The
Diamond Brown impostor(s) was very active in several
MSN groups,
including one called Native American Friends. Upon
joining
NAF, "Runningbear" claimed to be Diamond Brown aka
Diamond
Yonvadisi and sent
Managers of NAF pictures of the real Diamond Brown Jr. "He"
was made an Assistant Manager of the group, and
given his own teaching board "Runningbears Den" After a time, managers
of the group got suspicious because "Diamond's" story wasn't adding up.
In February of 2003, the managers of NAF contacted
the real
Brown family, and the impostor was exposed on the Native American
Friends forum. These "Explanation" posts were forwarded to
the Brown family
by the Managers of Native American Friends, and then passed on the
Bryson City and Cherokee Police authorities investigating the
impostors. |
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-------Original Message-------this is what was posted on feb 7 - and it was ended with a statement that no more would be said - we are sorry that it has come to this - but these things will be explained with details |
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> -------Original Message------- > > New Message on > > Explanation - Part THREE - discrepancies > > Reply > Reply to Sender Message 1 in Discussion > *Mgr_Sha-Keira* > > > Corinne.......................Laurie..............Storm > > <<<<<<<<<Managers - NAF>>>>>>>> > > Runningbear shared his life with us and we came to know him and his family - we learned > > that he lived in Kentucky - later moved to Cherokee NC area with his family - this is proved true by telephone numbers that we had for calling him and an address from which things were sent and were sent to the members of his family were his wife robbie his bedridden son who is recovering from cancer his grandson - an adopted son of michael - named mikey - who is severely disabled with cerebral palsy two adults - one named dee - and another who was supposed to be quite a bit older than RB - who sounds like a much younger woman on the phone the older womans "daughter" who also has cerebral palsy - and is retarded named mickey jo that RB calls his granddaughter > > that is his family as he presented them and many have been told the same story > > there is a newspaper article dated in 1998 about the real Diamond Brown -i am posting it below - the article states certain things about him > He is a younger man - probably in his late thirties or early forties his wife is named sandy he has children - four of them - all girls Diamond, a Native American Cherokee, tells spectators about his culture. Bob morris photo. Native People share culture at festival By Marcus Holland Savannah Morning News Ever know what America's name was before it was America? ''To Native People, it was Turtle Island,'' said Diamond Brown, a Cherokee. Diamond staked out a spot on the Savannah River bank, pitched his tent and told a large crowd about his native culture at the two-day ''Native Peoples Heritage Festival'' at Fort Jackson on Saturday. The festival resumes at 10 a.m. today. Under tents were crafts of all sorts for sale. Pottery, skulls from a variety of animals, medicine wheels and dream catchers filled the tents. ''We're Native People,'' said Diamond, whose richly colored clothing included a headdress of feathers and red-dyed porcupine hair.''We want people to know we're not Indians ... we're not Native Americans. We're Native People.'' Diamond pointed out that Native People don't wear costumes. ''You put on costumes on Halloween,'' he said. ''Regalia is the real thing, consisting of clothing from buffalo, deer, bear, elk and porcupine.'' Everybody knows Diamond as just that - Diamond. He works for the department of education across the United States and is a storyteller and dancer. One story is about Falling Rock, a brave warrior. The story goes that Falling Rock, off on a hunting trip, never returned to his five wives. ''But he's still out there,'' Diamond said with a laugh. ''We can see where he's been seen. It's marked by signs that say 'watch out for Falling Rock.' Outside his tent, Diamond, of Cherokee, N.C., had crafted relics - a bobcat's head on a stick and a drum that he made from the trunk of a tree he climbed on as a youngster. He also had a buffalo rug that he sleeps on. And he had a few interesting facts for the crowd that gathered around him. The most-asked question he fields is whether he is a real Indian. ''That's natural. People don't see a lot of Native People... they almost never see the real thing,'' he said. Diamond said he teaches school children about Native People's rich culture and heritage. He has danced and told stories since he was 5 years old, and had a story-telling session scheduled later in the day. His wife, Sandy Brown, is part Cherokee. Being Native People is a whole way of life, she said. ''A lot of good work goes into it. This is our way of doing what we like to do and keep the family together. We travel and work together and home-educate our children.'' The festival's mission is to educate people about the history and the way of the original inhabitants of the Americas, with special emphasis on those who live in Georgia and the Southeast region, Diamond said. Native People in colorful dress danced as the crowd sat on wooden benches in a large circle, under the hot sun cooled by river breezes. R.C. Mowatt, a Comanche from Lawton, Okla., is a member of the Plainsmen, a group that presented the opening dances. For Joe Delgadillo, 20, of Altus, Okla., who wore red regalia with a feathered headband during the festive opening dances, it is away to stay in touch with the past. Emory H. Perkins of Blackshear's Grey Squirrel Lodge, said his great-grandfather was Cherokee. He makes knives with animal bone handles, sells his wares and tells stories to make a living. ''I use deer feet and leg bones as handles'' for the knives, he said. ''This one,'' he continued, picking up a large knife, ''has an ostrich leg bone for a handle.'' He had all kinds of animal skulls for sale: beaver, coyote, fox, coon, possum, deer and buffalo. ''This is what it's all about ... making the tour and trading with my brothers,'' he said. Bobbie Orr of Salish Flathead, Mont., is working her way back home. She has stops in New Mexico and Oklahoma before returning to Montana. ''We do dancing and educating ... try to teach people about Native American heritage,'' she said. ''We want to get them away from the Hollywood image.'' Renee Baham of Savannah said she attended the festival to expose her children - 9-month-old Luke, 3-year-old Taylor and 5-year-old Cole - to other cultures. Gail Sorrows of Savannah attended the festival with her granddaughter, Jessica Schwarz, 7, of Kathleen. ''She enjoys seeing Indian culture ... what was here first,'' Sorrows said. ''This is educational for her ... and for me, too. It's good that Savannah supports something like this. We need to go back to the roots.'' Diamond and his wife have four children - Candy, 23; Brook, 14; Dakota, 9; and Wahlalah, 7. Wahlalah, Diamond said, means hummingbird. ''I told the Great Creator that when I grew up I wanted to be surrounded by women,'' he said. ''The moral of that story is you better watch what you ask for.'' Today's schedule 10 a.m. - Open/storytelling 11 a.m. - Eagle A Hoop dance 1-3:15 p.m. - Grand Encry/dance 3:30 p.m. - Storytelling 4-5 p.m. - Intertribal closing Community news reporter Marcus Holland can be reached at 652-0332. Web posted Sunday, June 14, 1998 you can see the descrepancies in this newspaper article which Storm found when she put the search words Diamond Brown Cherokee Culture more to follow |
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-------Original Message------- > > New Message on > > Explanation - Part FOUR - Suspicion Grows > > Reply > Message 1 in Discussion > *Mgr_Sha-Keira* > > Phone behavior > > Whenever we called the RB house - no matter how many times he promised he would speak with us he never did We always spoke with Robbie or Michael -and for a long time we felt that the voice of Robbie and the voice of Michael were very much alike - and they even laugh the same - that is how it sounded - we have no proof we realize that ppl of a family sound alike but keep in mind that she is not his mother - and that she has only been there with them for approximately a year and a half - i repeat we have no proof other times the phone was answered by dee and the "older" woman > > The DR Center where he claims to be employed > > about a week ago RB said that he had started a full time job at a school in cherokee - he said he was doing a program there to immerse the pre schoolers in the Cherokee language we have called this center and spoke with the director - she has never heard of a Diamond Yonvadisi (i forgot to mention in the post bout the other community that yonvadisi was the name he used when he stopped using Brown) we asked if she knew Diamond Brown and she said yes but he is not employed there she also said he did not teach language - he taught culture she also expressed surprise that anyone knew about the program because it is in the very early stages of discussion and they have not even decided if it is a good idea to do it at this time > > Happenings in NAF > > he is argumentative when disagreed with - our " CZ" becomes like a mama bear who has lost her cubs when someone dares to disagree with him - he often goes for the jugular and attacks - this happened in that famous stew about the prejudice post - cc posted agreeing with him for the most part but then she added some beliefs of her own - he could not handle it and it caused a community wide upset when the string was deleted - it was deleted not to censor as such - Shar felt - and Star agreed - that it was like leaders airing dirty laundry - as a council we were arguing there and that is not appropriate for leaders to do from that time on there seemed to be an undercurrent present posting slowing down making us think that something was going on behind the scenes - all of a sudden there was less posting - RB even told CC that people told him they did not wanna post under what she said due to fear of being banned - we do not ban for people stating their beliefs - we just ask that it be respectful in tone and respectful to other peoples opinions a lot of this was just a feeling but we wondered what was going on > > at the time of the prejudice bruhaha - RB formed his new web site called RUNNINGBEARS DEN - it was hard to be happy for him because of his timing and Sha told him so - it seemed like sour grapes - and when he did he invited many of our members including all the members of the NAF council - we allowed him to have a link to his site i n the links page as well - and just before his site disapeared it ha d about 40+/- members and at least 3/4's of them were also members of NAF - our Asst Mgr Wolfdancer became a manager > > please reply with any questions or comments > > more to follow |
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Message------- New Message on Explanation - Part FIVE - Some other things to consider Reply Recommend Message 1 in Discussion *Mgr_Sha-Keira* Corinne.......................Laurie..............Storm <<<<<<<<<Managers - NAF>>>>>>>> spirit walking i received some flack in the email about spirit walking - being accused of not knowing what i am talking about - and i do not much about it to be sure - however the spirit walking i was told about would stretch the imagination of even the strongest believer in astral projection about two saturdays ago i received an email from runningbear and it was very hostile about one of the managers - many of you know that i like to deal in person when there are problems - too much typing and too easily understood - so i will phone - i did and robbie answered and of course he was not coming to the phone - she was totally rude to me and hung up after accusing me of being after her husband - later on in the day robbie called me and asked me to call her the next day and rb told me she wanted to apologize - i did call her and she did apologize - and now i will list some of the things she told me - another manager also heard this conversation
please reply with any questions or comments |
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Message------- New Message on Explanation - Part SEVEN - About Wolfdancer Reply Message 1 in Discussion *Mgr_Sha-Keira* Corinne.......................Laurie.......Storm <<<<<<<<<Managers - NAF>>>;>>>>> when we read the conversation SpiritHorse sent to CC from the chat room we wondered what to do - as i have already said i like to handle this kind of thing by phone so the person could hear my voice - so this is what happened
"Its the unworthy one" Dear Corinne, Man where do I start???? I felt I had to write to you again because after reading what I sent to you and CC yesterday was inadequite.... First off I don't know if you have see it yet but I went into the club last night and posted an apology...In short I screwed up and put a previous post in the wrong string and I understand why now you was upset that I had put that under the string that I had....I did not delete the post I put in under "Tell me what you Think" because I'm afraid I would end up deteling the whole string and I don't want to do that....You know me and my computer smarts....Next to nil....Most of what I know is thanks to you....So if you want to delete that one please do..... Now to what I wrote yesterday...After re-reading what I sent I thought "My God" it sounds like all I'm doing is bashing you and finding fault with you...Please oh please do not think that...I think very highly of you and feel that you have done a great job with the club...In fact you are the club because without you and all the work you have done , there would be no club...And that's not just a statement, it's a fact....The worst thing you can do is to even think of leaving there.... Please whip that thought right out of your head.... Corinne we may not always see eye to eye on things but that doesn't mean I think any less of you...You are in fact way at the top of my list of people to admire....What you have to put up with is a great deal and you have done a fantastic job of dealing...I for one do not want to be in your shoes as I would not wear them very well.... As I told CC in an earlier e-mail my biggest regret here is that I have lost the chance to a friendship with two people whom I care a great deal for....No one can beat me over the head anymore than I have in the last few days....Because I chose to believe and trust in the wrong people (which is the story of my life)I have caused unforgivable damage...It is something I will have to deal with on my own and right now I'm not dealing with it too well.... All I can say is that I hope someday you and CC both can forgive me. ; With the greatest of admiration and respect,Momg and here is another email from later in the day Hi Lady, man your gonna sick of seeing me lol,,,,see what you mean about the post he put in about me...What a crock ..Too bad he didn't mention the fact that he may have met me but he sure don't remember it lol lol lol...oh well,,, I'm goning back to bed lol lol lol.... Wolfdancer was in the chat room on sunday night late playing from the NAF managers Announcement from Managers of To whoever may be interested, It pains me greatly to have to be doing this as I am one of the original members to this club....When the two originators decided to leave they asked me to become the manager but because I do not have the knowlegde of how these computers work much less how to work a club page and etc. I declined and chose to stay on as Assistant manger instead.... I have done my best to fill that roll to the best of my ability....Somehow I must have failed.....Things have been happening in this club that I do not approve of nor condone... I was put in the middle of a contraversy that I had no business being caught up in...Some people were hurt...I am very sorry for that....I have made my appologises and I hope they know that I meant them....None the less I no longer feel I belong here much less be in management...I am not into playing head games and I refuse to play them...So it is with a heavy heart that I leave this club and I wish that all who are here enjoy their lives to the fullest and that the Creator shall walk with you every step of the way.... With regrets,Wolfdancer i want to assure you that i addressed every self hatred she mentioned to me - i came along side - but when i read the announcement she sent to our Community - i began to fully understand that she was playing a double game with me - and it was then that i fully came to understand how dark this incident is and how much is happening behind the scenes that is not healthy for Native American Friends - this is why we decided to let our membership know the whole story one more time i tell you as i did in my first post about this situation and i quote myself from the string called "One Last Response from Sha-Keira"... "I feel that members of a group need to trust the leaders of that group to act in the interests of the group. I believe we did that. If you dont have that kind of trust and belief then maybe you do not belong here. However, i feel that i am not the owner of the group - so if i find that i am no longer wanted here as manager I will move on. So with this I will stop. I look forward to seeing your posts, and i will answer questions that are posted. I would have liked to just let the fires burn and the wind rage but I also wanted people to be able to avoid the pitfalls of what had happened. Delsin....So be it, Wunt-taktek ach gesalk....Peace and love in Algonquian the end please reply with any questions or comments |
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Here
on the Easternband.com forum "Runningbear" rants extensively on his Runningbear's
Wall of Shame forum about
the Native American Friends group where he/she/it was
exposed . Runningbear also slams a Ceremony run by Enrolled members of the EBCI ... stating "We have issues" "We have
issues here in Cherokee with a sweat lodge that allows those who are
not native to participate."
Who exactly is "We?" Runningbear got a mouse in his, her or its pocket?? Is this the "Royal We?" Just say NO to Faux Indian Nosism! |
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Disclaimer...sorta: Truth is our absolute defense. We have made every effort humanly possible to verify the accuracy of the material contained on these web pages. If you think we've gotten something wrong, prove it and we'll fix it. If you just don't like us posting the truth about a self proclaimed Guru because it's embarrassing to him/her...to bad, the truth will be told! If you threaten us with harm, we'll call the cops. If you sue us, we'll sue you back. If by some chance the Courts reverse their recognition of screen shots as "Fair Use" .. we'll get a friend in Asia, Russia or maybe Sweden to take over the site. If benevolent space aliens from a distant galaxy offer to beam us to a Utopian Earth future where there is no war, disease, hate, or Internet... screw you guys, we're outa here |