Is
the Quaker Sweat Lodge "Racist"??
The Quaker Sweat Lodge: FAQ --
page 2Q. After speaking with the Wampanoag letter writer, were the QSL organizers interviewed by the FGC staff or committees before the workshop was canceled?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. No explanation has been offered.
Q. Is that fair treatment?
A. No.
Q. Isn’t that also a default on Quaker process?
A. Yes.
Q. But what about the traditional advice to Friends to be careful of the reputation of others, and "avoid talebearing and detraction"? Didn’t that apply in this case?
A. Good questions. Evidently this advice did not apply to these Friends accused of "racism".
Q. Did these advices not apply to the QSL organizers because they are white, and two are young adults? And is that okay in a Quaker body?
A. Good questions.
Q. What has happened to the QSL since the cancellation?
A. Several QSLs have been conducted for yearly meeting and other Friends groups. But it continues to be excluded from the FGC Gathering.
Q. Why is the QSL still excluded from the Gathering?
A. The unsupported charges that the QSL is a "flagrant example of racism" are accepted by some on the relevant FGC Committees.
Q. Why is the QSL called "racist"?
A. Because it has been seen by some as a case of "cultural appropriation."
Q. What is "cultural appropriation"? And why is it racist?
A. Definitions of "cultural appropriation" are many and varied. (Ten such definitions are in the Appendix.) They are clearest when they protest the taking of sacred Native artifacts for sale or collection by outsiders. There are laws against such taking, but that is not involved here. When it comes to learning from or making use of spiritual traditions or ceremonies, "cultural appropriation" is much harder to define or show to be oppressive.
Q. How did the Wampanoag letter writer determine that the QSL was a "flagrant example of racism"?
A. She read the short description of the workshop in the 2004 Gathering Advance Program. Here is that description:
"Quaker Sweat Lodge Experience: Since 1989 young Friends have participated in a sweat lodge at the Gathering, evolving into an experience deeply meaningful to many. This workshop offers participants an opportunity to build the lodge, sweat, and discuss the history, Quaker presence, and spiritual nature of the sweat lodge experience. Led by George Price, Cullen Carns-Hilliker, and Breeze Luetke-Stahlman. "
Q. But this description does not mention Native Americans or their culture.
A. True. The organizers state that they make clear at the beginning of each QSL that it is not a Native American ceremony.
Q. Had the Wampanoag complainant been to the QSL, or the Gathering?
A. No, and no. The author of the letter had no experience with FGC, the Gathering, or the QSL.
Q. But then how could she know it was a "flagrant example of racism"?
A. Evidently, reading the short workshop description was evidence enough.
Q. What about the QSL organizers’ statements that Native teachers had asked them to bring their learning to the Gathering, that it had been approved by eminent native speakers at Gatherings, and did not claim to be reproducing a native ceremony?
A. The author of the letter said that none of this mattered; the QSL was still a ""flagrant example of racism" and had to be stopped at once and "permanently."
Q. What about those on the FGC Committees who consider the QSL racist? How did they reach that conclusion?
A. The only explanation given was that the Wampanoag letter was evidence
enough. I have made several requests for further explanation, with no response
except as noted below.
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Appendix 1: "Cultural Appropriation">>
Appendix 2: Wampanoag Letter >>