this replay of a program about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women started making the rounds, with many seeing it for the first time.

Well that means it’s time for Pretendian Country Today to spill the tea about a “tribal filmmaker” and his spouse, both of whom played a role in getting one of the biggest shows on the air to focus on an issue that Indian Country has been talking about since the dawn of colonization on Turtle Island.

So if you want to learn more about two Pretendian figures — Rain aka Rain Bear Stands Last aka Serle Chapman aka Serle Lovell Chapman and Sara Atiqtalik aka Sarah Ann Gilbertson aka Sarah Mathuin aka Sarah Anna Mathuin aka Sara Anna Mathuin aka Sarah Chapman — and their fascinating journey from the United Kingdom and into Indian Country, all with the help of the U.S. Department of Justice and tribal and taxpayer dollars, you’re gonna have to keep scrolling.

Paid subscribers only!

Offline cellophane

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Quote
Sara Atiqtalik aka Sarah Ann Gilbertson aka Sarah Mathuin aka Sarah Anna Mathuin aka Sara Anna Mathuin aka Sarah Chapman

Who is she? Serle's collaborator? Wife?

Offline Sparks

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Sara Atiqtalik aka Sarah Ann Gilbertson aka Sarah Mathuin aka Sarah Anna Mathuin aka Sara Anna Mathuin aka Sarah Chapman

Who is she? Serle's collaborator? Wife?

His wife, if we are to believe this 2009 CNN Money article:

The drawings come alive as Chapman, who owns GNA with his wife, Sarah, tells a creation story.

Also mentioned at the bottom of this 2006 book review:

Webmaster's Note: Promise was awarded the Wyoming State Historical Society prize for history writing in 2006. Mr. Chapman, along with his wife Sarah, runs Go Native America, which provides an incredible assortment of tours to historical places in the American West. I had the opportunity to spend a day with Mr. Chapman in early November 2006. He graciously led me across eastern Wyoming, and north of the Black Hills to places of historical significance for the Cheyenne and Lakota. Mr. Chapman is a great storyteller; he is a modern-day oral historian, and anyone lucky enough to take a tour of the west with him via Go Native America is fortunate.

Some boldings mine. Go Native America (GNA): https://www.gonativeamerica.com

Offline cellophane

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Looks like the two of them used to run Indian tours while they were still living in the U.S.
Both Sarah Ann Gilbertson and Serle Lovell Chapman are listed as directors of Bear Print International, Limited, Unit 3 Chapel Mews, Grange Moor, Wakefield WF4 4EG, West Yorkshire, from 9/23/1997 to 10/3/2006:
https://www.companieslist.co.uk/03438317-bear-print-international-limited

The company is described in this 2013 "Alternative Travel" guidebook:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7W5TAQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA71&pg=PA71
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Bear Print International
Tours to Native American lands and communities run with tribal leaders and Native American educators and cultural representatives. Tours aim to give a real insight into the history and lives of Native Americans, rather than the tourist stereotypes. Trips to different regions and tribes including the Navajo, Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne and Blackfeet. Bear Print also publishes The Trail of Many Spirits by Serle Chapman, about the history and contemporary culture of Native America.

PO Box 1, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 4YB

I'd be curious to know how she picked an Inuit name. Perhaps the Indianz.com article has more details.

Offline Sparks

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Re: Serle Lovell Chapman aka Rain Bear Stands Last and wife Sara(h)
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2022, 02:24:10 pm »
I'd be curious to know how she picked an Inuit name. Perhaps the Indianz.com article has more details.

I found this July 4 (2022) article: https://indianz.substack.com/p/famous-last-words-rain-bear-stands-last

Quote
‘If you deny a people their identity…’
Famous last words from Rain Bear Stands Last [Indianz.Com Jul 4]

If you haven’t checked out the latest Substack on Pretendian Country Today, you’re missing out on quite the tale, as Rain Bear Stands Last and his wife Sara Atiqtalik (these names are inventions, btw) just might be the first Pretendian figures to have originated from the United Kingdom.

They also appear to be the first Pretendian characters whose grift was aided and abetted by the U.S. government! We’re calling it the Pretendian Witness Protection Program (tm).

Sadly, though, Rain’s tactics, along with those of his wife, are the same as Pretendians who are born and bred on Turtle Island. Expect trauma-dumping, guilt-tripping and plenty of applications for COVID-19 relief as Pretendian Country Today spills the tea on this British couple in an ongoing series.

Still, few in the Pretendian game have leveled up as strongly as Rain, who managed to convince Dr. Phil and his television program that he is a “tribal filmmaker” and a “Roma tribal member.” Quite the feat — duping one of Oprah Winfrey’s protégés.

But all Pretendian figures tell on themselves in one fashion or another. And Rain did the same when Dr. Phil asked why no one seems to care when actual American Indian and Alaska Native people go missing and murdered.

“If you deny a people their identity,” Rain told Dr. Phil, “they become invisible.”

Clips from the Dr. Phil episode titled “Missing and Murdered in Montana” below.

Boldings in the original text. The two phrases in italics are clickable links there.

I cannot access anything at www.drphil.com/ (Error 405 Not allowed), but I can watch the three videos at YouTube.

Googling "Sara Atiqtalik" gives some interesting links. I will revert about them.

Offline Sparks

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I found this July 4 (2022) article: https://indianz.substack.com/p/famous-last-words-rain-bear-stands-last

At the top of the article there is a 59 seconds long video from the Dr. Phil show. Here Serle Chapman is introduced as "Rain — ROMA TRIBAL MEMBER" and "Rain — EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - GLOBAL INDIGENOUS COUNCIL".

According to Google, Serle Chapman is the one and only "ROMA TRIBAL MEMBER" on the entire visible Internet. As for that other entity (not mentioned before here in the NAFPS forum) there is a lot to be found. Here are a few top hits:

https://www.globalindigenouscouncil.com/homepage
Quote
The Global Indigenous Council (GIC)

"Founded by a resolution of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, the Global Indigenous Council (GIC) has members from the Americas to Australasia. It has published a manifesto, provided testimony to the US Senate, contributed to the acclaimed documentary Remaking the Sacred Hoop, presented official declarations on behalf of 130 tribes to the State of Wyoming opposing its trophy hunt of the sacred grizzly bear, and has formulated a now operational ID card 'to provide primary tribal and sovereign status to tribes and those tribal people with no nation, state, territorial or provincial official identification of standing.'

As stated in founding GIC resolutions: 'Many tribes outside of North America do not have the legal standing afforded by treaties with colonial, nation-states. As a result, the sovereignty of those tribes is consistently threatened, and the rights of those tribal citizens are routinely undermined or ignored, due to a lack of documented legal status.'"

NATIVE NEWS ONLINE [https://nativenewsonline.net/]

Current and Urgent Work:
In conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association, GIC is implementing Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (#MMIW) initiatives to counter the endemic devastation being wrought on our communities by murders and assaults on Native women, children, and two-spirit people.  We are currently engaged with lawmakers in the US Congress and Senate to deliver bi-partisan legislation to fight this onslaught against our lifegivers, youth and children.

https://www.globalindigenouscouncil.com/
Quote
STATEMENT BY RAIN
Periodically, allegations are made against people who work in or with the Tribal community. Some arise from rumor and innuendo, some from a lack of clarity or misrepresentation in reports, some from genuine confusion, and some from tabloid sensationalism and worse.  It has come to my attention that I am now the subject of such, joining the likes of Suzan Shown Harjo (Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient), Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Sovereign Bodies Institute founder Annita Lucchesi, Johnny Depp, and hundreds of others on a so-called “list” that is described as being constructed from the “use of lateral violence, colonial trauma, and colonial recognition as weaponized structures.”  Should you have any interest in this gibberish, the central “claims” being made about me are addressed in the affidavits and statements that can be read in full on this page.

Thanks for visiting the site. Now I’m going back to work.

https://www.indigenouswatchdog.org/background-content/theme/indigenous-alliances/environment/
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January 1, 2018  — Global Indigenous Council
“Founded by a resolution of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, the Global Indigenous Council (GIC) has members from the Americas to Australasia.
“GIC’s mission includes membership, representation and participation for all tribal nations in the four hemispheres. The challenges, crises, and legacy of colonial conquest are not unique to the Americas. Throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia and Oceania, the experience of indigenous peoples replicates ours.

A purpose of GIC is to bring unity, re-establish ancient relationships, develop new alliances, exchange knowledge, and find commonality in our shared purpose of vision and strength for our future generations.”

Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association Resolution. January 2018. https://www.globalindigenouscouncil.com/

Global Indigenous Council's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qk5DjyBNZifNY_Mr0qiQw

Global Indigenous Council's Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/globalindigeno1

Global Indigenous Council's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/globalindigenouscouncil

On several sites he describes himself as Romani, even wearing a t shirt saying Gypsy.

Photo of that here: https://speakforwolves.org/conference/2021-program/rain-bear-stands-last-filmmaker-global-indigenous-council/

Offline Sparks

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Googling "Sara Atiqtalik" gives some interesting links. I will revert about them.

Sara Atiqtalik at Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-atiqtalik-45bb151a3?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
"Sara Atiqtalik — National Coordinator at Alter-Native Media - Billings, Montana, United States".

Sara Atiqtalik at Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sara-Atiqtalik

Sara Atiqtalik mentioned as 'spokeswoman' or 'GOAL Tribal Coalition’s national coordinator'; etc., in all these articles:

https://news.yahoo.com/yellowstone-area-grizzlies-no-longer-protection-u-says-120328825.html
https://www.outdoornews.com/2015/05/18/grizzly-bear-czar-taken-to-task-by-western-tribal-leaders/
https://www.indianz.com/News/2015/017198.asp
https://wyofile.com/tribal-alliance-fights-to-maintain-yellowstone-grizzly-protections/
https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/wildlife/montana-wyoming-tribes-formally-oppose-grizzly-bear-delisting/article_67f9dc10-9860-11e4-b5e5-4f3c6ea3a637.html

Article by Sara Atiqtalik (Censored News): https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015_05_09_archive.html

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/sara.atiqtalik.5 [Sara Atiqtalik (Sara)]

I found posts by that profile in these two groups:
https://www.facebook.com/MMNAWM/  [Missing and Murdered Native Americans]
https://www.facebook.com/hopirelief/  [Hopi Relief]  (See also: https://hopirelief.org/)

https://www.facebook.com/MMNAWM/posts/786278532016920
https://www.facebook.com/hopirelief/posts/hello-everybody-wanted-to-let-you-know-about-this-opportunity-no-acting-experien/546687027049698/

Offline cellophane

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Quote
Sara Atiqtalik aka Sarah Ann Gilbertson aka Sarah Mathuin aka Sarah Anna Mathuin aka Sara Anna Mathuin aka Sarah Chapman

Mathúin is Irish for 'bear', and atiqtalik is eastern Inuktitut for 'polar bear with cubs'. I guess these guys really like bears, as well as having various ethnic identities.