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Church won't allow Lakota ceremony at funeral
Thursday, February 10, 2005

The family of the late Lakota activist Muriel Waukazoo has moved her funeral because a church in Oakland, California, won't allow a drum group or spiritual leader to participate.

Paul Brown, deacon of the American Indian Baptist Church, said Indian traditions are inconsistent with Christian practices. "In the Bible, you can't serve two masters," he told The Oakland Tribune. Brown is Chickasaw.

Muriel's husband was buried at the church in 1984 and her family can't believe how they are being treated. "It's really disappointing that an American Indian church that's for American Indians has not acknowledged the drum and some of the other things we wished to incorporate," son Martin Waukazoo told The Rapid City Journal.

The funeral will now be held at the Assumption Church on Friday. The wake will take place tonight.

Get the Story:
Church won't allow Lakota funeral rituals (The Rapid City Journal 2/10)
Oakland church bans Lakota funeral (The Oakland Tribune 2/9)

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