Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Rapid City, S.D. - Cherokee by Birth? Lakota by adoption? Tribal members want answers as to why a woman would capitalize on culture and tradition.

Brooke Schiavi, co-owner of Wolfsongs/Cherokee Productions and its web site, has drawn the attention of tribal officials and members, who've declared war against Lakota cultural exploitation.

Questions were raised concerning Schiavi's current web site and her past use of the internet. While known as Brookie Craig, Schiavi ran an internet cult-like circle called "Dreamer" or "Spirit" circle as cherokee@WOLFE.net and tsalagi@WOLFE.net.

Schiavi, who claimed to be a respected Cherokee elder, also is known as Brookie Mae Miller, Brookie Hogue-Craig-Knudsen-Pendleton- Morton and Hedman. Names she used on the internet include 'Brekah', Tsalagi (Cherokee) Woman, Spirit Mother and Spirit Dancer (Dancer of the Spirits of the Great Tsalagi Nation, western band of the wolf clan with crow medicine), according to a 180-page document compiled by Megan Enright from California. Enright, a business owner, was a member of the internet circle in 1995.

Schiavi has publicly claimed herself the cousin and very close friend of Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She claimed they had grown up together, according to Keni Jefferson, Schiavi's daughter.

Mankiller, a respected tribal leader, expressed concern about Schiavi's claim and said it was bogus.

"I don't know this person, I've never heard of her by any of her names. She's definitely not a relative or close friend," Mankiller said.

Schiavi's internet circle raised suspicions of deceit and manipulation among her followers, according to Enright. As a result, information concerning Schiavi's criminal history, how she controlled her followers and how she solicited money were compiled and forwarded to the FBI. An FBI spokesperson said information about whether a case is under investigation could not be released.

Schiavi claims to be 1/32 Cherokee from her father, James Miller, and has her birth certificate to prove it. Schiavi's daughter begs to differ. Jefferson claims Miller is Schiavi's stepfather and a man named James Hogue, who is white, is Schiavi's biological father.

Jefferson informed Enright that her mother was dishonest about details of her birth certificate to acquire enrollment papers with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's registration office confirmed Schiavi's enrollment, but no birth certificate was on file. The office requested copies of the information gathered for this story for review.

Jefferson suggested the only way to confirm that her mother is not Indian is through a DNA test.

"Hell hath no fury like she (Schiavi) does," wrote Jefferson, who also made reference to her mother's prison record in an e-mail, and named her mother's parole officer, Lanny Rapper.

According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Schiavi was charged with fraud, felony fraud and crossing state lines in a stolen vehicle, under the name Brookie Mae Knudson. She also used the names Brookie Bethany, Mae Lawson and Brooke Mae Bethany, according to the report.

Convicted of felony fraud, Schiavi was sentenced to two years and 180 days. She served 200 days and was paroled. Her parole was later revoked. A second felony fraud conviction earned her another prison term of two years and 180 days.

Rapper said he was concerned when ICT called because he thought a feature story was being written on Schiavi. He was glad to hear that it wasn't a feature on anything she was promoting.

He chuckled at her claim of Cherokee blood and said it was his opinion that she doesn't have any "Indian" in her.

"She'd be Danish or Martian, if it helped her to get what she wanted," Rapper said. "There was always a drama with her. I'm not surprised she's involved in something like this."

Rosebud Sioux Tribal member Michael Two Horses, at the University of Arizona in Tucson, first became aware of Schiavi when people in South Dakota raised questions about her operations, [he] said. So he began to ask questions and investigate.

"I believe she helped run an e-mail campaign against me last summer, falsifying documents to the University of Arizona and sending them to my supervisor and the head of my department. Nothing came of it... but I'm being very circumspect about having a lot of protection up when I start up on her again." He plans to continue to monitor her activities.

According to Enright, Schiavi was the core spiritual entity of the Dreamer-Spirit circle, enticing her followers with traditional teachings and visions. She added that it "gives me shades of Jim Jones in how she goes about things, and too many people are susceptible to her BS...incredible.

"The biggest concern is that this woman portrays herself in such an endearing light on the net...and there are a lot of vulnerable people out there who do not know her real character - shades of the Messiah complex, I fear," Enright wrote.

Several e-mail messages from Schiavi to her followers were termed both psychotic and manipulative by Enright.

An excerpt from an e-mail written by Schivai, sent over the web in 1995, read: "O'siyo to those of you whom I love so very much...which is every single name on this list. So many of you love me...You share your lives with me daily...I know your children...I know your hearts...I love our little secret words we share."

E-mail exchanges between some of those who are concerned about her activities allege Schiavi solicited funds to help poor, starving "Indians" over the internet, but the money has never been accounted for.

Jefferson, who expressed absolute fear of her mother in her e-mail exchanges, wrote, "The thing that really angers me is that I think she might be pulling another scam to get money from her followers on the net. It amazes me that so many people are willing to send money to someone who they've never met in person...someone who they really don't know."

Schiavi promotes herself as an American Indian spiritual person, with a BIA registration and a tribal enrollment card, according to an e-mail from Tom Hudson, an American Indian advocate for the disabled. He said that when he asked about discrepancies, Schiavi became mean and vindictive. He's had several e-mail encounters with Schiavi, according to the documents.

Schiavi was based in Seattle, Wash., while operating the internet circle in 1995. She disappeared from the internet after members began questioning her activities, according to e-mail correspondence from Drake and Enright.

Since then, Schivai has become a New Spirit Talk Columnist for Rene Gavin's Spirit Talk on-line magazine and had an article and letter printed in Sacred Hoop, a United Kingdon publication.

According to Schiavi's letter, she's "very tired of walking into the homes of our Holy Men and seeing nothing to eat for them, and dilapidated furniture that the Salvation Army wouldn't have as a donation, these men are penniless, destitute." She further wrote, "we come and we ask them to connect to Creator, to bring the Spirits for us, to heal us, to save our lives and they live worse than any people I have ever known. I have no answers. Signed: Brooke Schiavi, Rapid City, South Dakota." Readers are encouraged to see page 20 to contact her at brooke@hills.net or PO Box 8392 Rapid City, S.D., 57709, U.S.A.

Mel Lone Hill, acting fifth memter of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, shook his head in disbelief when he read the letter.

[**Note: Brooke Schiavi has also used the aka of Brooke "Medicine Eagle" Craig, pre-Internet, while subscribed to a dial-up bulletin board service called GEnie.]