NAFPS Forum

i know this guy very well..and personaly think he's a fraud. goes around preaching and doing ceromonies, always surrounded by rich wealthy whites, and in fact adopted some old white woman from back east who left left out her own family when she willed him millions of dollars and he employed the Spence Family to defend him in court to keep it. he shows up in books, movies always talking about the shoshone religion and thier ways, when he's actualy an enrolled arapaho.

any outside info would be appreciated

He seems a very serious man doing good work. I couldn't find any evidence of what you say.

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http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/authors/details.aspx?ID=192
James Trosper is a respected voice on traditional Plains Indian spirituality. He is Medicine Man and Sun Dance chief of the Shoshone Tribe on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Fort Washakie, Wyoming. Mr. Trosper is a direct descendant of the great Eastern Shoshone chief, Washakie, and he comes from a long line of Shoshone Sun Dance chiefs that includes John Trehero, the Sun Dance chief who brought the Shoshone Sun Dance to the Crow tribe. Mr. Trosper is also part Arapaho.

Mr. Trosper has traveled throughout America, assisting in the continuation of American Indian religious traditions, and explaining the Sun Dance religion of the Plains and Indian spirituality to Indian and white audiences. He is also deeply involved in developing and promoting programs to preserve the Shoshone language and cultural heritage.

James Trosper is a director of the Chief Washakie Foundation, and a director of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation. He holds a degree from the University of Wyoming, where he is now a Trustee of the University.
Trosper, his wife, and their two children, live in Fort Washakie.

James Trosper has contributed the following to World Wisdom projects:

The "Foreword" in Indian Spirit (revised and enlarged edition)
Comments in the section "Conversations With Native Elders" in Native Spirit: The Sun Dance Way (book)
Videotaped interview in the section "Conversations With Native Elders" in Native Spirit and The Sun Dance Way (2-disc DVD set)

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Parts of the book can be read here.
http://books.google.co.id/books?id=zhTNlvAjIZUC&dq=%22james+trosper&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=LNrzpgDSrb&sig=f2bso_9vuh2mYDE3SdWB-KYLycQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

Another book he appears in with Looking Horse and other elders.
http://www.nativespiritinfo.com/james_t.html

University Trustee
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/trustees/info.asp?p=676


http://www.windriverhistory.org/washakiefound.html
J"ames Trosper, Chair and Executive Director
James currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Wyoming and served as the Director of Indian Child Welfare for the Northern Arapaho Tribe for 14 years.  He is also on the Award Committee of the Chief Washakie Memorial Endowment at the University of Wyoming and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation Board.  In the past he has served on a number of boards including The Chief Washakie Sculpture Committee, the Board of Directors of the Wind River Youth Council, Fremont County Historic Preservation Commission and Wyoming Indian Affairs Council.  He is also the great-great grandson of Chief Washakie."

This article is almost 20 years old, but seems to show Trosper once was a devout Mormon.
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ae33d370d5c9b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

An account of how he became keeper of the tribe's bundle.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_/ai_n11412273

Summaries of his minutes of his meetings with Wyoming officials.
http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2004/interim/tribal/minutes/app0520.htm

http://www.gtnpf.org/board.php
"Grand Teton National Park Foundation
Board of Directors....
James Trosper lives in Fort Washakie, Wyoming and is Director of the Indian Child Welfare Legal Department on the Wind River Indian Reservation. In 2002, he was appointed by Governor Dave Freudenthal for a five-year term as trustee on the University of Wyoming board. James is an Eastern Shoshone Sun Dance leader and the great-great grandson of Chief Washakie."

see this is it exactly....but i guess a little background....i have known him all his life...he was never a real spiritualist...he was a devote mormon and even ordained to conduct weddings under the morman church...this bundle in the article...it never happened that way....i was there..the bundle was held by his aunt..she was keeping it for her son when he was ready....james went to a crow thomas yellowtail who had been given a ceromony from james g grandfather john trehillio a shoshone/mexican breed.....he agreed to pass it on to james...james and his mother went to his great aunt and asked for the bundle, she agreed to let them carry it until her son was ready....he then started the ceremony he was given...instantly became a sundance chief and sweat leader...from a devote mormon to sundance chief in days
but he refused to give back the bundle when his aunt wanted it back a couple years later...he outright wouldnt give it up and so she left it saying she wasnt gonna fight over medicine....\


he was also never given the right to run the shoshone sundance by the shoshone people...he just does it

and as i said i have known him all my life...he was devote morman one day medicine man the next...problem is...most of his followers are in fact newagers wannabes

as detailed in the aarticle where he travels around explaining the sundance to whites...its none of thier damm business...i know he has taken wannabeess into the sundance, he has taken whites on vision quests and always has them in sweats

rich white people in jackson pay  for his sundance ceremony each year...then they come and camp around like thier special ause they paid to be there


i guess all im saying is sure he looks great...but looks are decieving  sometimes....two years ago at the completion of his sundance a crow speaker spoke to the crowd...to not be jealose...not be mad because james has alot of money...be happy for him, pray for him

i was like wtf?? he conned some ailing old white woman from  massachusets into leaving him all her money and posessions at the expense of her family....and we should be happy??

I never said you were wrong, only that I could not find proof of what you say. Have others see what you saw happen? Have they spoken out in public about this before? I would think that taking away a bundle would get many angry.

Perhaps another thing to look into is asking Mormon leaders just what his position was and how recent.

As far as him having mostly whites, wannabes, or Nuagers, I couldn't find any sign of that.

Many others see the truth.  He looks good to the white people.  But that is all he actually cares about is how he looks.  He was never raised traditional.  Doesn't speak the language nor understand it.  He was and still is a Devout mormon.  When on a mission for the mormon church as well.  Nothing wrong with that but he did not grow up "indian".  The first time he ever stepped foot in the Shoshone Sundance was as a Sundance Chief.  That is a fact.  What we all know now is all the white people that come to his sundance and sweats are paying customers.  His sundance is not accepted by the Eastern shoshone people and if you pay attention you will see that there are only a couple Eastern Shoshone people that dance with him.  The rest are out of state people that dont know him well enough.  Even his leaders in the sundance are outsiders.  Not a single enrolled tribal member.  He uses our Sundance religion to promote his popularity with the rich white people yet call us Dumb Shoshones.... i guess we are for letting him carry on. 

James Trosper charged a German female visitor $15,000 to be part of his bastardized ARAPAHOE Sundance...it is not a SHOSHONE Sundance as he mixes beliefs, charges money, and allows pictures to be taken...he got his vision in the back of a van where he supposedly fasted at a Sundance in Ft. Hall Idaho. He was too weak a person to actually go into a real SHOSHONE Sundance. He is enrolled Arapahoe and NO SHOSHONE elders respect or acknowledge him. His mother has turned her back on her true bloodline to claim Chief Washakie blood. She was a drunk for many years and her and...[Long list of potentially defamatory claims of criminal charges deleted until there is proof shown.]
There ya go...he is hated by the Shoshone.

So far we've had 3 accounts speaking against Trosper. All 3 have similar styles of writing, 2 have similar names, 2 have similar IPs, and all 3 have similar patterns of just making a few posts of charges.

I'm also skeptical because J21 endorsed notorious fraud Bennie Lebeau. S/he made some very serious criminal charges against Trosper. These are not credible since he's been on a university board and director of a child protective agency. We must see evidence of the criminal charges or the claims will be deleted. I couldn't find any sign of them.

ETA: Deleted those charges until we see proof. If there's proof they can be reposted.

I did not endorse Bennie. He is my uncle, he has passed on, and he believed that what he was doing was right. I cannot argue with his belief in himself. So, that us a dead horse...


However [childish insult deleted]..you stated that 3 different accounts state the same thing and insinuate they are all the same person. Perhaps [personal attack removed] fails to realize that this is the SHOSHONE opinion of an Arapahoe trying to taint, change,use, and make money off SHOSHONE culture...he is hated by Shoshone that know who he really is. He is known to charge for ceremonies.Where you rebutting that? [False accusation removed.]

Also, similar IP addressing could come from the fact that it is a Verizon account because we only have Verizon for internet access. Because we live here. And we know what happens here.

And there are PLENTY of clergy that have been convicted of crimes against children. The best place to hide is to get yourself in a position to defend allegations. He sure has white people fooled to the point of defending him. Come to Ft. Washakie to speak with the Shoshone elders and you will see this truth. By the way, SHOSHONE do not do "medicine bundles" that is an Arapahoe thing gained from the Souix.

I am also wondering why you are disputing 3 different people from the area...

All three alleged different people sound exactly alike, and until this last burst of posting, posted with the same pattern.

Once again, you haven't provided any evidence of your claims at all. One criminal charge you keep tossing is about the most damaging anyone could make. If false, it's hysterical and a smear tactic. If true, why hasn't he been charged? Why haven't you or alleged others done anything but make unproven charges once and then never returned? Where's the indictment? Where's any investigation at all?

As far as the claim of ceremony selling, how was the woman recruited? I don't see any sign of ceremony selling online. You claim he charged one time only? That's not credible.

Once again, you are defending him....And you have no portion yourself that he isn't doing it. I have gone into his Sundance have seen first hand that it is a bastardized version that he lies about. I know the history of the Sundance. He gets his "donations" through other avenues. Did you find the video of the Sundance? That was NOT allowed or approved by the Shoshone. That is one of the main indications of a fraud, they go around or against the tribe they are supposedly representing. He is ARAPAHOE!!! Saying he is a SHOSHONE. Sundance chief...pull your head out...

That's like a Muslim claiming to be a Catholic priest while preaching Islam...

Crickets chirping at the silence...