Haida traditional clans influenced by new age behaviors display indicators of cultural dilution

Our contributor known as Traditionalist at Heart has contributed the following essay. The writer sent this along with the cover letter, "I really want to educate the non Haidas to reconsider how their actions and participation are really affecting the situation and maybe they will reconsider how they are involved as it is wrecking it for so many authentic cultural birthrights."

Psychology of Vision is one of two outsider cults that have been active in contributing to the cultural degradation and psychocolonization of Haida Gwaii.

Haida Gwaii, the island nation

Haida traditional clans influenced by new age behaviors display indicators of cultural dilution. More and more non native attendees are displacing the birthright members from staying true to their own clan traditions of potlatch business. Haidas stay home and boycott their own clan potlatch as new age pushers, once traditional members, act out for their own “personal gain” agendas optimizing on “white man “ participation. Non Haidas, not privy to clan tradition and birthright ways, feel privileged to be present to witness pseudo “Haida culture” unaware of the sophisticated strategies of new age clan members as they pimp away their culture to seduce and use their new white membership for opportunities.

Doctors, health care workers, teachers, and professional servants are solicited to attend as honoured guests and made to feel special for being included in this private clan event. Any non native person can not really justify attending these private venues for clan business. For one they will never know the true structure of the family's hierarchy and never ever know the true family history of who is entitled to what position in reality. So they officially do not know what they are witnessing. Often the wrong names are being taken and given to the wrong people. And it is a known fact that some of these new age Haida members are not following protocol and do not even know their own lineage .

So what are non Haidas witnessing? Lies and deceit of a people with a certain agenda to acquire power over their own people. If I was non Haida I would not want to be enabling these new age Haidas to destroy their own culture based on greed and power. The white attendees are “love bombed,” some are even adopted and given Haida names and put on a pedestal. But beware, there is a shelf life, just like the honeymoon period, when it is over they move on to the next potential victim. What do you have to offer to advance these greedy souls?

For the Haida clan members that are old school, they remain true to their nunni's teachings. How they were raised and taught has been the way all thru their life. These ones are not easily fooled by the “sell out” methods. Disgust , disappointment and rage keep the traditionalists at bay. Who would want to witness the dilution of their own life and culture? The split has become too obvious, so those who stay home preserve their ways as the new age Haidas fly victorious at having their way. But how long will this last? And how fast will their new acquisition last, especially with the absence of traditionalists?

Will the new age Haidas be able to keep their seduced white membership for long once they realize  they are contributing to colonization by displacing traditionalists? This rapid growing switch could easily extinguish the true Haida traditions of clans, making it a ghostprint of the past.

Old time chiefs, some whom were buried with their crests, will be the last ones to carry the authentic way of the Haida. As well as those cherished ancestors who were loving, caring and unselfish nunni's and chini's. Traditionalists will share the ways of their people that raised them and carry on how they were taught. They will not forget their priorities and stand fierce for their living ones. Disregarding the new age tactics for personal gain and self importance since it is not part of their navigation into this world. Grandstanding wealth and being highborn does not serve a traditionalist in caring for their families. Strength lies in the hand of the teacher and nurturer, keeping humble and inclusive. It's not about materialism for them. It's about sharing and caring without manipulation and outcome. Allowing the rightful ones to continue to receive the old teachings and be humble with those teachings, not usurping members for personal entitlement.

It's time for traditionalists to hold their ground more now than ever before it is too late. Keeping strong to their knowledge and protecting it but also making sure the right ones carry on the preservation of their ancestral ways. And it is also time for the non Haida participants to question what are they doing at important clan events that are tribal by birthright? If you're not born Haida it really isn't any of your business and being there could be contributing to the beginning of a genocidal effort to end the old ways.

Below this quote is taken from page 14 of Freedom, Law, and Prophecy: A Brief History of Native American Religious Resistance By Lee Irwin

“Perhaps one of the most fundamental of all strategies in the struggle for spiritual survival among Native Americans has been the constant theme of maintaining traditional religious integrity and not compromising  religious beliefs or practices in the face of massive oppression and coercion. Accommodation has proven, in many ways, to lead to an erosion of traditional values in the face of a long and usually uncompromising, non-reciprocal assault on Native character and identity.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20170705125735/http://sacredland.org/PDFs/Irwin.pdf

[Substitute link, Oct. 2017]