The Tribe of Mic-O-Say is an honor society used by two local councils of the Boy Scouts of America, the Heart of America Council at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation. Similar programs exist or have existed in multiple other councils as well. The Tribe of Mic-O-Say is not a program of the National Council of the BSA. Mic-O-Say's ceremonies, customs, and traditions are loosely based on the folklore of various tribes of Native Americans. Both councils use both the Tribe of Mic-O-Say and the Order of the Arrow.
Tribe of Mic-O-SayHarold Roe Bartle c. 1925, Scout Executive of the St. Joseph Area Council
Mic-O-Say was founded in 1925 at Camp Brinton near Agency, Missouri under the guidance of Harold Roe Bartle, who was the Scout executive of the St. Joseph Council, now Pony Express Council. Bartle combined his experiences in Wyoming with the St. Joseph Council's existing honor organization called Manhawka.[1]
Bartle was inspired to create the organization after serving as the Scout Executive for the Cheyenne Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Casper, Wyoming, from 1923 to 1925.[2][3] Bartle became interested in the heritage and culture of the many Indian reservations in Wyoming. He spent many hours listening to stories about the Indian tribes and soon began to incorporate Indian values and ideals into his Scouting program. Bartle claimed he was inducted into a local tribe of Arapaho based on a reservation served by the Scout council, and according to traditional Mic-O-Say legend, was given the name Lone Bear by the Chief.[4][5]
Bartle started as Scout Executive in St. Joseph, January 1925. The idea of Mic-O-Say was well formed from the moment he arrived. There already existed a camp society there called Manhawka, established by a previous executive. Bartle familiarized himself with the rudiments of it, and incorporated them into his central theme of an Indian-like society based on the principles of the Scout Oath. Bartle named the society "Micosay". A hyphenated version was used shortly after and remains popular, though the non-hyphenated version can still be used.[citation needed]
Camp Geiger, which succeeded Camp Brinton in 1935, is considered the mother Tribe of Mic-O-Say. Bartle was "The Chief", and conducted all the early ceremonies personally, placing a single eagle claw around the neck of each new member and bestowing their Tribal Name upon them. He built up the tribe during the next few years.[citation needed]
Claws worn by Pony Express Council tribesmen
Claws worn by Heart of America Council tribesmen
In late 1928, Bartle became the Scout executive of the Kansas City Area Council. Mic-O-Say had increased both Scouting and summer camp attendance, and he established another Mic-O-Say program at Camp Dan Sayre near Noel, Missouri, in 1929, the first summer there. Another honor program known as the 4Ms existed there at the time. In 1930 Camp Osceola opened near Osceola, Missouri, and was renamed the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation.[citation needed]
The tribe flourished and expanded rapidly at both Camps. The mother tribe in St. Joseph remained and grew. In 2014 the 20,000th tribesman was inducted into the Camp Geiger tribe.[citation needed]
The 75th anniversary celebration of the program at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation included thousands of members of the Tribe, including previous Chief Scout Executives.[citation needed]
Organization
Tapping Ceremony of the Pony Express Council
In the Heart of America Council, the Council of Chieftains, She-She-Be Council, and Tribal Council lead the tribe. Their official publications are the Customs and Traditions booklet, Cedar Smoke newsletter, and Inner Circle magazines.[citation needed]
In the Pony Express Council, the Council of Chieftains and the Tribal Council lead the tribe. Their official publications are the Redbook and most recently Make Talk Now which is an electronic video version of the former Make Talk magazine.[citation needed]
Sam Graves, U.S. Congressman from Missouri's 6th Congressional District, having achieved the rank of Runner as a youth and elevated in 2009 to Sachem at Camp Geiger.
Todd Graves, former US Attorney, was elevated in June 2016 to Chieftain at Camp Geiger having served in all ranks and paint stations.[citation needed]
Roy Williams, Chief Scout Executive of BSA from 2000 to 2007
Controversy
The Boy Scouts of America, and particularly Mic-O-Say, have been widely criticized by officials of several Native tribes, anthropologists, journalists, and professors for being a patently offensive cultural appropriation of tribal identity and sacred practices. It was called "a fake Indian Boy Scout tribe"[7] for people who want to "play Indian".[8][9] Robert Prue, a former scout and a professor of social work at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, doubts some of Harold Roe Bartle's historical origin claims, and rejects his claim of having become a tribal member in Wyoming, as being merely the affinity of one tribal member instead of the requisite authority of each entire tribe being depicted. Critics say that the appropriation continues because the BSA has not yet received widespread public revulsion like professional sports teams have. That includes the Kansas City Chiefs, named after Bartle's nickname from the founding of Mic-O-Say, and which has its own cultural appropriation and racism controversy.[9][10][11][12][8]
In 2015, representatives of several native tribes from the American Indian Health Research and Education Alliance met with Mic-O-Say leadership and published a five-page article in Practicing Anthropology called "For $1,000 You Can Be a Dog Soldier: The Tribe of Should-be-Ashamed". It summarized: "The Mic-O-Say have a long history of misappropriating and misrepresenting Indian culture and traditions as well as engaging in cultural imperialism. This alienates Native people from their traditions, undermines self-determination, and creates further animosity and distrust between Natives and non-Natives."[8]
In 2023, when asked about having outside Natives being allowed to come to ceremonies and see first-hand what Mic-o-Say ceremonies look like, Ed Stroud, who adamantly refers to himself as the directing "Medicine Man" "Walks Tall" of the Camp Geiger Scout "Reservation", stated that he is uninterested in bringing outside tribal Natives into this secret organization because he cannot verify their intentions and whether or not they will "toe-the-line and not rock the boat". As it was recently inferred in a social media forum, the "Tribe of Mic-o-Say operates more like a cult whose adult members have an Indian fetish."
Ceremonies
Mic-O-Say has several "induction" ceremonies that are so-called "public", even though many who are not within this organization do not know about them. The first notable one is the ceremony of its entry rank, referred to as Foxmen. It starts off on the fourth day of camp during the campfire night, when Boy Scouts, chosen by their troops, are inducted into the organization. They are taken to the side and are sworn into a "vow of silence." This "silence" is to "teach" these chosen Scouts to "think before they speak." They are then set aside to do some "Community" work around the camp. They are then brought back to the campfire ring and stay overnight underneath the skies. Their final ceremony takes place in the biggest campfire ring in the camp. First, these members are instructed to lay on their backs and are told about the "history" of the tribe. First is the "tribes" grueling exodus from the west coast of the US. How their "ancestors" went through brush and branches to escape their former homes. To demonstrate this, other members of the tribe would run around with twig branches and run them along the inductees' backs. Then the inductees are taken outside the ring and made to drink a drink nicknamed "The Bitter Drink" and to eat a bread nicknamed “The Bitter Bread.” They are brought in and explained how these "ancestors" were forced to survive off of contaminated water and food over the Rookie Mountains. The ceremony ends and the inductees are fully members of the tribe.
Scouts BSA's official policy towards "Secrets in Scouting" is:
"All aspects of the Scouting program are open to observation by parents and leaders. The BSA does not recognize any secret organizations as part of its program. Hazing and initiations are prohibited and have no part during any Scouting activity."
By this very definition, the Mic-o-Say program operates in clear violation of this BSA policy because its adult leadership echelons insist on maintaining an air of enigmatic cultism when it comes to understanding Mic-o-Say's internal membership process, which often creates a conflict with BSA's Youth Protection policy because "uninitiated" unit leaders are not "allowed" to receive any meaningful information when it comes to the behind-the-scenes activities of this Secret Organization. In essence, adult unit leaders, who are responsible for the safety and protection of the youth they bring to camp, are not allowed to know anything about Mic-o-Say unless they first agree to go through its indoctrination process. Moreover, if a unit leader insists on understanding what is transpiring behind-the-scenes, that leader is met with a swarm of cult-like obstruction and intimidation from random members of this Secret Organization.
