Feds Break Up Apache Ceremony - Take Eagle Feathers

Robert Soto is a Lipan Apache as well as a Christian minister. His People have lived in Texas for hundreds of years. At the time of the Pueblo revolt of 1680, the Lipan were recognized as a separate tribe who rode horses and today are considered the founders of the "Plains Indians".

Some of the Lipan Apache fled to Mexico where they have remained to this day thus escaping reservation life. Some, such as Robert's People, blended in with their surroundings and maintained their identity while living near white settlements in Texas, while others of the Lipan were sent to reservations in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

While not BIA recognized. this band, as well as the Soto family, have received numerous honors from the state of Texas and local community in the form of Proclamations recognizing who they are as a People and their contribution to society.

Every year this band of Lipan Apaches holds their Nde Daa Pow wow which means the People Spring Pow wow. Family and friends from far and wide, including many friendly Federal Agents, attend and enjoy this happy time together. But this year something went wrong.

During the ceremony, one of the Lipan Warriors was called out of the Circle by a man claiming to be a Federal Agent. After much arguing the agent finally produced a badge and before it was over, Robert Soto's bustle of 40 year old eagle feathers and the roach he was wearing in his hair, were confiscated.

To our People, the Circle is Sacred. We pray with our Feathers and they are as sacred to us as any other religious item is to anybody else. But we are still not allowed to possess these sacred items unless we can document that we are Federal BIA Indians and fill out reams of paper work.

Not all bands and tribes surrendered to the White Aggressors. Some of us still haven't. We will never be BIA recognized. That is good. But we will never "legally" be able to possess our sacred feathers.

I have gotten several emails recently condemning me for my disapproval of the Missouri Bill which would make Christianity the "Official" religion of this state. One woman told me she was tired of minorities watering down her religion. She should try standing at the bottom of the dung heap with the "Real People." Then she might understand religious persecution.

Robert Soto and his People will pay fines and lawyer costs and spend months, if not years, tied up in the legal system, while the rest of the People will risk the same fate every time we gather to worship. As it stands now, religious freedom is not granted to everyone in this country - at least not to those who had it stolen from them.

Source of Report

LATEST UPDATE March 25, 2006

Robert Soto sent out a statement today:

Thank you for your prayers

Dear Friends:

I wish I could describe the day and the feelings that went through my heart and mind as we delivered my two roach feathers to the federal agent today....

Words can't really describe what was going through my heart as about 25 of us gathered outside the lawyer's office complex with our ceremonial regalia and prayed. I prayed that God would give us wisdom. I prayed that God would continue to guide us.

As I prayed I reminded my people that Romans 8:28 was still in the Bible, that all things do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. I reminded them that God was still on the throne and that He was still in control.

As I finished praying, one of our honored elders, a decorated Korean war veteran, held the two feathers in his hands. The feathers were wrapped in our traditional ways, as if we were about to bury one of our own. The drummers started singing our traditional farewell song in our Apache language as we slowly started our way to the room where the federal agent was waiting for us. As we slowly proceeded through the hallway, workers came to support us and then stood bowing down as in prayer.

As we entered the room, the federal agent was waiting for us. He could not look us in the eye.

We stood there and sang our song. When we finished our song, I lit some sage with the very same feathers that I was giving up and blessed the bustles and feathers that were being taken away. Then all the people came and smudged themselves. Then our drum sang a farewell song. It was a powerful song. There was not a dry eye in the room. Our people were crying as we had just lost a loved one. In many ways, we had.

After we finished our song, I looked at the agent and told him we were finished.

At that time he asked everyone except Mike and I to leave the room. We stayed behind and he talked to us. He wanted to assure us that this was not a racial thing or just picking on Indians. That he was just doing his job. He then turned to me and said, "Do you understand this?" I looked at him and said, "I wish not to say anything." We signed our charges and we left. The lawyer came to say goodbye and every one with tears in their eyes thanked him for all his help.

One lady who was with us is from Switzerland. She is here to help Iris and me with our church work. She looked at the lawyer with tears in her eyes and said, "I have always read about the bad things we did to the Indian people. In Europe we think things have changed. But now I know that things have not changed at all."

As I was getting ready to leave, I asked the lawyer about a videotape that was on the table with the agent. He said he would go and ask. Basically, the war is not over. He is going to war with the Indian people in Texas. I was told that the agency is planning to invade many other pow wows in Texas. His goal is to bust any Indian person who is not federally recognized in Texas. This does not sound like he is 'just doing his job'. He has an agenda and has chosen to attack a certain people group. In Texas there are over 280,000 Native Americans. Most of these do not have their status card. So this man has chosen to go to war against all of us.

Our lawyer advised us to warn all the people who put on pow wows - to warn them about the wrath that is still to come against them from an agent who is taking this as his task to destroy who we are as Native Americans.

Tonight was a very sad night. I performed for an arts organization in McAllen. Tonight I danced without my feathers for the first time ever.

Keep us in prayer. This story is not over. He might come after me again. I guess some of us must die before the world sees that very little has changed when it comes to Native American rights.