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Repression in America’s Pacific Colonies: Guam, Hawaii, Micronesia, and Samoa
It likely comes to a surprise to many Americans to hear the US has colonies, has had them for over a century, and that much of these colonial populations would like independence, or in some cases to be independent again as they were before US conquest. All these peoples were conquered or annexed without their consent. Three of these peoples have no say in the national political system and varying amounts of local control. Another, Micronesia, was a US colony for up to four decades. In all of these peoples' homelands, resources and workers flow out to the US mainland and in all cases except Samoa, local peoples have a more limited say in the economy than elites in the mainland US.
It likely comes to a surprise to many Americans to hear the US has colonies, has had them for over a century, and that much of these colonial populations would like independence, or in some cases to be independent again as they were before US conquest. All these peoples were conquered or annexed without their consent. Three of these peoples have no say in the national political system and varying amounts of local control. Another, Micronesia, was a US colony for up to four decades. In all of these peoples' homelands, resources and workers flow out to the US mainland and in all cases except Samoa, local peoples have a more limited say in the economy than elites in the mainland US.
The body count from US colonialism in these Pacific islands was high:
167 Bikini Islanders forcibly removed, starved for six months, and exposed to an extra one in seven higher risk of death from cancer from atomic bomb testing.
Hundreds of Marshall Islanders on Rongelap, Rongerik, Ailinginae, and Utrik Atolls, 23 Japanese fishermen, and 28 US weathermen exposed to radiation from atomic bomb tests.
Over 4,000 US servicemen exposed to radiation during the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll. Six died during the cleanup, an unknown number died early deaths.
200,000 Hawaiian deaths from disease introduced by American and British traders and missionaries. Americans and Europeans had even less excuse than they did in early colonial times. By the time of these epidemics, from 1804 to 1853, whites knew full well that they brought disease with them that would kill large numbers of indigenous people. They had seen so for over three centuries of experience with not just American Indians, but with other Pacific Island peoples.
Seven deaths, an unknown number wounded in the Samoan Civil War, with factions allied with the US or Germany.
15 Samoan chiefs falsely imprisoned for 5-7 years during the Samoan Mau independence movement of the 1930s. Samoan chief Samuelu Ripley was permanently barred from Samoa.
Starting about 1890, the US tried to become a colonial empire not very different from the British, French, German, and Spanish empires. All these empires were built because of a mix of national pride, pseudo scientific racism that insisted whites knew best how to run the world, and just plain old fashioned greed, taking local resources to make money off the local people. The US's first major attempt at empire was the Spanish-American War. The failing Spanish empire was defeated and Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico were conquered. In the Philippines, an independence revolt had to be crushed with great brutality, killing as many as a million Filipinos. It remained a US colony until 1946.
Two other island nations and one colony also were taken into the US empire. Samoa was carved up between Germany and the US. The Kingdom of Hawaii first was conquered by the US on behalf of American-born plantation owners, and then later taken over by the US in the aftermath of war fever from the Spanish-American War.
Guam, was seized from Spain in 1898 and wanted by the US as a naval base. A US Naval Governor ruled the island until 1950. The Chamorro language was banned. In a series of decisions from 1901 to 1922, the Supreme Court ruled the US Constitution does not apply to territories like Guam. During World War II, many Chamorros died during a brutal Japanese occupation. At war's end, many Chamorros protested they should be rewarded for their suffering with at least local self-rule. In 1950, Chamorros finally got US citizenship. But there were no elections until 1968, and no local constitution until 1979. Today the island's economy is utterly dependent on the US military. US bases make up most of the island, and US servicemen and Filipino migrant workers almost outnumber Chamorros. Thus there is no substantial movement for Guam's independence.
Samoa's suffering was different from Guam. Their civil wars in the 1880s and 90s saw both the US and Germany stepping in to aid the two rival factions. German ships bombarded Samoan villages and the US sent its own warships. A typhoon at the start of the Second Samoan Civil War kept the three sides (Britain decided it wanted Samoa too) from fighting. German Samoa was handed over to New Zealand after World War I. There was an independence movement in both Samoas called the Mau (Firm Strength or Unwavering). The leader of the movement, Samuelu Ripley, was permanently exiled and Samoan chiefs imprisoned. The last Samoan king was only allowed his title after promising US authorities he would be the last. An attempt to revive the kingship in 1924 was blocked by the US governor.
But by comparison to either Guam or Hawaii, the first US Naval Governor interfered less. He decided to somewhat leave Samoan culture and people largely alone. Traditional land ownership continues to this day, as do traditional Samoan titles. As the saying goes, the hard part is not knowing who is chief in Samoa, but who is not. Titles are widespread, but authority is limited to being a counselor, and the titles are awarded based on consensus. Unlike Hawaii, almost all Samoan land is still owned by Samoans, and communally.
Today, Samoans are legally US Nationals, but not citizens. They think of themselves as Samoans, not Americans, but can move freely to the US without passports. There is a large Samoan community on the west coast, especially Los Angeles. There is no organized Samoan independence movement, but not because the islands depend on the US as Guam and Puerto Rico do. Instead, they consider themselves to have gotten the best of the bargain, being part of the US, but not giving up being Samoan to be American. That does not change the original wrongdoing of their being seized by the US, nor deaths in their civil wars, nor false imprisonment and exile for their leaders.
Hawaii has suffered the most from colonialism of any American island colonies. There is a tendency to forget, or more often to never teach in US schools, that for almost 70 years, Hawaii was an independent kingdom with diplomatic recognition, relations, and treaties with major nations including the US. British and American merchants and missionaries brought disease with them, and still came knowing this could kill many locals. The missionaries and their children turned into plantation owners, coveting Hawaii's rich soil, ideal for sugarcane. Plantation owners recruited labor from China, Japan, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Blacks from the US. By 1900, Native Hawaiians made up only 20% of the nation's population.
Anglo-American plantation owners determined they would rule Hawaii. They set up their own private paramilitary, the Honolulu Rifles. In 1887, the Rifles forced the appropriately named Bayonet Constitution upon Hawaii. The Rifles arrested the King's minister and stripped the King of all power. Whites were virtually the only ones who could vote. Asians were specifically barred from the vote, and most Hawaiians were barred by literacy tests and property requirements.
In 1893, Liliuokalani became Queen. She called for a new constitution, one where Hawaiians would rule their own islands again. The so called Committee of Safety, plantation owners, told the US Ambassador their plan to overthrow the Queen. The US Ambassador offered a company of US Marines, from a US warship in port, who overthrew the Queen. The committee declared the Republic of Hawaii and called for the US to take over. President Cleveland refused and condemned the overthrow.
A Native Hawaiian counterrevolution failed, and their petition to the US Congress failed to get US troops to restore the Queen. The US took over in 1898, during the war fever of the Spanish-American War. The Hawaiian language was banned until 1986. The Hawaiian religion was also banned. A white exploiter, Max Freedom Long, later invented a false impersonation of Hawaiian religion he called Huna, which some whites today naively believe is Hawaiian.
Hawaii continued to have a turbulent history, with some one of the most radical labor conflicts in the US, seeing major strikes in 1900, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1934, 1938,and 1940. The plantation owners kept a racial hierarchy in place, whites at the top, followed by Japanese, other Asians, other nonwhites, and Native Hawaiians at the bottom socially and economically in their own homeland.
After World War II, the UN pressured empires to set free their colonies. The US finally held an illegal statehood vote. Many non-Hawaiians voted, mostly US servicemen, while many Asians were barred. Most scholarly specialists agree with the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement, that Hawaii remains an occupied nation under illegal US rule. It is also a colony, since tourism as the main industry mostly sends its economic benefits to the mainland. Native Hawaiians continue to work for a return to independence, and can point to some victories, the end of the language ban, restoration of voting rights, Hawaiian language schools, and a cultural renaissance.
Micronesia, the broad group of northern Pacific islands, was made a US Trust Territory in 1947. The UN granted the islands to the US with the intent of guiding them towards self rule. Their lack of a legal voice made the islanders very easy targets for atomic bomb testing. Bikini Atoll became permanently contaminated by radiation after H-bomb tests. The island remained dangerous to live on. The islanders were take off their homeland and dumped for six months on Rongerik Atoll, nearly starving to death. Many Marshall Islanders, Japanese fishermen, and US servicemen were also killed by radiation from H-bomb tests or, for servicemen, from the cleanup after.
What role did presidents play in the takeovers or repression of independence movements of these island nations or colonies?
McKinley ordered the conquest of Guam and Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish-American War, and the US takeover of Hawaii, where previous President Cleveland refused.
Truman and Eisenhower both ordered H bomb tests on Pacific islands. When Ike's election opponent, Adlai Stevenson, called for an end to nuclear weapons testing, Ike called that “a moratorium on common sense.” There is little sign that either president gave much thought to Pacific Islanders. Yet neither man could claim to be ignorant of the bomb's effects. Eisenhower also signed the illegal statehood bill for Hawaii, over the objections of most Native Hawaiians. Ike had supported statehood from the start of his time as president.
Some presidents do have a better record on these islands. Cleveland as an anti-imperialist refused to annex Hawaii. Both major parties included Guam, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands in their presidential primaries starting in 1976, and most major candidates have campaigned for their votes. Obama has publicly vowed to sign the Akaka Bill if Congress passes it, which would grant Native Hawaiians status similar to an American Indian tribe, a reservation and government to government relations with the US.
Self determination for Hawaiians remains strongly opposed by white racists in Hawaii. These are the descendants of the same racists who overthrew the Hawaiian national government, suppressed an attempted uprising, persecuted Hawaiians, stole land, suppressed Hawaiian culture, banned the Hawaiian language, and pushed for Hawaiian statehood over the objections of Native Hawaiians. There are a few vocal anti Hawaiian racist authors, especially Ken Conklin, Thurston Twigg-Smith, and the best and known and most bizarre racist, the white supremacist Filipina, Michelle Malkin.
Pacific Islanders are often little known or understood by many Americans. For example, without professional sports it is doubtful if many American would even realize there are Samoan people. In my own teaching, it is rare to find students who know about the US takeover of Hawaii. It is this lack of knowledge that is the biggest barrier to giving these islanders rule over their own lives. With the exception of some anti-Hawaiian bigotry, US control of these islands is largely a legacy of the old colonialism rather than any current evil intent. Were more Americans to know and understand this past, self rule for these peoples would come sooner.
--------
Al Carroll is Assistant Professor of American, American Indian, and Latin American history at Northern Virginia Community College and also taught at Arizona State University, St. Phillip's College, San Antonio College, and Hasanuddin University in Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar.
Most of his work deals with war and peace, human rights issues, One can see evidence of the influence of James Loewen, Linda Tuwahi Smith, Vine Deloria, Jack Forbes, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky. He is a longtime human rights activist and volunteer researcher for NewAgeFraud.org, which defends Native traditions from spiritual abusers, exploiters, and imposters. More information is at http://alcarroll.com.
The body count from US colonialism in these Pacific islands was high:
167 Bikini Islanders forcibly removed, starved for six months, and exposed to an extra one in seven higher risk of death from cancer from atomic bomb testing.
Hundreds of Marshall Islanders on Rongelap, Rongerik, Ailinginae, and Utrik Atolls, 23 Japanese fishermen, and 28 US weathermen exposed to radiation from atomic bomb tests.
Over 4,000 US servicemen exposed to radiation during the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll. Six died during the cleanup, an unknown number died early deaths.
200,000 Hawaiian deaths from disease introduced by American and British traders and missionaries. Americans and Europeans had even less excuse than they did in early colonial times. By the time of these epidemics, from 1804 to 1853, whites knew full well that they brought disease with them that would kill large numbers of indigenous people. They had seen so for over three centuries of experience with not just American Indians, but with other Pacific Island peoples.
Seven deaths, an unknown number wounded in the Samoan Civil War, with factions allied with the US or Germany.
15 Samoan chiefs falsely imprisoned for 5-7 years during the Samoan Mau independence movement of the 1930s. Samoan chief Samuelu Ripley was permanently barred from Samoa.
Starting about 1890, the US tried to become a colonial empire not very different from the British, French, German, and Spanish empires. All these empires were built because of a mix of national pride, pseudo scientific racism that insisted whites knew best how to run the world, and just plain old fashioned greed, taking local resources to make money off the local people. The US's first major attempt at empire was the Spanish-American War. The failing Spanish empire was defeated and Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico were conquered. In the Philippines, an independence revolt had to be crushed with great brutality, killing as many as a million Filipinos. It remained a US colony until 1946.
Two other island nations and one colony also were taken into the US empire. Samoa was carved up between Germany and the US. The Kingdom of Hawaii first was conquered by the US on behalf of American-born plantation owners, and then later taken over by the US in the aftermath of war fever from the Spanish-American War.
Guam, was seized from Spain in 1898 and wanted by the US as a naval base. A US Naval Governor ruled the island until 1950. The Chamorro language was banned. In a series of decisions from 1901 to 1922, the Supreme Court ruled the US Constitution does not apply to territories like Guam. During World War II, many Chamorros died during a brutal Japanese occupation. At war's end, many Chamorros protested they should be rewarded for their suffering with at least local self-rule. In 1950, Chamorros finally got US citizenship. But there were no elections until 1968, and no local constitution until 1979. Today the island's economy is utterly dependent on the US military. US bases make up most of the island, and US servicemen and Filipino migrant workers almost outnumber Chamorros. Thus there is no substantial movement for Guam's independence.
Samoa's suffering was different from Guam. Their civil wars in the 1880s and 90s saw both the US and Germany stepping in to aid the two rival factions. German ships bombarded Samoan villages and the US sent its own warships. A typhoon at the start of the Second Samoan Civil War kept the three sides (Britain decided it wanted Samoa too) from fighting. German Samoa was handed over to New Zealand after World War I. There was an independence movement in both Samoas called the Mau (Firm Strength or Unwavering). The leader of the movement, Samuelu Ripley, was permanently exiled and Samoan chiefs imprisoned. The last Samoan king was only allowed his title after promising US authorities he would be the last. An attempt to revive the kingship in 1924 was blocked by the US governor.
But by comparison to either Guam or Hawaii, the first US Naval Governor interfered less. He decided to somewhat leave Samoan culture and people largely alone. Traditional land ownership continues to this day, as do traditional Samoan titles. As the saying goes, the hard part is not knowing who is chief in Samoa, but who is not. Titles are widespread, but authority is limited to being a counselor, and the titles are awarded based on consensus. Unlike Hawaii, almost all Samoan land is still owned by Samoans, and communally.
Today, Samoans are legally US Nationals, but not citizens. They think of themselves as Samoans, not Americans, but can move freely to the US without passports. There is a large Samoan community on the west coast, especially Los Angeles. There is no organized Samoan independence movement, but not because the islands depend on the US as Guam and Puerto Rico do. Instead, they consider themselves to have gotten the best of the bargain, being part of the US, but not giving up being Samoan to be American. That does not change the original wrongdoing of their being seized by the US, nor deaths in their civil wars, nor false imprisonment and exile for their leaders.
Hawaii has suffered the most from colonialism of any American island colonies. There is a tendency to forget, or more often to never teach in US schools, that for almost 70 years, Hawaii was an independent kingdom with diplomatic recognition, relations, and treaties with major nations including the US. British and American merchants and missionaries brought disease with them, and still came knowing this could kill many locals. The missionaries and their children turned into plantation owners, coveting Hawaii's rich soil, ideal for sugarcane. Plantation owners recruited labor from China, Japan, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Blacks from the US. By 1900, Native Hawaiians made up only 20% of the nation's population.
Anglo-American plantation owners determined they would rule Hawaii. They set up their own private paramilitary, the Honolulu Rifles. In 1887, the Rifles forced the appropriately named Bayonet Constitution upon Hawaii. The Rifles arrested the King's minister and stripped the King of all power. Whites were virtually the only ones who could vote. Asians were specifically barred from the vote, and most Hawaiians were barred by literacy tests and property requirements.
In 1893, Liliuokalani became Queen. She called for a new constitution, one where Hawaiians would rule their own islands again. The so called Committee of Safety, plantation owners, told the US Ambassador their plan to overthrow the Queen. The US Ambassador offered a company of US Marines, from a US warship in port, who overthrew the Queen. The committee declared the Republic of Hawaii and called for the US to take over. President Cleveland refused and condemned the overthrow.
A Native Hawaiian counterrevolution failed, and their petition to the US Congress failed to get US troops to restore the Queen. The US took over in 1898, during the war fever of the Spanish-American War. The Hawaiian language was banned until 1986. The Hawaiian religion was also banned. A white exploiter, Max Freedom Long, later invented a false impersonation of Hawaiian religion he called Huna, which some whites today naively believe is Hawaiian.
Hawaii continued to have a turbulent history, with some one of the most radical labor conflicts in the US, seeing major strikes in 1900, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1934, 1938,and 1940. The plantation owners kept a racial hierarchy in place, whites at the top, followed by Japanese, other Asians, other nonwhites, and Native Hawaiians at the bottom socially and economically in their own homeland.
After World War II, the UN pressured empires to set free their colonies. The US finally held an illegal statehood vote. Many non-Hawaiians voted, mostly US servicemen, while many Asians were barred. Most scholarly specialists agree with the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement, that Hawaii remains an occupied nation under illegal US rule. It is also a colony, since tourism as the main industry mostly sends its economic benefits to the mainland. Native Hawaiians continue to work for a return to independence, and can point to some victories, the end of the language ban, restoration of voting rights, Hawaiian language schools, and a cultural renaissance.
Micronesia, the broad group of northern Pacific islands, was made a US Trust Territory in 1947. The UN granted the islands to the US with the intent of guiding them towards self rule. Their lack of a legal voice made the islanders very easy targets for atomic bomb testing. Bikini Atoll became permanently contaminated by radiation after H-bomb tests. The island remained dangerous to live on. The islanders were take off their homeland and dumped for six months on Rongerik Atoll, nearly starving to death. Many Marshall Islanders, Japanese fishermen, and US servicemen were also killed by radiation from H-bomb tests or, for servicemen, from the cleanup after.
What role did presidents play in the takeovers or repression of independence movements of these island nations or colonies?
McKinley ordered the conquest of Guam and Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish-American War, and the US takeover of Hawaii, where previous President Cleveland refused.
Truman and Eisenhower both ordered H bomb tests on Pacific islands. When Ike's election opponent, Adlai Stevenson, called for an end to nuclear weapons testing, Ike called that “a moratorium on common sense.” There is little sign that either president gave much thought to Pacific Islanders. Yet neither man could claim to be ignorant of the bomb's effects. Eisenhower also signed the illegal statehood bill for Hawaii, over the objections of most Native Hawaiians. Ike had supported statehood from the start of his time as president.
Some presidents do have a better record on these islands. Cleveland as an anti-imperialist refused to annex Hawaii. Both major parties included Guam, Puerto Rico, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands in their presidential primaries starting in 1976, and most major candidates have campaigned for their votes. Obama has publicly vowed to sign the Akaka Bill if Congress passes it, which would grant Native Hawaiians status similar to an American Indian tribe, a reservation and government to government relations with the US.
Self determination for Hawaiians remains strongly opposed by white racists in Hawaii. These are the descendants of the same racists who overthrew the Hawaiian national government, suppressed an attempted uprising, persecuted Hawaiians, stole land, suppressed Hawaiian culture, banned the Hawaiian language, and pushed for Hawaiian statehood over the objections of Native Hawaiians. There are a few vocal anti Hawaiian racist authors, especially Ken Conklin, Thurston Twigg-Smith, and the best and known and most bizarre racist, the white supremacist Filipina, Michelle Malkin.
Pacific Islanders are often little known or understood by many Americans. For example, without professional sports it is doubtful if many American would even realize there are Samoan people. In my own teaching, it is rare to find students who know about the US takeover of Hawaii. It is this lack of knowledge that is the biggest barrier to giving these islanders rule over their own lives. With the exception of some anti-Hawaiian bigotry, US control of these islands is largely a legacy of the old colonialism rather than any current evil intent. Were more Americans to know and understand this past, self rule for these peoples would come sooner.
--------
Al Carroll is Assistant Professor of American, American Indian, and Latin American history at Northern Virginia Community College and also taught at Arizona State University, St. Phillip's College, San Antonio College, and Hasanuddin University in Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar.
Most of his work deals with war and peace, human rights issues, One can see evidence of the influence of James Loewen, Linda Tuwahi Smith, Vine Deloria, Jack Forbes, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky. He is a longtime human rights activist and volunteer researcher for NewAgeFraud.org, which defends Native traditions from spiritual abusers, exploiters, and imposters. More information is at http://alcarroll.com.
For more information:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/419159
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How NAFPS and Al Carroll Are Under Attack by White Racists...Again
by Native Americans Against Discrimination
Native Americans have been fighting for their spiritual traditions for decades against New Age cultural appropriation and commercial exploitaton. NAFPS and Al Carroll have been at the forefront, and for that, white racists have always hated them, slandered them, and demonized them. The good news is, the racists have always failed.
In its nearly 20 years, New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans (NAFPS) have an enviable record as a deeply respected human rights organization, one founded by and made up of mostly American Indians, and widely used as a resource by tribes, universities, museums, other activists, and people from all walks of life. It began as a Yahoogroup, founded by members of Our Red Earth, a support group for the American Indian Movement or AIM, the best known Native warrior society from the Red Power movement.
NAFPS was founded to combat cultural appropriation, a current hot topic on social media. But NAFPS was doing so long ago, back in the days when internet sites on Native topics were dominated by New Age imposters posing as Native American spiritual leaders. White posers sell false versions of Native ceremonies for huge profits (sometimes in the millions of dollars), and actual Native peoples are outnumbered, shouted down, and frequently threatened with violence. When New Age leaders, anxious to hold onto their huge fortunes and cults, cannot silence them by threats, they resort to censorship, making up claims of TOS violations and “libel.” Nervous ISPs, more concerned with lawsuits than with the truthfulness of claims, easily fold.
NAFPS supporters described early on a vicious reign of terror aimed at them by New Age cults. Death threats came on a monthly and even weekly basis. Threats came not just through email. NAFPS members saw their home addresses and phone numbers published online. Police investigated phone threats to “shove a shotgun up your *** and pull the trigger” and emails sent with graphics lynchings. In the early days of the internet, when few police were clear about jurisdiction, such threats went unpunished.
Some NAFPS members were stalked in person. NAFPS member in Arizona and Massachusetts both saw their family members threatened, including an elderly grandmother. At one protest, the German “security force” of the Deer Tribe cult tried to break into the car to get at a Native woman. Yet NAFPS members bravely never once backed down. They have an enviable record of success:
- Suraj Holzwarth, a white woman calling herself “White Eagle Woman” and inventing claims of being a Mohawk messiah, saw all of her ceremony selling tour dates canceled due to NAFPS protests outing her false claims.
- Kiesha Crowther, a white woman falsely claiming to being the messiah for the Salish and Lakota tribes, also saw her ceremony selling tour ended after her claims were exposed. She gave up and fled to Europe, removed her claims from her website, and apologized.
- Robert Franzone, an Italian American long falsely claiming to be a Lakota medicine man named “Ghostwolf,” gave up ceremony selling due to being exposed by NAFPS, and died in obscurity.
- Charles Storm, one of the oldest and most notorious frauds, a German-American long posing as a Cheyenne medicine man named “Hyemyehosts,” remains in hiding after NAFPS exposed him as a serial rapist. Former members of his cult came forward to describe his raping many of their children. He remains at large, his ceremony selling ended, even his internet presence gone. A faux civil rights group he set up, NAMA, shut down after NAFPS criticism.
-The Erie Moundbuilders, a Black supremacist cult begun by James Johnson III (AKA Tecumseh Browneagle) shut down entirely, its attempts to start a casino with an organized crime figure exposed by NAFPS. Nothing remains of the group but the shell of an unmaintained website.
At the center of NAFPS was Dr. Alton Carroll, or more often, Al Carroll, a history professor, author, and tireless human rights activist on this and other causes. Al Carroll was perhaps the bravest of all NAFPS members, personally being threatened the most of any of them. More attacks have been aimed at him than any other NAFPS member because he has used his academic credentials to bolster Native human rights and protect Native spiritual traditions. His research skills have also exposed more imposters and cults than any other, almost 4,000 posts of research, nearly triple that of the next most prolific NAFPS member.
But Al Carroll is certainly far from alone at NAFPS. It has over 2,000 members from dozens of tribes, including indigenous peoples in Latin America, Hawaii, and Australia. Some of its more notable members include:
Dr. Richard Allen, policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Mike Two Horses, Lakota professor in Virginia
Ladonna Allard, member of Lakota tribal government
Ric Richardson, member of Metis band government in Canada
Huhanna Hickey, Australian Aboriginal disabled rights activist
Bryant Holman, curandero researcher
Maria Blanco, community organizer
Sky Davis, Cherokee member of the American Indian Movement and Iron Lodge Prisoner Support
Bee Niedlinger, Munsee member of the American Indian Movement
Debbie Redbear, member of NDN-AIM
Albert Running Wolf, Kiowa member of the American Indian Movement
But Al Carroll wound up being targeted the most. Over the years his attackers and libelers have been a rogue's gallery of the worst of New Age culture vultures, abusers, and other racists:
A racist pagan supporter of Brooke Edwards, an imposter posing as a Crow medicine woman named “Medicine Eagle” who uses spray on tanning makeup and a “tribal enrollment certificate” clearly made at Kinko's.
“Looking Back Woman,” a hairdresser claiming to be a Lakota messiah.
David Yeagley, a white supremacist and longtime associate of neo Nazis, enrolled by mistake in the Comanche tribe through an ancestor listed as an “adopted Mexican.”
Paul Robin Denton, a convicted serial rapist, Scientology cult member, and leader of the Rainbow Tribe, a white Englishman posing as the leader of a tiny fringe political party in South Africa.
The latest attack was posted on Portland Indymedia, taking advantage of the lack of oversight on open source media to prevent such defamation. The falsehoods begin in the title:
“How Al Carroll formed NAFPS author: DG Hooper.”
Dr. Alton Carroll did not form NAFPS alone. He was one of dozens of members of the AIM support group Our Red Earth that formed NAFPS. The interesting thing is the author's choice of name. DB Cooper was a thief who got himself killed during a failed hijacking.
So the author wants to be thought of as a failed thief? One who was very incompetent? New Age leaders routinely kill their hapless followers with poorly run sweatlodges. The author seems to be Paul Robin Denton, the already mentioned convicted serial rapist and Rainbow Tribe cult leader. The Rainbow Tribe often runs poor imitations of Native sweatlodges, sometimes killing its members.
The defamation continues:
“Al Carroll began identifying as 'Indian' in graduate school.”
Just one problem: The article then goes on to quote sources showing he identified as not just American Indian, but Apache, many years before that. Not only did Al Carroll identify as American Indian, everyone else identified him as one, outside of New Age exploiters.
“...when he began using monies from fellowships dedicated to minorities”
False on two counts. One, he is not just a minority, but a double minority, both American Indian and Mexican. And he was never awarded fellowships for minorities, but based on merit.
“...his wife would file for divorce.”
False. Court records online show Al Carroll filed for divorce from her, citing abandonment and adultery on her part. He was the aggrieved party.
Paul Robin Denton then goes on to get angry about the age difference between the couple. Apparently he is horrified that a woman in her early 20s married a man in his early 30s. It's worth noting that Denton was 46 when he repeatedly raped a woman of 32, 14 years younger than him.
“Al Carroll would meet fellow "blogger/cyberstalker" Robert 'Rob' Schmidt”
So Mr. Denton is now defaming any associate of Al Carroll. Rob Schmidt is pretty well known as an author of Native themed comics, and as an activist for Native causes. Both Schmidt and Carroll are often attacked by New Age exploiters, and both are supporters of human rights causes. Those are their only connections.
“...who 'interviewed' him on his website in April 2002.”
No such interview exists. Al Carroll often contributed to the Blue Corn Comics site, where both wrote analysis of racism, stereotypes, and promoted human rights.
“Al Carroll would later create a GeoCities website called Our Red Earth Organization in March 2003.”
Our Red Earth actually began five years earlier, as a Yahoogroup, and never was on Geocities. Al Carroll had no part in either. Why the paranoid tendency of Mr. Denton to see Al Carroll's hand in everything? Seems like he is admitting how effective Dr. Carroll was in exposing Denton. Paul Robin Denton, himself a convicted serial rapist, then goes into a bizarre bit of psychological projection to falsely accuse Al Carroll of being a serial rapist.
It's worth noting where Denton gets these claims. White supremacist David Yeagley and his fellow neo Nazis originally made them up on his website. Even more bizarrely, they claimed Al Carroll is a Russian porn star. Denton is willing to dig through the worst, lowest, and least reliable sites for his mudslinging and defamation.
“Al Carroll traveled to Europe in 2005 and 2006 to lecture”
Very sloppy. There was no travel in 2006. Al Carroll went on a speaking tour to raise money for charity, the Albuquerque Indian Center's Powwow Academy. It's a drug prevention and gang intervention program. So now Paul Robin Denton is smearing very worthwhile Native charities. The academy went on to invite Al Carroll to be an honored guest at their powwow, since the tour kept the center open for another year.
“Around this time he would start a short period of employment at St Phillip's College in San Antonio.”
If by “short period,” one means “five years.” If by “employment,” one means an adjunct professor.
“During this time he began recruiting for "GENUINE Native Americans" to appear in Swedish director Annika Banfield's 800,000 krone movie project”
The director of Spirits for Sale was actually Folke Johansson. Banfield was just one of several writers. Al Carroll did no “recruiting.” Johannson did. He found a number of famed American Indians to appear in the film. Andrew Thomas is Director of the Albuquerque Pueblo Indian Center. Arvol Looking Horse is a highly respected Lakota elder, the Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Bundle for the tribe, a position held in his family for 19 generations.
As for 800,000 krone, a krone is worth about 15 cents. This was not a “movie,” but a low budget factual documentary about spiritual exploiters and imposters, like Paul Robin Denton.
Spirits for Sale also won a number of awards and received nothing but praise in reviews:
"... a good and heart-felt piece of work and would make an impact on students and the general public."
Anthropology Review Database
"A very moving and interesting documentary of the commercialization and ignorance surrounding Native Americans and their culture...highly recommended." EMRO
Denton's failed effort at defamation continues:
“He began making false claims about having been a professor at ASU.”
Actually both ASU's site and Al Carroll's own online resumes show him listed as Teaching Instructor while at ASU. Nowhere did he claim to be a professor. He is also shown as having been “Editor” for the prestigious H-Amindian academic listserve, and “Researcher” for the equally prestigious Labriola American Indian Data Center. His bosses at the two institutes were themselves very prestigious, Joyce Kievet, an Eastern Band Cherokee, and Patricia Etter, a Pottawatomi Indian.
Denton also fails to mention Al Carroll's other prestigious mentors. At Purdue he was trained by a Choctaw Indian professor, Donna Akers. Ay ASU his teachers included James Riding In, a famed Pawnee historian, and Angela Cavendar Wilson, a Dakota Indian professor.
Denton goes on to claim:
“Other people active with NAFPS at or before this time include Brent Michael Davids, Cinda Hughes, Vance Hawkins, Debbie Redbear Moran, and Ladonna Allard.”
Denton does not mention who these notable people are. Davids is from the Stockbridge tribe and a famed composer and artist. Hughes is a Kiowa Indian disabled rights activist. Hawkins is a Cherokee Indian activist. Redbear is a member of NDN-AIM. Allard is a member of Lakota tribal government. That's pretty prestigious company Al Carroll is keeping.
Denton's failed defamation and sloppy research and falsehoods continues:
“In 2008 Al Carroll padded his PHD dissertation from ASU to book length, releasing it as Medicine Bags and Dog Tags.”
Actually Al Carroll did not release his book. The University of Nebraska Press did. UNP is the most prestigious of academic publishers of American Indian Studies. Let's take a look at the reviews for his book, all found at the UNP website:
"Al Carroll has written a cogent, readable, scholarly, and comprehensive study of Native American veterans from a Native perspective." Gretchen Healy, Tribal College Journal
"An interesting and provocative book, Medicine Bags and Dog Tags succeeds in providing an Indian perspective on military service and its effects on cultural renewal and perseverance." Thomas A. Britten, Great Plains Quarterly.
"[This book] should be in the hands of not only Native but non-Indians veterans and service groups, in order to better understand why we serve, fight, and die in the service of the United States, and how best to honor Native soldiers and veterans." Debra Utacia Krol (Salinan/Essalen), Native Peoples magazine.
Denton does not mention that Al Carroll has gotten three more books published since then. One of them is Presidents' Body Counts: The Twelve Worst and Four Best Presidents Based on How Many Lived or Died Because of Their Actions. Let's take a look at reviews for it:
“This is a brave and magisterial work that will make you look again at American history and the Presidency. It’s a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks they know everything there is to know about U.S. history. It is the truth that you won’t hear through your mainstream media.” MWB Reviews
“Dr. Carroll is well known in Indian Country. He has fought for many years to protect our sacred ways from the wasichu colonial spiritual invaders. I am glad he represents an Indian point of view. The words you have written are very good Dr. Carroll. I hope many heed them.” Sam Bear
“It is a devastating critique of the presidency and its failures, contrary to the sunshine patriotism view one gets (mis)taught. A search for him online shows he's American Indian, very well respected by most but deeply hated by racists and religious exploiters. He has my respect, and I expect this book will be much used as a resource by anyone wanting an antidote to all the hazy president worshipping bios.” John Martine
Another of his books is The New Age Speak to Plain English Dictionary, a collection of humor. Let's take a look at the reviews:
“Excellent and necessary. Cultural misappropriation (aka cultural appropriation) from Native Americans is a serious problem. The newage market is full of non-Natives spouting bafflegab. Usually they rely on Noble Savage stereotypes, which, despite the newagers' claims to "admire" Natives actually disenfranchise and denigrate the very people being "admired." This handy and entertaining book cuts through the bafflegab. It will save you time, money, and brain cells. Don't feed the frauds. Arm yourself with the translation!” Redwing44
“Hilarious and dead on target. Funny funny FUNNY in how it takes New Agers to task for their pompousness, their mock profoundness, and their cultural appropriation and casual but also deep seated racism, bigotry, cultural imperialism, greed, and sometimes sexual abuse.” American Man
A fourth book of Al Carroll's is Survivors: Family Histories of Surviving Colonialism, Genocide, and War. It's a collection of accounts from wartime and genocide survivors. The book won Al Carroll an Award for Scholarly and Creative Engagement from his university.
What all of Al Carroll's books share in common is a concern with human rights. His whole career and life seem dedicated to that, and it has won him much praise and prestige. But what does Denton go on to smear Al Carroll with?
“Comanche David Yeagley in early January 2009 Carroll was sued for libel/slander in Oklahoma Supreme Court.”
Supreme Court? For a libel suit? How clumsy a lie is that? Yeagley also sued Google. He sued Amazon. He also sued ten other people and institutions and civil rights groups and activists.
What did he sue them for? He sued on behalf of American Renaissance, a white supremacist organization he was long part of. Yeagley was a white supremacist and neo Nazi, a long associate of Storm Front, neo Nazi skinheads, and other white supremacists like One Nation, White Boy Society, and VDARE. Yeagley was openly an admirer of Hitler, Columbus, Dracula, Custer, and the Shah of Iran. He called for Obama's assassination and genocide against Mexicans, Muslims, Arabs, gays, and pagans.
Yeagley sued all these people and organizations for pointing out he is a white supremacist and NOT Comanche. His father was German. His mother was a Mexican, born in Mexico. His ancestor was mistakenly enrolled in the Comanche tribe, and listed on Comanche tribal rolls as “adopted Mexican.” He was a truly bizarre character, a gay man who hated other gays, a Mexican who hated other Mexicans, and who posed as Comanche to spread white supremacist hatred and calls for violence. THIS is the source that Denton relies on for his smears.
Yeagley was also repeatedly defeated in court. Every single lawsuit was thrown out, without exception. None of the people or organizations he sued even had to defend themselves in court, including Al Carroll. That's in the public record, but Denton never mentions that.
Denton goes on to claim:
“Carroll left the country. Some said to avoid further scrutiny and lawsuit. He would travel to Indonesia to lecture about Native Americans.”
False. Al Carroll went to Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar, one of the most prestigious awards in America for teachers and scholars. That puts Al Carroll in some amazing company, alongside dozens of presidents and prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners, and hundreds of other revered scholars.
Besides teaching, Al Carroll described his work for the Fulbright this way:
“One of the things I'm doing over here is trying to help as many Indonesians as possible get advanced degrees in the US. This includes students from Indonesia's tribes, who make up about a fourth of the population here, Dayaks, Bataks, Papuans, and Torajans. Right now they have me mentoring eight Indonesian students who want to be in Master's or PhD programs in the US. This includes two in heathcare, a mining engineer who want to study environmental science, two economics students (including one who studies poverty reduction through microfinancing), two agriculture students, and one studying how to improve fishing yields for fishermen without depleting the oceans.”
That's enormously impressive and noble, in line with everything else Al Carroll has done in his life as a humanitarian. But what does Denton go on to defame him for?
“On May 12th he was cited in Loudon County for an expired registration.”
A parking ticket? Denton, a convicted serial rapist, is trying to smear a human rights activist as a bad person for an expired sticker? What else is Denton desperate enough to claim?
“By 2010 Alton Carroll had begun working for Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) as an assistant.”
By assistant, he mean assistant professor. It's also worth noting just how prestigious a school NOVA is. It's consistently ranked the best community college in all of America. Obama has given two speeches at NOVA, touting it as a model for the whole country.
What else can Denton come up with?
“The school was not aware of Al Carroll's background at the time they engaged him.”
We can be pretty sure they were very aware of his background, the Fulbright Scholarship, an outstanding record as a scholar and human rights organizer, and highly praised books. Not only are they aware of it, they eagerly sought him out for it, and they keep giving him awards for it.
The attackers going after NAFPS and Al Carroll and other Native human rights activists share three things in common:
They are mostly anonymous, unsigned, or with obvious fake names. That destroys any credibility in the articles and tells readers the authors are cowardly, the kind of losers others tell to get a life.
They are obvious smears, filled with falsehoods anyone can easily find and pick apart. This has the effect of making the readers side with those being attacked.
They have all failed repeatedly with their attacks. During the 20 years of defamation and demonization, NAFPS went from a little Yahoogroup to a highly respected resource for tribe, universities, and the public. During that same 20 years, Al Carroll went from an unknown college student to a revered and highly awarded scholar and activist. At this rate, this latest round of attacks may get Al Carroll a Nobel Prize to go along with his many other awards. He would deserve it too.
-Signed and Authored by, Native Americans Against Discrimination
Anyone can find out the truth about NAFPS, Al Carroll, and its other respected leaders just by going straight to the source, instead of anonymous smears.
http://www.newagefraud.org/about.html
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1235.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1234.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1710.0
http://alcarroll.com/
http://about.me/alcarlcarroll
http://alcarroll.net/
https://plus.google.com/110662984397851927823
http://www.academia.edu/7338107/Franklin_Roosevelt_and_the_New_Deal_Compared_to_Obamacare
http://www.academia.edu/14825444/Survivors_Family_Histories_of_Surviving_War_Colonialism_and_Genocide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ikwshoJelU (Interview)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-carroll-05284613
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Medicine-Bags-and-Dog-Tags%2C673393.aspx
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/999723.Al_Carroll
http://www.amazon.com/Al-Carroll/e/B00IZ4FY1S
http://www.amazon.com/review/R29ZE99GF7FVVC
http://www.amazon.com/Presidents-Body-Counts-American-Because-ebook/dp/B00IYX12PW
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-bags-and-dog-tags-al-carroll/1018187857
http://www.alternet.org/12-most-inhumane-american-presidents
https://www.laprogressive.com/most-inhumane-presidents/
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlCarroll
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156038
http://proposednewconstitution.blogspot.com/
http://www.quora.com/What-would-have-been-the-greatest-event-in-history-but-barely-failed
http://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-the-Native-Americans-ever-advance-technologically-over-thousands-of-years-while-Europe-and-Asia-advanced-dramatically/answer/Al-Carroll
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/AlCaroll
http://www.startribune.com/jon-tevlin-a-closer-look-contains-hints-of-sham-artist-not-a-shaman/44755337
http://www.articlesbase.com/journalism-articles/how-presidents-and-the-public-have-ignored-right-wing-terrorism-6981936.html
http://www.indianz.com/News/2014/015425.asp
http://www.rawstory.com/author/carroll/
http://superchangeyourlife.com/interviews/interviews-al-carroll/
http://matthewf.net/2014/07/03/episode-338-with-gaius-publius-and-al-carroll
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/01/11/18668858.php
http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/2009/08/al-carroll-on-tarantinos-scalping.htm
https://twitter.com/DrAlCarroll
http://newsle.com/alcarroll
http://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/11648-al-carroll
by Native Americans Against Discrimination
Native Americans have been fighting for their spiritual traditions for decades against New Age cultural appropriation and commercial exploitaton. NAFPS and Al Carroll have been at the forefront, and for that, white racists have always hated them, slandered them, and demonized them. The good news is, the racists have always failed.
In its nearly 20 years, New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans (NAFPS) have an enviable record as a deeply respected human rights organization, one founded by and made up of mostly American Indians, and widely used as a resource by tribes, universities, museums, other activists, and people from all walks of life. It began as a Yahoogroup, founded by members of Our Red Earth, a support group for the American Indian Movement or AIM, the best known Native warrior society from the Red Power movement.
NAFPS was founded to combat cultural appropriation, a current hot topic on social media. But NAFPS was doing so long ago, back in the days when internet sites on Native topics were dominated by New Age imposters posing as Native American spiritual leaders. White posers sell false versions of Native ceremonies for huge profits (sometimes in the millions of dollars), and actual Native peoples are outnumbered, shouted down, and frequently threatened with violence. When New Age leaders, anxious to hold onto their huge fortunes and cults, cannot silence them by threats, they resort to censorship, making up claims of TOS violations and “libel.” Nervous ISPs, more concerned with lawsuits than with the truthfulness of claims, easily fold.
NAFPS supporters described early on a vicious reign of terror aimed at them by New Age cults. Death threats came on a monthly and even weekly basis. Threats came not just through email. NAFPS members saw their home addresses and phone numbers published online. Police investigated phone threats to “shove a shotgun up your *** and pull the trigger” and emails sent with graphics lynchings. In the early days of the internet, when few police were clear about jurisdiction, such threats went unpunished.
Some NAFPS members were stalked in person. NAFPS member in Arizona and Massachusetts both saw their family members threatened, including an elderly grandmother. At one protest, the German “security force” of the Deer Tribe cult tried to break into the car to get at a Native woman. Yet NAFPS members bravely never once backed down. They have an enviable record of success:
- Suraj Holzwarth, a white woman calling herself “White Eagle Woman” and inventing claims of being a Mohawk messiah, saw all of her ceremony selling tour dates canceled due to NAFPS protests outing her false claims.
- Kiesha Crowther, a white woman falsely claiming to being the messiah for the Salish and Lakota tribes, also saw her ceremony selling tour ended after her claims were exposed. She gave up and fled to Europe, removed her claims from her website, and apologized.
- Robert Franzone, an Italian American long falsely claiming to be a Lakota medicine man named “Ghostwolf,” gave up ceremony selling due to being exposed by NAFPS, and died in obscurity.
- Charles Storm, one of the oldest and most notorious frauds, a German-American long posing as a Cheyenne medicine man named “Hyemyehosts,” remains in hiding after NAFPS exposed him as a serial rapist. Former members of his cult came forward to describe his raping many of their children. He remains at large, his ceremony selling ended, even his internet presence gone. A faux civil rights group he set up, NAMA, shut down after NAFPS criticism.
-The Erie Moundbuilders, a Black supremacist cult begun by James Johnson III (AKA Tecumseh Browneagle) shut down entirely, its attempts to start a casino with an organized crime figure exposed by NAFPS. Nothing remains of the group but the shell of an unmaintained website.
At the center of NAFPS was Dr. Alton Carroll, or more often, Al Carroll, a history professor, author, and tireless human rights activist on this and other causes. Al Carroll was perhaps the bravest of all NAFPS members, personally being threatened the most of any of them. More attacks have been aimed at him than any other NAFPS member because he has used his academic credentials to bolster Native human rights and protect Native spiritual traditions. His research skills have also exposed more imposters and cults than any other, almost 4,000 posts of research, nearly triple that of the next most prolific NAFPS member.
But Al Carroll is certainly far from alone at NAFPS. It has over 2,000 members from dozens of tribes, including indigenous peoples in Latin America, Hawaii, and Australia. Some of its more notable members include:
Dr. Richard Allen, policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Mike Two Horses, Lakota professor in Virginia
Ladonna Allard, member of Lakota tribal government
Ric Richardson, member of Metis band government in Canada
Huhanna Hickey, Australian Aboriginal disabled rights activist
Bryant Holman, curandero researcher
Maria Blanco, community organizer
Sky Davis, Cherokee member of the American Indian Movement and Iron Lodge Prisoner Support
Bee Niedlinger, Munsee member of the American Indian Movement
Debbie Redbear, member of NDN-AIM
Albert Running Wolf, Kiowa member of the American Indian Movement
But Al Carroll wound up being targeted the most. Over the years his attackers and libelers have been a rogue's gallery of the worst of New Age culture vultures, abusers, and other racists:
A racist pagan supporter of Brooke Edwards, an imposter posing as a Crow medicine woman named “Medicine Eagle” who uses spray on tanning makeup and a “tribal enrollment certificate” clearly made at Kinko's.
“Looking Back Woman,” a hairdresser claiming to be a Lakota messiah.
David Yeagley, a white supremacist and longtime associate of neo Nazis, enrolled by mistake in the Comanche tribe through an ancestor listed as an “adopted Mexican.”
Paul Robin Denton, a convicted serial rapist, Scientology cult member, and leader of the Rainbow Tribe, a white Englishman posing as the leader of a tiny fringe political party in South Africa.
The latest attack was posted on Portland Indymedia, taking advantage of the lack of oversight on open source media to prevent such defamation. The falsehoods begin in the title:
“How Al Carroll formed NAFPS author: DG Hooper.”
Dr. Alton Carroll did not form NAFPS alone. He was one of dozens of members of the AIM support group Our Red Earth that formed NAFPS. The interesting thing is the author's choice of name. DB Cooper was a thief who got himself killed during a failed hijacking.
So the author wants to be thought of as a failed thief? One who was very incompetent? New Age leaders routinely kill their hapless followers with poorly run sweatlodges. The author seems to be Paul Robin Denton, the already mentioned convicted serial rapist and Rainbow Tribe cult leader. The Rainbow Tribe often runs poor imitations of Native sweatlodges, sometimes killing its members.
The defamation continues:
“Al Carroll began identifying as 'Indian' in graduate school.”
Just one problem: The article then goes on to quote sources showing he identified as not just American Indian, but Apache, many years before that. Not only did Al Carroll identify as American Indian, everyone else identified him as one, outside of New Age exploiters.
“...when he began using monies from fellowships dedicated to minorities”
False on two counts. One, he is not just a minority, but a double minority, both American Indian and Mexican. And he was never awarded fellowships for minorities, but based on merit.
“...his wife would file for divorce.”
False. Court records online show Al Carroll filed for divorce from her, citing abandonment and adultery on her part. He was the aggrieved party.
Paul Robin Denton then goes on to get angry about the age difference between the couple. Apparently he is horrified that a woman in her early 20s married a man in his early 30s. It's worth noting that Denton was 46 when he repeatedly raped a woman of 32, 14 years younger than him.
“Al Carroll would meet fellow "blogger/cyberstalker" Robert 'Rob' Schmidt”
So Mr. Denton is now defaming any associate of Al Carroll. Rob Schmidt is pretty well known as an author of Native themed comics, and as an activist for Native causes. Both Schmidt and Carroll are often attacked by New Age exploiters, and both are supporters of human rights causes. Those are their only connections.
“...who 'interviewed' him on his website in April 2002.”
No such interview exists. Al Carroll often contributed to the Blue Corn Comics site, where both wrote analysis of racism, stereotypes, and promoted human rights.
“Al Carroll would later create a GeoCities website called Our Red Earth Organization in March 2003.”
Our Red Earth actually began five years earlier, as a Yahoogroup, and never was on Geocities. Al Carroll had no part in either. Why the paranoid tendency of Mr. Denton to see Al Carroll's hand in everything? Seems like he is admitting how effective Dr. Carroll was in exposing Denton. Paul Robin Denton, himself a convicted serial rapist, then goes into a bizarre bit of psychological projection to falsely accuse Al Carroll of being a serial rapist.
It's worth noting where Denton gets these claims. White supremacist David Yeagley and his fellow neo Nazis originally made them up on his website. Even more bizarrely, they claimed Al Carroll is a Russian porn star. Denton is willing to dig through the worst, lowest, and least reliable sites for his mudslinging and defamation.
“Al Carroll traveled to Europe in 2005 and 2006 to lecture”
Very sloppy. There was no travel in 2006. Al Carroll went on a speaking tour to raise money for charity, the Albuquerque Indian Center's Powwow Academy. It's a drug prevention and gang intervention program. So now Paul Robin Denton is smearing very worthwhile Native charities. The academy went on to invite Al Carroll to be an honored guest at their powwow, since the tour kept the center open for another year.
“Around this time he would start a short period of employment at St Phillip's College in San Antonio.”
If by “short period,” one means “five years.” If by “employment,” one means an adjunct professor.
“During this time he began recruiting for "GENUINE Native Americans" to appear in Swedish director Annika Banfield's 800,000 krone movie project”
The director of Spirits for Sale was actually Folke Johansson. Banfield was just one of several writers. Al Carroll did no “recruiting.” Johannson did. He found a number of famed American Indians to appear in the film. Andrew Thomas is Director of the Albuquerque Pueblo Indian Center. Arvol Looking Horse is a highly respected Lakota elder, the Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Bundle for the tribe, a position held in his family for 19 generations.
As for 800,000 krone, a krone is worth about 15 cents. This was not a “movie,” but a low budget factual documentary about spiritual exploiters and imposters, like Paul Robin Denton.
Spirits for Sale also won a number of awards and received nothing but praise in reviews:
"... a good and heart-felt piece of work and would make an impact on students and the general public."
Anthropology Review Database
"A very moving and interesting documentary of the commercialization and ignorance surrounding Native Americans and their culture...highly recommended." EMRO
Denton's failed effort at defamation continues:
“He began making false claims about having been a professor at ASU.”
Actually both ASU's site and Al Carroll's own online resumes show him listed as Teaching Instructor while at ASU. Nowhere did he claim to be a professor. He is also shown as having been “Editor” for the prestigious H-Amindian academic listserve, and “Researcher” for the equally prestigious Labriola American Indian Data Center. His bosses at the two institutes were themselves very prestigious, Joyce Kievet, an Eastern Band Cherokee, and Patricia Etter, a Pottawatomi Indian.
Denton also fails to mention Al Carroll's other prestigious mentors. At Purdue he was trained by a Choctaw Indian professor, Donna Akers. Ay ASU his teachers included James Riding In, a famed Pawnee historian, and Angela Cavendar Wilson, a Dakota Indian professor.
Denton goes on to claim:
“Other people active with NAFPS at or before this time include Brent Michael Davids, Cinda Hughes, Vance Hawkins, Debbie Redbear Moran, and Ladonna Allard.”
Denton does not mention who these notable people are. Davids is from the Stockbridge tribe and a famed composer and artist. Hughes is a Kiowa Indian disabled rights activist. Hawkins is a Cherokee Indian activist. Redbear is a member of NDN-AIM. Allard is a member of Lakota tribal government. That's pretty prestigious company Al Carroll is keeping.
Denton's failed defamation and sloppy research and falsehoods continues:
“In 2008 Al Carroll padded his PHD dissertation from ASU to book length, releasing it as Medicine Bags and Dog Tags.”
Actually Al Carroll did not release his book. The University of Nebraska Press did. UNP is the most prestigious of academic publishers of American Indian Studies. Let's take a look at the reviews for his book, all found at the UNP website:
"Al Carroll has written a cogent, readable, scholarly, and comprehensive study of Native American veterans from a Native perspective." Gretchen Healy, Tribal College Journal
"An interesting and provocative book, Medicine Bags and Dog Tags succeeds in providing an Indian perspective on military service and its effects on cultural renewal and perseverance." Thomas A. Britten, Great Plains Quarterly.
"[This book] should be in the hands of not only Native but non-Indians veterans and service groups, in order to better understand why we serve, fight, and die in the service of the United States, and how best to honor Native soldiers and veterans." Debra Utacia Krol (Salinan/Essalen), Native Peoples magazine.
Denton does not mention that Al Carroll has gotten three more books published since then. One of them is Presidents' Body Counts: The Twelve Worst and Four Best Presidents Based on How Many Lived or Died Because of Their Actions. Let's take a look at reviews for it:
“This is a brave and magisterial work that will make you look again at American history and the Presidency. It’s a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks they know everything there is to know about U.S. history. It is the truth that you won’t hear through your mainstream media.” MWB Reviews
“Dr. Carroll is well known in Indian Country. He has fought for many years to protect our sacred ways from the wasichu colonial spiritual invaders. I am glad he represents an Indian point of view. The words you have written are very good Dr. Carroll. I hope many heed them.” Sam Bear
“It is a devastating critique of the presidency and its failures, contrary to the sunshine patriotism view one gets (mis)taught. A search for him online shows he's American Indian, very well respected by most but deeply hated by racists and religious exploiters. He has my respect, and I expect this book will be much used as a resource by anyone wanting an antidote to all the hazy president worshipping bios.” John Martine
Another of his books is The New Age Speak to Plain English Dictionary, a collection of humor. Let's take a look at the reviews:
“Excellent and necessary. Cultural misappropriation (aka cultural appropriation) from Native Americans is a serious problem. The newage market is full of non-Natives spouting bafflegab. Usually they rely on Noble Savage stereotypes, which, despite the newagers' claims to "admire" Natives actually disenfranchise and denigrate the very people being "admired." This handy and entertaining book cuts through the bafflegab. It will save you time, money, and brain cells. Don't feed the frauds. Arm yourself with the translation!” Redwing44
“Hilarious and dead on target. Funny funny FUNNY in how it takes New Agers to task for their pompousness, their mock profoundness, and their cultural appropriation and casual but also deep seated racism, bigotry, cultural imperialism, greed, and sometimes sexual abuse.” American Man
A fourth book of Al Carroll's is Survivors: Family Histories of Surviving Colonialism, Genocide, and War. It's a collection of accounts from wartime and genocide survivors. The book won Al Carroll an Award for Scholarly and Creative Engagement from his university.
What all of Al Carroll's books share in common is a concern with human rights. His whole career and life seem dedicated to that, and it has won him much praise and prestige. But what does Denton go on to smear Al Carroll with?
“Comanche David Yeagley in early January 2009 Carroll was sued for libel/slander in Oklahoma Supreme Court.”
Supreme Court? For a libel suit? How clumsy a lie is that? Yeagley also sued Google. He sued Amazon. He also sued ten other people and institutions and civil rights groups and activists.
What did he sue them for? He sued on behalf of American Renaissance, a white supremacist organization he was long part of. Yeagley was a white supremacist and neo Nazi, a long associate of Storm Front, neo Nazi skinheads, and other white supremacists like One Nation, White Boy Society, and VDARE. Yeagley was openly an admirer of Hitler, Columbus, Dracula, Custer, and the Shah of Iran. He called for Obama's assassination and genocide against Mexicans, Muslims, Arabs, gays, and pagans.
Yeagley sued all these people and organizations for pointing out he is a white supremacist and NOT Comanche. His father was German. His mother was a Mexican, born in Mexico. His ancestor was mistakenly enrolled in the Comanche tribe, and listed on Comanche tribal rolls as “adopted Mexican.” He was a truly bizarre character, a gay man who hated other gays, a Mexican who hated other Mexicans, and who posed as Comanche to spread white supremacist hatred and calls for violence. THIS is the source that Denton relies on for his smears.
Yeagley was also repeatedly defeated in court. Every single lawsuit was thrown out, without exception. None of the people or organizations he sued even had to defend themselves in court, including Al Carroll. That's in the public record, but Denton never mentions that.
Denton goes on to claim:
“Carroll left the country. Some said to avoid further scrutiny and lawsuit. He would travel to Indonesia to lecture about Native Americans.”
False. Al Carroll went to Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar, one of the most prestigious awards in America for teachers and scholars. That puts Al Carroll in some amazing company, alongside dozens of presidents and prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners, and hundreds of other revered scholars.
Besides teaching, Al Carroll described his work for the Fulbright this way:
“One of the things I'm doing over here is trying to help as many Indonesians as possible get advanced degrees in the US. This includes students from Indonesia's tribes, who make up about a fourth of the population here, Dayaks, Bataks, Papuans, and Torajans. Right now they have me mentoring eight Indonesian students who want to be in Master's or PhD programs in the US. This includes two in heathcare, a mining engineer who want to study environmental science, two economics students (including one who studies poverty reduction through microfinancing), two agriculture students, and one studying how to improve fishing yields for fishermen without depleting the oceans.”
That's enormously impressive and noble, in line with everything else Al Carroll has done in his life as a humanitarian. But what does Denton go on to defame him for?
“On May 12th he was cited in Loudon County for an expired registration.”
A parking ticket? Denton, a convicted serial rapist, is trying to smear a human rights activist as a bad person for an expired sticker? What else is Denton desperate enough to claim?
“By 2010 Alton Carroll had begun working for Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) as an assistant.”
By assistant, he mean assistant professor. It's also worth noting just how prestigious a school NOVA is. It's consistently ranked the best community college in all of America. Obama has given two speeches at NOVA, touting it as a model for the whole country.
What else can Denton come up with?
“The school was not aware of Al Carroll's background at the time they engaged him.”
We can be pretty sure they were very aware of his background, the Fulbright Scholarship, an outstanding record as a scholar and human rights organizer, and highly praised books. Not only are they aware of it, they eagerly sought him out for it, and they keep giving him awards for it.
The attackers going after NAFPS and Al Carroll and other Native human rights activists share three things in common:
They are mostly anonymous, unsigned, or with obvious fake names. That destroys any credibility in the articles and tells readers the authors are cowardly, the kind of losers others tell to get a life.
They are obvious smears, filled with falsehoods anyone can easily find and pick apart. This has the effect of making the readers side with those being attacked.
They have all failed repeatedly with their attacks. During the 20 years of defamation and demonization, NAFPS went from a little Yahoogroup to a highly respected resource for tribe, universities, and the public. During that same 20 years, Al Carroll went from an unknown college student to a revered and highly awarded scholar and activist. At this rate, this latest round of attacks may get Al Carroll a Nobel Prize to go along with his many other awards. He would deserve it too.
-Signed and Authored by, Native Americans Against Discrimination
Anyone can find out the truth about NAFPS, Al Carroll, and its other respected leaders just by going straight to the source, instead of anonymous smears.
http://www.newagefraud.org/about.html
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1235.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1234.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1.0
http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1710.0
http://alcarroll.com/
http://about.me/alcarlcarroll
http://alcarroll.net/
https://plus.google.com/110662984397851927823
http://www.academia.edu/7338107/Franklin_Roosevelt_and_the_New_Deal_Compared_to_Obamacare
http://www.academia.edu/14825444/Survivors_Family_Histories_of_Surviving_War_Colonialism_and_Genocide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ikwshoJelU (Interview)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/al-carroll-05284613
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Medicine-Bags-and-Dog-Tags%2C673393.aspx
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/999723.Al_Carroll
http://www.amazon.com/Al-Carroll/e/B00IZ4FY1S
http://www.amazon.com/review/R29ZE99GF7FVVC
http://www.amazon.com/Presidents-Body-Counts-American-Because-ebook/dp/B00IYX12PW
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-bags-and-dog-tags-al-carroll/1018187857
http://www.alternet.org/12-most-inhumane-american-presidents
https://www.laprogressive.com/most-inhumane-presidents/
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AlCarroll
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156038
http://proposednewconstitution.blogspot.com/
http://www.quora.com/What-would-have-been-the-greatest-event-in-history-but-barely-failed
http://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-the-Native-Americans-ever-advance-technologically-over-thousands-of-years-while-Europe-and-Asia-advanced-dramatically/answer/Al-Carroll
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/AlCaroll
http://www.startribune.com/jon-tevlin-a-closer-look-contains-hints-of-sham-artist-not-a-shaman/44755337
http://www.articlesbase.com/journalism-articles/how-presidents-and-the-public-have-ignored-right-wing-terrorism-6981936.html
http://www.indianz.com/News/2014/015425.asp
http://www.rawstory.com/author/carroll/
http://superchangeyourlife.com/interviews/interviews-al-carroll/
http://matthewf.net/2014/07/03/episode-338-with-gaius-publius-and-al-carroll
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/01/11/18668858.php
http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/2009/08/al-carroll-on-tarantinos-scalping.htm
https://twitter.com/DrAlCarroll
http://newsle.com/alcarroll
http://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/11648-al-carroll
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