More About American Indian Educational Resources of St. Louis
* Are We claiming to be an official organization? No, we have never claimed to be a organization We consider ourselves more like a consortium, which is a group of individuals getting together for a greater purpose. We do not ask for donations, and the money we collect is for the lecturer, craftsman, or dancer, doing the presentation who claim their earnings on their taxes. Our group is merely a way for groups, schools, and individuals to get in touch with real natives for presentations and such. Now a variety of Natives can be found from one central phone or email.
* Who are you? A fantastic question and one that should be asked to any "native" you are about to do business with. Each one of us are -A) Tribally affiliated Native Americans from different tribes, B) Non Natives who are members of Native families (each are specialist in their own field and never claims Native as their selves) C) Non Native enthusiast with special talents (we have 1 southern drum in the St. Louis area which is a Non Native drum but very good at it. Our Native members are all active within their own tribes and culture, and professionals in the areas we teach. We have done many presentations both here and many other states, including Washington D.C. and Oklahoma for museums , schools, and organizations. When i say Tribally affiliated , i mean more than have a card, i also mean we can go to our tribal areas and be recognized as a fellow tribesman (or woman lol). Make sure you research who you do business with for your own sake.
* Why do presentations? We do our presentations, demonstrations, and such to educate the non natives. People are wanting information on Native America and finding some questionable if not out right wrong information. The best thing we could do is find time in our regular lives to go out and try to give some good information about us out to the public. We have worked hard on our presentations so we can give them to grade schools and adult groups and each walk out feeling they know a little more about the original tenants of our land.
* Why do you charge so much? As a matter of fact, we are very reasonable for our charges. We try to hold our presentations to a museum quality level and actually overall we are under the average charge for our services. "lining our pockets" as we have been accused of would be asking for donations so we can help the local native population and not doing so. Each member of our "group" sets their own prices and no fees are charged by the American Indian Educational Resources of St. Louis itself. Our "group" are hard working individuals that are not looking for a handout, just to be paid for their job, and generally speaking you really do get what you pay for. I myself am an award winning Kiowa artist, my work is the style and culture of the 1800's. I have spent my life learning this information, from my elders to digging around the back of Museums for a look at artifacts. The other members of the Consortium have similar Resumes, We are not a group of hobbyist. I will attempt to place a bio on our members here shortly.
* Our Stand- Our stand is, that we are concerned American Indian Community members of this area and we would like to help the public understand our concerns. We are against fakes and wannabe's Whether it be large organizations to individuals we still frown upon the scams and fraudulent acts against consumers. We believe when the public wants to hire a Native or buy Native crafts, they would like to think they are dealing with real Natives. We want to give the public a place to turn. Our biggest goal in bringing this subject to light is to hopefully show the public a way of checking if they are dealing with real natives or not. 1 example, if i wanted to buy a native craft, i would certainly want it to be made by a Native American. If I wanted to hire someone to speak on tribes, i would want someone who is around their tribe (as much as one can be lol). Our group is not set up for witch hunting and feel this takes away from our actual goal. We feel by educating the general public we don't have to go around spotting fakes and frauds out, this we hope we will accomplish in this area of our site.
*Some Natives have multiple tribes making them unable to obtain a card and a word on lost ones -Personally a person who comes from mixed tribes to me is every bit of American Indian as the combination of the tribes makes. If a person is half Comanche and half Kiowa to me would be a full blooded American Indian. There are many who fall below BQ because of this tho. Of course most of these also have family records proving what they say. We have members and friends that fall into this category and are seen as American Indians. Again tho, they also have proof leading back to 1 or more of these tribes they claim. Their are many who can't get a card because their ancestors walked away from the tribe for whatever reason. From what i gathered from the Cherokee Nation, if your ancestor chose to walk away from the tribe (again for whatever reason) then you have to live and honor the choices of your ancestors. Each tribe most likely has their own response to this and if you really want to know, call a tribe. My own grandchildren will fall below the BQ for my tribe, they will have ancestry and documents to prove their claim but they will not be able to sell crafts as Native made. I don't tread into this subject lightly, it effects us all. But if you are one that claims ancestry, do you have any documentation to back your claim? If so you should be trying to get rid of the fakes that are out there making it all the more difficult for you to get back with your tribe. There are countless people who make claims but have absolutely no proof whatsoever to back this claim, these are the ones making it hard for folks to believe your claim , not me. This only touches the surface of the subject. I don't have the answers for everything, and I don't know enough about the eastern tribes to know exactly what happened or why a tribe would lose it's status. If you are up on this particular side, chat with me and help me understand, but if you send an irate email , don't expect flowers in return :) Unfortunately this subject is used to divert from the topic of wannabe's fakes and frauds. more times than not , if a person makes claims with nothing but air to back it , their best handled as a wannabe. We have to keep a reign on Identity, without it , all is lost for the American Indians. The problem is, most of the wannabe action happens away from Native country, and many American Indians are not even aware of the full danger.
Please send your questions, we will try our best to answer them. This area is under constant construction, so check back frequently for additions. And again, thank you all for your positive responses. Any questions please send to Kathy@kiowakat.com