Statement
pertaining to the Indian Ponies and Wild Mustangs
and their Right to Life and Preservation.
by Clifton Aduddell, Minko Sintollo,
titular head of:
the Native American Church of the Ghost Dancers,
Choctaw Horse Mason,
Past Master Sunset Lodge.
Aiyukpanchi, Iloh Itibapishi Ma, Moma Kut Nan Iyapi Ushta Micha Nan Iyapi Tuklo Aiena Kut Na Sanahchi Hapia Hoke.
(Welcome!! We are all truly brothers and sisters, All the beings of four- legged, two-legged and the winged and finned beings as well).
My name is Clifton Aduddell and my name among the Ghost Dancers is Sintollo which means Sacred Serpent or Rattle Snake. I am also sometimes referred to as Tasanuk Tuchena (Three Flint Knife) which is the 260 day calendrical day upon which I was born. I share this day sign with ethno-botanist/shaman Terence McKenna, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and political activist Ernesto “Che” Guevara. I am a Choctaw and I was raised in the state of Oklahoma in what was once Indian Territory but now live in California where many Choctaws and other former Indian Territory indigenous peoples now reside due to a non-reservation, refugee-like status even though ironically still being legally federally recognized as American Indians. I am also a descendant of Choctaw Horse Masons which is arguably the oldest legally recognized Native American ritual society in the United States being chartered in Indian Territory out of the state of Arkansas between1848-1851. While the reservation system that affects some of the tribal affiliations of Native America may be indeed imperfect and harsh for those who have been completely disenfranchised of their land, human and property rights due to the General Allotment Act of 1887 this has for the most part led to identity crisis, substance abuse and abject poverty.
The Choctaws are an agglomeration of the several mound building peoples of the Mississippi Valley and Caribbean Basin civilizations who were forcibly removed via the Trail of Tears and the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830 from their ancestral homelands to Indian Territory. We were probably the first indigenous people in the geographic United States to receive the Isoba (Horse) which can be translated as Sacred Deer. This was principally accomplished during the attempted and ill-fated Spanish conquest of the Gulf States by Hernan de Soto in 1540. As such the horse preserves a special place in our cultural and religious doxology and can be exemplified by some of our traditional stories regarding them such as that of the Wind Horse (an inter-linear translation of this Shukha Anumpa, traditional story, can be viewed on our web site at http://ghostdancers.org/teachings.html ). The Choctaw horse registry is probably the oldest and largest of the Native American registries along with the Cherokee. The Tobiano and Medicine Hat stallions, mares and colts are especially sacred to us but all wild horses are equally precious.
Like the indigenous peoples of the several non-reservation tribes of the former Indian Territory who have no reservation or land on which to reside for the most part the former Indian Ponies and Wild Mustangs of these several tribal affiliations are also now in a state of refugee status with no place to call their own as well. This can be exemplified in the recent atrocities and onslaughts committed by the Department of Interior’s, Bureau of Land Management roundups in the various western states of the United States where many of the last bands and herds of Isoba Mahli (Wind Horse) were attempting to survive but were subjected to untold hardships by the recent spate of roundups.
The horses upon the various Western States and Northern Plains groups that still reside on reservation lands are only nominally better off as these lands are principally controlled and held in trust by the same Department of Interior’s, Bureau of Indian Affairs that in essence administrates the “Wild Horse” scenario on reservation lands. In the last year and a half various judicial remedies and temporary injunctions in behalf of the horses, especially on public lands, were attempted without permanent or lasting effect as the roundups and onslaughts continue. Therefore, we of the Ghost Dancers as representatives and stewards of indigenous American life and spirit believe that the only real and permanent solution to this egregious situation is to acquire fee simple entitlements to land where a conservancy for indigenous life and especially these four-legged thunder beings may be preserved. These land entitlements might further be secured and upgraded at a later date to land patents, allodial titles and/or aboriginal entitlements as an Indigenous Peoples Organization to find a permanent solution for all indigenous life and especially the Wild Horses and Indian Ponies.
We welcome alliances with all organizations, horse and animal advocates and individuals who are interested in the plight of these sacred beings and all indigenous life. We are currently in the process of establishing a fund to acquire said property rights, ear marked only for this purpose and would welcome working toward this end with all interested parties. Please contact us through our web site contact page at http://ghostdancers.org/contact.html if you wish to help, have further questions or wish to be a part of this project.
The Native American Church of the Ghost Dancers is a recognized 501c3 church organization organized pursuant to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act by federally recognized American Indians. We are open to anyone who has a legitimate interest in preserving the cultural, religious and spiritual traditions of indigenous America. See our web page at http://ghostdancers.org/membership.html or contact us for further information.
Yakoke, Thank You
Nan Aiya Hosh Ish Nowashke
(May You Walk in Peace)
Clifton Aduddell
Sintollo, Native American Church of the Ghost Dancers
