Pan-Indianism involves the process of synthesizing the collective spiritual
reality and traditional wisdom of more than one Native American Nation, but
not necessarily all of them. Sun Dance itself is Pan Indian since more
than one Indian Nation has traditionally practiced it. Pan-Indianism tends
to be Traditional and non-Christian. Pan-Indianism is open to all peoples.
The post-industrial, Pan-Indian Movement emerged in 1977 when the
Haudenosaunee, and Indians from North and South America, presented their
"Great Law of Peace" to the United Nations, with a warning that Western
civilization, through the process of colonialism, was destroying the
earth's ability to renew herself. They recommended the development of
liberation technologies which would be anti-colonial, or self-sustaining,
and the development of liberation theologies. "A liberation theology will
develop in people a consciousness that all life on the earth is sacred and
that the sacredness of life is the key to human freedom and survival"
(Akwesasne Notes 1978: basic call to consciousness). The Peacemaker argued
not for the establishment of law and order, but for the full establishment
of peace, and universal justice.
In 1978, Indians walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., this trek
was called "The Longest Walk." The outcome of this walk was the Native
American Freedom of Religion Act. During this walk, we were taught
spiritual wisdom. The spiritual leaders got together and worked out
ceremonies which did not conflict with any one Indian Nation's spiritual
beliefs. This commonality, is the foundation for modern Pan-Indianism.
Many Indian Nations are forbidden, by prophecy, to share their specific
religious beliefs, even with other Indians, and with members of their own
tribe who are less than full-bloods. The Lakota had no such restrictions.
There is a Lakota prophecy that says, "when the Lakota share their
spiritual ways, Indians will get their treaties honored," so, at the time
of the Longest Walk, Lakota were eager to share their Sweat Lodge, in order
to create unity among Indians and their extended families, to heal and to
stabilize individuals and family relationships. A Lakota spiritual leader
had a vision that the colors black, red, yellow and white, our sacred
colors, stood for the four races. This became the belief of choice of
Pan-Indianism. The Lakota offered their Sweat Lodge ceremony and the Sweat
Lodge has become the most widely spread ceremony in Pan-Indianism. It was
in the Sweat Lodge that we first learned to pray "all my relations."
After the Longest Walk the Sun Dance extended to California at D-Q
University. Many of the Indians who had been on the Longest Walk,
participated in that Sun Dance. This was a continuation of the Sun Dance
being extended to Pan-Indianism. Now there has been another vision of
Buffalo Calf Woman turning into buffalo of the four sacred colors. This
has served to bolster the idea that the Red Road is for everyone.
The Pan-Indian movement is made up of all four races, but the largest
contingency are non-federally recognized Indians, primarily urban, who are
desperately clinging to their Indian identity. These people are not white,
although some white people do also Sun Dance, they are very much in the
minority, and are usually related to or have married into Indian families.
Many Mixed Bloods (with less than 1/4 from a single tribe), because the
federal government no longer recognizes them as Indians, even though they
may have 100% Indian blood, do not come under the jurisdiction of the BIA
or Tribal councils, so their rights to the Bill of Rights have not been
abrogated. Jaimes (Jaimes 1992: 136-137) accuses the Federal government of
psychic disempowerment in their blood quantum policy. "...federal
policymakers have increasingly imposed 'Indian identification standards' of
their own design...--this aspect of U.S. policy has increasingly wrought
havoc with the American Indian sense of nationhood (and often the
individual sense of self) over the past century." (Jamies 1982: 124)
Nationhood implies conformity with international human rights ethics.
Ethnic cleansing is a violation of human rights.
Indians "ceded" their land to the government by treaty. A treaty is an
international contract. Contracts are the crux of Western civilization.
It is unconscionable in today's world to deny a whole group of people the
fulfillment of their contracts solely on the basis of race. Pan-Indianism
can teach that the return of the Black Hills is central and indispensable
to the Sun Dance Way.
On the Longest Walk were some Buddist priests. Dennis established a close
friendship with the leader of these monks, and it was this old man who
first sounded a call for a "New Age." This was in a conversation between
this Buddhist elder and Dennis which was published in a book called "
Buddhism and World Peace." In the beginning the New Age people were
respectful and participated in many Pan-Indian ceremonies. Many leaders in
the New Age movement are Indian people. As they gained more autonomy, some
became arrogant and refused to give jurisdiction to Lakota for their
ceremonies and began to abuse the ceremonies by corrupting them. This
corruption may be due more to innocent ignorance than to deliberate
disrespect. The primary abusers are not the unenrolled, they are those who
have corrupted the "meanings." Our enemy is not New Agers. Our enemy is
willful ignorance.
Native American Information Service
1875 Hwy 99 N. Suite 4
Ashland, OR 97520
Dorothy M. Robbins, Director