Re: Ultimate PC
(no name) ((no email))
Mon, 29 Jan 1996 19:49:14 -0600
Bob Rosebrough wrote:
>I thought that I would throw this one one out to everyone for one of
>three reasons 1) give you a big laugh, 2) make you sick at what this
>world is coming to or 3) ask for some advice.
It did all three for me, Bob..
>The boys were given headbands with feathers to symbolize the ranks of
>Cub Scouting. The Cubmaster was also in Indian/Native American motif.
>The den chiefs shot arrows to honor each of the boys final Cub ceremony.
So far, this resembles some of our Order of the Arrow pre-ordeal ceremonies
we used to do at Camporees and other events.
>At this time, one of the parents of a younger scouts immediately stomped
>out of the room. After the meeting, this guy acosted the Cubmaster for
>showing disrespect by mocking Native Americans. His final comment was
>"What's the next step, black faces."
I will have to find the story on my first opportunity to serve on the
ceremonial team as a youth and what I endured to fulfill that chance.
>Is an Indian costume disrespectful to Indians/Native Americans. I
>thought that we honored the ways of the Indian throughout the Scouting >program
s.
Perhaps. What would have worked a little better here, Bob, would be
a short "comment" by the Cubmaster about the role that the First American
has in the Boy Scouting program...before the ceremony started. You don't
need a disclaimer but just some words that express why the Pack chose this metho
d of honoring its WEBELOS/Arrow of Light Cubs. You might have also
stated that many of the official BSA ceremonies and dances conducted by
Order of the Arrow Lodges are approved and reviewed by First American
tribesmen and leaders before it is used, and that many of the traditions previou
sly used by many Lodges (facial paint, totems, some fancy dancing)
is now forbidden to be performed or conducted within the confines of the
BSA.
While candidates are undergoing the Ordeal, several times the members of
the Order of the Arrow Lodge explain the reason why Native American
costuming and some dance is used and the history of the *proper performance*.
Packs do the kind of ceremony you described all of the time, and it is
unfortunate that we sometimes have to deal with some folks that demand that
we "do it exactly correct or not at all", when the purpose is NOT to
"duplicate" but rather to "set a setting" for the actual event: the
promotion and graduation of those WEBELOS to Cub Scouts.
>Oh the joy of being in an upper middle class environment.
Yeah..don't you love it?
Settummanque!(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (Settummanque, the blackeagle)
(
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