Lakota Nation files lawsuit against parties in sweat lodge incident

by Nina Rehfeld

SEDONA, AZ (November 12, 2009) - In the aftermath of the tragedy at Angel Valley Retreat Center, where an incompetently conducted “sweat lodge” held by Californian self-help guru James Arthur Ray killed three participants, political steps are being taken by several native people across the United States. While local Indians from Arizona are forming a Council for Indigenous Traditional Healing to reclaim native ceremonies, the Lakota tribe of North and South Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the United States, the state of Arizona, James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center.

Ray had conducted a five-day “Spiritual Warrior” seminar at Angel Valley on the first weekend of October, during which his more than sixty participants had been fasting and wandering in the desert. He then assembled them in an incompetently constructed “sweat lodge” that, according to eye witnesses, was turned into a two-hour endurance competition and left three people dead and nineteen injured.

The Lakota Nation considers its sweat lodge ceremony, the Oinikaga, one of the seven sacred rites of the Lakota. “This is a way of life, not a religion”, said Sam Longblackcat, who introduced the lawsuit to the public at a press conference in Phoenix on November 2^nd.

The lawsuit refers to the Treaty of Fort Laramie between the United States and the Lakota Nation from 1868, which states that “if bad men among the whites or other people subject to the authority of the United States shall commit any wrong upon the person or the property of the Indians, the United States will (...) proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.” The plaintiffs hold that James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center have “violated the peace between the United States and the Lakota Nation” and have caused the “desecration of our Sacred Oinikiga by causing the death of Liz Neuman, Kirby Brown and James Shore”. The lawsuit further holds that James Arthur Ray and the Angel Valley Retreat Center have committed fraud by impersonating Indians and must be held responsible for causing the deaths of the victims and injuries of the survivors, and for the destruction of evidence through the dismantling of the sweat lodge.

Longblackcat, who spoke with the approval Lakota leaders, said the lawsuit is meant to reinstate the protection of the Lakota sacred way of life. “We Lakota people continue to fight for our way of life. The sweat lodge – we call it Oinikaga or Inipi – is a purification ceremony, to make life. Our sacred way of life was desecrated by a non-native man. This is our property, and there are laws in the United States and in the United Nations that state that these customs are ours and that they are to be protected.”  [Link to full statement]

Also at the Phoenix press conference, Chief Anselmo Candelaria, Apache and Olone of Phoenix and Daniel Bejar, Mescalero Apache and Mexica Apache of Prescott, announced the formation of the Council of Indigenous Traditional Healers to “provide guidance and oversight in regards to sacred healing ceremonies.”

Bejar said that the purpose of the council is to “protect people, protect our ceremonies and see what can be done to keep this from happening again.” He also stressed that this is not an attack on the Sedona retreat industry. “We do not want to badger people or protest, we want to approach this in a good way. We want to check into the authenticity of people offering sweat lodges. We want to confront people who are doing these ceremonies about taking money for them and about not being properly trained. And we want to let people who come in seeking know that we have qualified water pourers.” The goal of the Council, Bejar said, is not to shut down non-native lodges. “My belief is that anyone is entitled to pray, no matter where they come from. But ceremonies like the sweat lodge have to be conducted by the appropriate people – and not for pay.” Current members of the Council are Chief Anselmo Candelaria, Daniel Bejar, Luis Viniegra, Juan Guevara, Pete Jackson as well as two more, and others, including people from the Yavapai Apache tribe, will be approached, said Bejar. “We want to take ownership and responsibility for our region.” The Council can be contacted via theeaglelodge@aol.com or 928-776-8692.

Amayra Hamilton, one of the owners of Angel Valley Retreat Center, declined to be interviewed at this time and said she was preparing a press statement. She did, however, send this reaction via e-mail: “We feel that filing whatever lawsuits against whoever can be sued, is NOT (her emphasis) a solution for a theme that needs to be addressed by each and everyone of us, yourself included: do we listen to ourselves what is right for us, and, as a leader, do we listen to our hearts and be aware of our responsibility? As we see it, acting and reacting based on judgment, anger and revenge is not honoring those who lost their lives, on the contrary. We truly want to honor the ones who died AND (her emphasis) the native traditions that feel offended and hurt, which we understand, we have chosen to approach it from our heart and make something positive out of what happened. That is the path we choose to walk. We highly appreciate that the indigenous people and those who feel a strong connection with them, get together to show the world the beauty of their traditions, to share the essence and power of their ceremonies and increase awareness. That, if we all do learn our lesson, may prevent that incidents like what occurred would ever happen again.”

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office's homicide investigation into the deaths of the three participants in Ray's seminar is still underway. According to the latest update on the Sheriff's website from November 9^th, detectives are trying to locate and interview all the participants in the event. The media release states that “the Sheriff’s Office is anticipating that during the month of December, 2009, the investigative information up to this time will be forwarded to the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office for review.”

James Arthur Ray, who refused to speak to local authorities and skipped town the night of the tragedy to continue conducting his seminars in California, has now postponed all planned events to help “bring some sort of closure to the matter,” as he professes on his website. “That means helping the authorities and the families get to the bottom of what happened.” Ray has so far offered no public apology.