NAFPS Forum

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-cultural-or-ceremonial-benefits-of-being-socially-adopted-into-a-Native-American-tribe/answer/Al-Carroll-17
What are the cultural or ceremonial benefits of being socially adopted into a Native American tribe?

Tribes generally do not adopt. People adopt. Individuals or families adopt. There were a few famous cases of celebrities being adopted as adults, and media insisted on repeating 19th century notions of tribes adopting whites.

Johnny Depp was adopted in by Ladonna Harris. She seemed to believe his turn in Lone Ranger was worthy of doing this. Most other Natives disagreed, to put it mildly. The media was filled with the usual misinformation.

Kevin Costner was falsely reported as adopted by the Lakota. No, they made him an honorary member of the tribe, not the same thing at all. Albert White Hat did adopt him into his family.

Obama was adopted by a Crow family for his support of Native causes and issues. Again, media outlets kept falsely claiming he was adopted by the tribe.

More often there are false claims made by New Age imposters. We have seen a lot of them at NAFPS. White imposters claiming adoption makes it OK for them to use and abuse traditional ceremony. Even when there was an actual family adoption as adults, every tribe that I know of explicitly says:

ADOPTION GIVES NO SPECIAL RIGHTS, ESP. NOT ANY RIGHT TO CEREMONY OR TO BE A MEDICINE PERSON.

So these are just some of those falsely claiming rights to ceremony that we have investigated. They are widely condemned as spiritual frauds esp. by the tribes named.

Guldal Caba
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5194.0

Andrew Soliz - Page 6
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3274.msg49463#msg49463

Sarah MacLean Bicknell "shamanic" practitioner
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5387.msg49885#msg49885

"Bernice Falling Leaves Crowfoote" / Bernice Sophia Noad
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5722.msg49725#msg49725

Joel Cohen AKA Upaava
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=2796.msg47014#msg47014

Jeremy Gordon & Native American Church of Quetzalcoatl
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5747.msg49911#msg49911

Roger La Borde AKA Wakan Sa Hunka
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4823.msg42352#msg42352

Joan Scheer AKA Penny McKelvey AKA "Oh Shinnah Fastwolf" - Page 2
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=482.msg49709#msg49709

Kymberlee Ruff - Page 5
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3574.msg47075#msg47075

Bennie LeBeau aka Blue Thunder - Page 5
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=499.msg49716#msg49716

Cynthia Hart-Button Sacred World Peace Church and Alliance Mission Statement
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=2910.msg24742#msg24742

Julia Ann Kern AKA Sweet Medicine Nation - Four Winds Foundation - Oregon
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4178.msg43304#msg43304

Jason Dane Cudd AKA Dane Golden Wolf
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5020.msg43850#msg43850

Robin Powell AKA Robin Youngblood - Page 2
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=856.msg48965#msg48965

Photos used are at the link.
https://www.quora.com/What-would-native-Americans-feel-about-an-extinct-tribe-revival-E-g-what-if-the-descendants-of-now-extinct-Timucuans-revive-their-identity-and-culture-Will-the-Seminoles-take-it-as-valid/answer/Al-Carroll-17

What would native Americans feel about an extinct tribe revival? E.g., what if the descendants of now extinct Timucuans revive their identity and culture? Will the Seminoles take it as valid?

At NAFPS we have seen such groups, or frankly they are often cults, making such claims. Done so often for fraud, for money, even for abusing members sexually. Sometimes they begin with good if naive and ignorant intentions.

But this falls apart quickly and devolves into fantasy. Leaders imagine themselves chiefs, presidents, even kings and emperors. Obviously if they are truly extinct they cannot be revived and the leaders are frauds, con men, or even mentally ill.

We saw this at NAFPS with one woman and a few family members falsely claiming to be Beothuk, a nation wiped out by the French over 300 years ago. The leader dyed her hair, used tanning makeup, had an earlier similar fantasy of posing as Jewish, claimed her late husband was coming after me from beyond the grave, and accused us of extermination and genocide. Seriously...

Beothuk Tribe of NFLD, Carol Reynolds Boyd
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4960.0

Another case someone claimed to be King of the Sioux, then prince of a made up African tribe, then Metis, and then the nonexistent Una tribe claiming to represent all mixed bloods. They even pulled the stunt of handing out membership to Elizabeth Warren. The leader seemed to have a lot of mental health issues. Most sites with their claims are down now.
Richard Kincaid-Lake King of the Sioux, Una Tribe, Antinanco Metis
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1910.0

Probably the worst ones to do this are Nuwaubians and their offshoots. Their now-convicted-of-multiple-child-rapes leader Dwight York claimed to be Yamasee...and Creek...and Moor. The actual Yamasee merged into the Seminole over two centuries ago. York would dress up like this.

And his cult had a compound looking like this. They also later claimed to be Egyptians and space aliens. Seriously. And Muslim, with York as the successor to no less than Mohammed. And Jewish.

Plenty of these groups claiming to be reborn tribes just do not care about accuracy. They already started off in their trip into fantasy land, so why not?

With York in prison until he dies, the cult split into many factions. Some claim to be trying to actually be Yamasee. We have spoken with them at NAFPS. Some sincere, some dangerous, some as bizarre as York.

Militia group
Yamassee Mt Ararat Embassy Clan AKA Mund Barafee Clan Guale
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=590.0

Another militia group

Sean Henry AKA Nanya Shabu El & At Sik hata Nation or Clan of Yamassee NA Moors
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3727.0

One of them there was a dispute between leaders ending in murder.
Yamassee Nation of Allendale SC/Yamasee Indian Tribe of Seminoles
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3706.0

One led by a self proclaimed emperor
Continental Muurish Yamasee Empire
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3730.0

This group here seem sincere but has their share of infighting.
Savannah River Band of Euchee
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4344.0

Led by a failed rapper turned Black supremacist preacher
King-Etznab-Shaquan: El Rey©/Yemassee
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3768.0

For most businesses, no, but companies often set vaguely defined goals. Academia is one of the few exceptions, kind of. There are specific chairs where universities have to match the demographics of the area. They also have to be visible minorities. No claims of distant ancestry and you cannot put them away from the public. In the US there was the notorious case of Cracker Barrel, where Blacks could only work in the kitchen and all waitresses and cashiers were white.

Quote from: educatedindian on September 04, 2026, 01:16:59 AMExcept for Churchill, there never has been any such thing as being hired for being Native in academia. There is no Indian preference as in tribal govts and the BIA. Being hired based on race has been illegal since the Bakke decision in 1977.

Do you know if Canada is similar to the United States?

Photos used are at the link.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-examples-of-people-playing-pretendian-and-being-caught/answer/Al-Carroll-17
I would not call it playing since the frauds who do so do it as a way to make money, or in some cases build a cult and abuse huge numbers of people. The striking thing is many whites do not care if someone is exposed as a fraud. Their need to control and define Natives is what matters to them, no matter how false and/or racist those beliefs are.

Sam Morningstar already gave plenty of good examples and I will concentrate on others. The one example he mentioned I will add to is Ward Churchill. He was exposed as non Native by 1990 and every actual Native in academia knew it. Univ of Colorado was so eager to hire any supposed Native, they ignored usual vetting and hiring procedures, hired with only an MA, gave him tenure and quickly promoted him to dept head. Supposedly fired for his Little Eichmanns comment, he was really targeted for leftist views.

Except for Churchill, there never has been any such thing as being hired for being Native in academia. There is no Indian preference as in tribal govts and the BIA. Being hired based on race has been illegal since the Bakke decision in 1977.

Where it is a problem is when someone falsely claims to be speaking as an insider. On that count the most notorious academic fraud was actually by a non Native, Carlos Castaneda, falsely claiming to have been taught by a Yaqui holy man, the fictional Don Juan. Never happened, and Castaneda plagiarized his books from Taoist, Buddhist, and Hindu writings. Despite him being debunked USC refused to revoke his PhD and still makes a fortune from selling his books as nonfiction.

The best known debunking of Castaneda
Castaneda books continue to be so popular and influential that one of the most famous fictional characters of all time is based on Don Juan. George Lucas fell for the hoax.

Starting with Castaneda, the worst, most destructive, and most money making frauds all came from the New Age movement and so called neo shamanism, more accurately pseudo shamanism. The worst of them do what con artists call letting the mark in on the con. Admit you are lying and cheating, get the victim to see the con along with you.

The most obvious example is Harley Raper AKA Harley Reagan AKA Swiftdeer. An actual red haired Irishman passing himself off as Cherokee and Mayan, claiming to speak telepathically and across time with a crystal skull named Max.

Start with the obvious. Nothing in that photo is either Cherokee or Mayan. He also claimed to be ex CIA, ex Special Forces, ex Olympic athlete, ex Mormon who went through a non existent Mormon exorcism, and creator of a phony martial arts but somehow also a survivor of being raped in prison.

He also would sell you a fraudulent Cherokee Sex Ceremony for $2000. Sorry to be offensive, but this involved groups of people masturbating together, anally, with objects. That was not all. Sexual assault was made part of these phony ceremonies, with groups of men urged to assault women. They also hire prostitutes and bring drug use into faux ceremony.

He also claimed it was Cherokee tradition for grandparents to commit incest with their grandkids. Naturally this attracted pedophiles. The fake sex ceremony attracted both abusers and abuse survivors wanting to believe it was not abuse, and other very desperate and abusive people. Guess who else was fooled by Harley Reagan?

After protests from Cherokee Nation President Wilma Mankiller, HBO was forced to apologize to avoid a lawsuit.
To top it off, and not surprisingly, Harley Reagan was a deeply racist militia leader. He trained his followers to prepare for a race war against Latinos. Follow this if you can: A white racist posing as Cherokee and Mayan prepared his all white cult who believed they were learning Native spirituality to train with guns and his phony version of martial arts...to fight Latinos who actually are Native or have Native ancestry.

Reagan also was a phony martial artist. The good people at Bullshido have documented how ridiculous his claims are.

Who could be naive enough to believe he was supposedly Native?
He also told his followers to overthrow the US govt in 2000 if Al Gore won the election. His so called Deer Tribe is still around after his early death and claims 3000 members in the US and Europe.

Harley "Swiftdeer" Reagan, Chuluaqui Quodoushka, Chulukai Quodosha
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=528.0

Just as ridiculous and dangerous was Leonard Mattern AKA Buck Ghosthorse. An actual white KKK terrorist from Pennsylvania posing as Lakota medicine man with a cult in Washington state.

Doesnt he look reel spirchul?
Terrorist is not hyperbole. After 14 years in the Klan he was part of the Christian Patriots Defense League for 6 years, an Illinois militia preparing for race war. CPDL and KKK often got in violent confrontations.

Mattern has a long history of killing followers with his incompetence. An elderly woman was burned to death, and others died in fake ceremonies. Mattern also toured colleges spreading his lies and ran fundraising scams to support his cult. The fraud was so profitable they purchased 150 acres. One member of the cult was accused of abusing women.

The Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative that his cult began as part of has ties to some other frauds. "Mary Thunder" endorses them as allies. Also Charla Thomas/Tarwater of the Bear Tribe cult. She co founded HERC along with "Reverend" Charla Herman, who ran an alchemy academy.

The cult continues with Paul Sahayda as their leader.

Buck Ghosthorse (Leonard Albert Mattern)
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3760.0
Even worse is Dwight York AKA Chief Black Thunderbird Eagle AKA Rabboni Y'shua Bar El Haady.

Yes, those are all him. At different times he claimed to be a pharaoh, a Native chief, a caliph who was supposed to take nothing less than the place of the prophet Mohammed, and an actual space alien. Faux Muslim, faux Jewish, faux Native, faux Egyptian, but definitely Black supremacist sovereign citizen militia. York holds the ugly distinction of being convicted of the most counts of child molesting and child rape in history, more than 110.

His Nuwaubian cult, sometimes called Yamassees, ran protection rackets, theme parks, and a record label with hip hop groups Force MDs and Stetsasonic. They claimed 5,000 members and had cult compounds in Brooklyn and near Atlanta. Members were forbidden to be with their wives unless they had met quotas for donations or work. But York is believed to have fathered over 100 children.

Of course no one ever believed his claims of being Egyptian, Native, Muslim, or an alien except his cult members. He was denounced by civil rights groups, Muslim clerics, and of course Natives. All of which convinced his followers he was being persecuted by white devils.

United Nuwaubian Nation of Muurs or Moors: Georgia Sect Dwindles W Leader Jailed
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=19.0

There are many, many more examples I could point to. Most imposters are very easily found out. Indian Country is a small place. Most rezzes have 3,000–5,000 people, like a small town. When someone makes a claim it is easy to ask around and see if they are full of it. And sometimes them being phony is literally as easy as spotting the bad tanning makeup on their face, or that they failed to put it on their pale arms.

That is Brooke Edwards AKA Medicine Eagle, obvious phony for the past 40 years. Notice the hairline has a different color than the rest of her skin. She also used to post a phony tribal certificate obviously made at Kinkos when they were still around.

This is John Allen Hill AKA John Two Hawks, a phony posing as a Lakota musician. So clumsy a fraud you can see his hairline has a different shade even on his official bio page.

He fooled a Finnish metal band called Nightwish into doing a song with him. Then he was dumb enough to sing in gibberish that sounded nothing like Lakota. He also tried to pass off New Age and Hollywood Indian beliefs as Native. Again, Nightwish could have avoided embarrassment simply by noticing the obvious makeup. To their credit, they publicly apologized and removed Hill from their videos.

There are literally hundreds more examples like this. Why do we at NAFPS keep doing this for over 25 years now if the victims keep being victimized, and often defend their victimizers? Because most people can be reached. Most people can avoid being taken in if they just ask or go with their instincts and stay away and warn others if it feels off or odd

Some of my browsers have told me for years that http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php
is not secure because there is no 'https' in the URL. One example:

QuoteHTTPS-Only Mode Alert
Secure Site Not Available

You've enabled HTTPS-Only Mode for enhanced security, and a HTTPS version of www.newagefraud.org is not available.

Learn More...
What could be causing this?

    Most likely, the website simply does not support HTTPS.
    It's also possible that an attacker is involved. If you decide to visit the website, you should not enter any sensitive information like passwords, emails, or credit card details.

If you continue, HTTPS-Only Mode will be turned off temporarily for this site.

Is it possible to change that?

I attempted to log in from Google Chrome, and Bitdefender told me the security certificate did not match.

Thomas Robert Wigger's "Thomas Whitefeather" most recent video on Facebook is no longer available. I wonder if it was taken down because he repeatedly falsely claimed that a specific woman is his wife, repeating her full actual name.

In a 2003 Milton, Florida court record he was noted as having a "right arm tribal knife" tattoo. I don't know if he still does.

I've uploaded here part of a photo from a 2025 event in Wenatchee, WA (World photo/Jenni Rodas May 5, 2025). Note his staff and that he is smudging someone.

There is also another topic with the same name and the same starting point as the present topic:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=2279.0 [Not legitimately Cherokee]

Quote from: flyaway on May 15, 2010, 08:35:16 PMNot legitimately Cherokee Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

No link given. The quoted article is available here:

https://eu.gadsdentimes.com/story/news/2009/06/30/not-legitimately-cherokee/32184039007/

There is a parallel topic with many more posts:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=2376.0 [Cherokees of Alabama]

I am researching recent developments and will post in that thread within a few days.