Hit her now! Use non Native activists to bring her down!

Some people have recently brought some terrible charges against an Indian for raping a boy.

OK, take two: Some people have recently decided to bring accusations against a senior Native American spiritual adviser for raping a boy.

Well, not quite. Take three: Some tribal members and some white allies have recently decided to bring accusations against a Native spiritual adviser for raping a boy.

OK, let's refine that: A few enrolled tribal members and some white allies have made accusations against a tribal spiritual adviser for raping a boy 15 years ago.

Ah, perhaps to tune it up and make it precise, a few enrolled tribal members and some white allies have recently made accusations against a tribal spiritual adviser for statuatory rape of a boy 15 years ago, when the boy was 17 and the spiritual adviser was 23. But far more importantly, they--a few tribal members and some white "allies"--have focused on a Native leader who, they say, has not persecuted the alleged perpetrator nearly enough.

This is a concerted effort to bring down a tribal activist who has been very effective in stopping or slowing massive predatory extractive polluting corporate industry.

These challenges to her authority come just as she is being effective in slowing and possibly stopping the Keystone pipeline, generally regarded in the environmental community as "game over" if it is built.

No, I am not going to get into names, nor details, nor even which tribe/s or tribal organizations are involved. But I will say this: How convenient. How handy to have this old accusation in someone's pocket, ready to use. The activist leader under attack had nothing to do with the alleged sexual misconduct. The tribal activist leader under unrelenting attack from some tribal members and white "allies" knew absolutely nothing about any of this until relatively recently. But this tribal activist leader has been singularly effective in amassing a unique coalition of tribal, white, and transnational individuals, leaders, organizations, and entire movements to oppose the Keystone pipeline.

If I were a government or corporate or oil industry operative, I'd pull the pin on discrediting this key activist right now. This is exactly the time to use this bit of old but provocative information. This is the time to neutralize this Native American leader.

Especially because, in documented messaging, she has attempted to use restorative, not retributive, justice with regard to the alleged perpetrator.

This is a frustrating bit of writing to read because no names are forthcoming. But it is to ask us all to carefully consider gossip, innuendo, rumor, and "politically correct" moves on effective leadership. It reminds me of J. Edgar Hoover moving on MLK when King was the ONLY person capable of uniting black, red, white, brown, and yellow people. Now is the time to cast doubt on this Native leader, make her appear to condone sexual predation or at least avoid intramovement conflict.

There needs to be direct, irrefutable evidence to convince me that Native leadership should not be trusted when they forcefully, steadily, and valiantly defend Mother Earth. Non Native allies should think twice and three times and many more times before making allegations that impugn such crucial leadership at such a critical time.

Really. Don't be tools.