LETTER 6/08/09

Aho, Itancan.

Thank you for your letter 5/18/09 with information about your Hoop and conditions at C T Terrell Unit. As you may know, I also have a letter from Kimimina Hinhana with additional information and insights. While I can well understand that you might feel somewhat overwhelmed by the prospects of establishing and maintaining good order among the many brothers there – with perhaps some of them only half-heartedly or even casually beginning to walk the Red Road - still, I see many advantages, both potential and realized. I expect good things of Roaming Buffalo Clan, but it will be largely up to you, Itancan, to make the best of it. I would like to help open the way for you, if I can, and on the basis of the information you have provided, I have a number of suggestions to offer and a submission to make for your personal and then collective consideration.

Organization: From your report, I see that you are healthy in gross numbers (30+) and you seem to have an good-sized core group (10 –15). I am sure that you have sensed among a at least a dozen men there a genuine willingness to learn the Way of the People and practice traditional Native American spirituality in a Good Way. These brothers should be the primary focus of your efforts. You are not obliged to encourage participation and, if my understanding of traditional practice is correct, you probably want to discourage any kind of recruitment or ‘evangelizing’. You can in good conscience let them come who will in a Good Way and disregard the rest. I appreciate your concern about opportunistic hangers-on, but I think with proper order and discipline you will be able effectively to discourage those who might only be coming for a smoke. This is a common problem in your circumstances, as I have witnessed elsewhere. In any event, let me offer you some tools to work with:

Enclosed is a draft copy of a Constitution for a Native American religious organization suitable for institution in a penal milieu, that is, societies like yours have been established in this way and operated in other prisons and you are within your rights to form such an association at C T Terrall Unit. In fact, you Brothers of Roaming Buffalo Clan already have; but you may want this (or another) manual of procedures to assure right process.

I suggest that first you and then trusted other brothers read this through and imagine how it would work in practice. The implication of continuing ratifications (signatures) is that all who would enter into this association would likewise understand, agree to and subscribe to these ‘ground rules’.

If the particulars of this constitution meet with general agreement, you can ratify and operate it in the manners described within it with the expectation of cooperation and support of the Institution. If you brothers have any changes to make, you can mark up this copy and return it to me and I will reproduce a fair copy. I suggest that you keep the chaplain informed of your intentions and progress, but should you meet with any resistance to this structure from those with authority over you, please advise me and we will encourage them to make the accommodation.

This draft, together with its footnotes, is meant to be self-explanatory, but let me make some comments here at the outset. You will see that this is primarily a plan for self-governance of your collective religious affairs but it says very little about specific practices. This is quite deliberate. I urge you not to incorporate into this form any particulars about your ceremonies or rituals. These aspects will grow, develop and – to some extant – change over time. It is a characteristic of the frame of Native American spirituality that it is 1) very diverse across the board, 2) highly varied among individuals and 3) dynamic in its fulfillment. You don’t want the Sacred to be corralled on a piece of paper. On the other hand, a common understanding of a communal decision-making process and procedure is, in my view, essential to this faith and in fact, lies at the very heart of traditional practice.

Membership: In the circumstances, you probably cannot (and shouldn’t want to) limit entry into to this association, although – as I’ll demonstrate next – you can (and probably should) limit some aspects of participation within it, because...

Participation: Spiritual growth and development in any frame require a disciplined approach and ordered progress and you will not be prejudicial in requiring informed introduction or some study in advance of some observances (see By-Laws 7). It is your individual and collective responsibility to shelter the Sacred from selfish use or inappropriate practice (see By-Laws 5). It is my understanding that anyone who might come ‘only for a smoke’ is bound to be disappointed. For example, in a proper Pipe Ceremony, no one may expect or ask to receive the Pipe, much less demand or insist upon it. In my experience, a brother does not even so much as reach for the Pipe until it is offered by the ceremony leader. And there are manners in which one not handed the Pipe may still be blessed by it, e.g. it may be touched to his shoulders or his prayers may otherwise be sent aloft by burning prayer-ties - is that not so among you? So you see, by observing proper forms, you will not only discourage abuse of the Sacred, you will repel it. In general, any self-initiated effort to intrude upon or impose oneself in a ceremony is self-defeating by its revelation of inexperience and an inappropriate manner, a lack of both humility and respect. It goes without saying that any attempt of intrusion upon your practice by anyone’s threat or coercion is entirely inappropriate and a fit subject for the administration of the institution to consider.

Activities: I recommend that you plan and schedule to meet at least once, perhaps twice, for at least an hour each time every week (see By-Laws 6). I am sure other faith groups at C T Terrell Unit do. After start-up, perhaps your “business meeting” need only meet one or two of those hours each month. You cannot be justly required to limit your activities and observances to only those times when your Religious Volunteer can be present. Scheduling, appropriate space, supervision etc. are the responsibility of the institution. You will most likely consider it best for ceremonies to take place outside on Ina Makah. Again, you should let me know if undue burdens are placed upon the regular congregation of your Hoop or if your observances are inappropriately restricted or confined. Be cautious of using the term “reasonable” in these matters. In application, “Reasonableness” is a legal standard and it is substandard to what applies to religious exercise (see Footnote 1).

Study: First, you learn as much as you can from the within yourself - Medicine Wheel. Then you learn as much as you can from each other - Talking Circle. Then you learn as much as you can from your Religious Volunteer - Oral Wisdom. Alongside all that you learn what you can from books and tapes and other media - Educational Materials. Begin to move in this way and the least important component, including the ones you mention in your letter, will no doubt materialize. But before you can make use of these educational materials, you have to be able to receive and maintain them in an orderly way. Some things I have lately sent to Texas have, by one hand or another, been misdirected or otherwise ‘lost’ within the system. You should in time be organized in such a way as to have a ‘permanent collection’ of sacred and other material objects for this and future Hoops (see Article 10). For starters, I am sending you with this letter copy of some basic Lakota songs, but tell me: do you have a drum there…?

OK – this ought to be enough for you to chew on for now, Itancan. If you can introduce a good ‘operating system’, you should be able to process the input you receive, both ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Let me know what progress you make in the next few weeks and maybe there will be something more for me to add. I am looking to fulfilling the various requests that I have received from you and other brothers in Texas; however, I think you are limited to certain TX-DOJ-approved items. It may not be possible at this time for you (or others) to receive unique objects or anything not-on-the-list.

I have one request to make of you at this time: Can you provide me with a mailing address for your Religious Volunteer. The chaplain gave me a phone number but I would prefer to write to him before calling.

Friends hold you in the Light. Mitakuye oyasin. Isiyagke Katiyeya Ektaiyepi