On Monday September 11th 2023, I had an ongoing argument most of that afternoon with A "Gentleman" ( Stephen Ferguson )I was renting a room from. After 3 weeks of occupying a room in his house, I had decided to move back out. You see this "Mr.Ferguson" had refused to accept payments , he wanted instead for me to be his "girlfriend". I tried for weeks to change his mind and when I finally was done 'Mr.Ferguson' was't happy . Late that afternoon, long after that argument had died down, while I was outside doing yard work, Clay County Sheriff's pulled up into the yard. That "gentleman" " Mr.Ferguson" had called them , and even proceed to place false charges on me.
Im A Native American Medicine Woman , Peace-full resistance , and Im pretty well know in Oklahoma, however this wasn't Oklahoma. I couldn't believe it when I was arrested, but I complied fully with the arresting officers. Even though I was not read my Miranda rights at the time of my arrest. I went with them willing without much of an argument. I was handcuffed and placed in the police car. Both officers were vary respectful at the time of my arrest. I even audibly commented to the officer in the car ride to the station that I understood he was only doing his job and that I wasn't upset with him personally.
After arriving at the Clay County Police Station around 8:00 p.m. I was led in the doors, my handcuffs were removed, and I waited patiently for directions.
I was approached by a female jailer. A heavy set young woman in her early to mid-20s who immediately told me to take off all my jewelry. Which I did. She then told me I would have to take off my dreadlock extensions.
I then clearly identified myself to her as I had done to the other officers As a Native American Medicine Woman. I set down on the floor legs crossed and removed all the extensions I could, that weren't fused to my hair. Then I tried to explain to her that as a Medicine Woman I'm almost like a holy woman and my Dreadlocks are sacred to me, almost like part of my religious garb, They symbolize 11 years of dedicated practice and devotion to our traditions and beliefs some of the horse hair extensions have fused together with my original Dreadlocks.
The young woman said it didn't matter, the copper wire, beads, and semi-precious stones could be used as a weapon to harm myself or others, and if I didn't remove them myself they would be removed by force. However ,I had already removed all the extensions I could without cutting them off.
I told her that I couldn't because they're part of my hair now and she ordered the other guard to grab "the chair".
"The Chair" basically meaning a high backed metal wheel chair with thick straps on the shoulders wrists and ankles, they were going to use to hold me down as they scalped me.
I watch as they wheeled the chair over to me, I was in shock at first.. then overcome with Terror when I realized just how dark my situation was about to get. I asked them to call the native American police , I didn't know what they were called in North Carolina , In Oklahoma they call the native police Light horse, and they have jurisdiction over native citizens. I Began Begging them to put me in solitary confinement or a straight jacket or anything just not my hair. We hold our knowledge in our braids.
I Still cooperated and set in the chair as ordered. I continued to beg and plead with tear-filled eyes as they strapped me down to the chair. Yet ,I held still and I allowed them to strap me down. I did not struggle. I did not put up a fight.
Once I was securely strapped to the chair I was wheeled into the holding cell, the young woman and two other male jailers,each armed with scissors begin the process of removing my sacred locks..
To Properly clean my locks(in the traditional way) takes at least 2 days you have to remove stones and beads and copper wires. Which I normally do carefully and slowly in a safe protected place where I have burnt sage. And only on the black moon. All the different stones and copper wire in my hair also serve actual scientific purposes. They protect me (like a Faraday cage) from bad frequencies and Energies, and strengthen my connection to my ancestors and the great spirit. And these Ignorant Savages are about to just rip them off my head.
I began singing my prayers to my ancestors and the great spirit, alternating between English and different native languages. I was calming myself trying to avoid or lessen the Panic and fear from from this already overwhelming experience. I closed my eyes and put my mind somewhere else.
What started off gently at first soon became rougher and rougher as they pulled and jerked my head in every direction. They alternated and took turns to give each other short breaks. Of course , no breaks for me, I just had to sit there and take it.
The same young woman returned from her short break and began mocking me
"I don't know what that is it sounds Hawaiian."
I ignored her silly racist comment and I just kept singing , but started singing louder to drowned her bullying out.
Then laughing (the was a bully does when the think they hurt you) and she asked if I knew any other songs.
I looked at her and said I would prefer to see my prayers to my ancestors as they ripped my locks from my head.
The young woman became increasingly more violent, painfully ripping at my hair, she began to say something else, but I sang loudly enough the sound echoing and bouncing off the walls of the small concrete room drowned her voice out completely.
During the entire ordeal I would try to move my head to make it easier for them, both to avoid excess pain and to get this over with as fast as possible. However ,this young woman begin ripping actual hair from my scalp. Causing so much pain I would have to pull away and even causing me to jerk in responses to the pain.
Her immediate response to my jerking away from her overly violent scalping job was to show me who was boss , by choking me out. She then placed her thumb on my throat, just under my right cheekbone, and pressed hard upward and inward cutting off my windpipe. She used enough Force to leave a bruise still visible in the pictures I took 48 hours later. I don't remember what she was saying after that, I remember hearing her voice but my brain clouded with the rush of endorphins which is a natural occurrence caused by brief asphyxiation.
When they were finished with the Savage Act of removing my locks they exited the cell, leaving me alone in the cell, still strapped to the chair for some time. I was still singing, I tried to turn my feet and hands to as close to a yoga meditation position as I could and did several breathing exercises to sooth myself and bring back my level head, clear mind,and Also in preparation for whatever was coming next.
Eventually I was unstrapped from the chair and they wheeled it out of the cell and I was left standing there looking around at the so-called dangerous pieces of my dreadlocks all over the floor. They had picked up the dreadlocks and some of the remnants but left strips of my copper wires, tattered hair wraps, broken beads and stones and even some of my old base locks scattered across the cell floor.
I sit with my knees crossed and my eyes closed and again put my mind somewhere other than in that room.
It was probably 30 min later before they interrupted my meditation to reinitiate the booking process.
I was strip searched booked and photographed by the same angry young woman who had just escalated that brutal violation of my human rights to a literal hate crime, in the form of police brutality.
After the strip search my undergarments were taken from from me and i was forced to parade around the cold police station, as they finished booking me in and doing my mug shot, in only my thin tshirt and leggings, and unable to even cover or see the disaster they had left of my head. I stood tall with my back straight and my chin held high. I didn't show a ounce of shame, or fear, or weekness, or self doubt. As though the entire nightmare hadn't just happened. I even cracked jokes and had to be told to stop smiling for my mugshot. I stood there in front of strangers dirty faced, half naked, cold, my once beautiful and infamous locks now only short nappy locks mixed in to jagged bits of hair with little bald patches.
"Occupation?" they asked
"Im an artist, a model, I make you tube videos, and im the medicine woman for my tribe."
.. I finally returned to my cell with the so-called dangerous components still on the floor. I finally gathered them all up and flush them down the very dirty toilet in the corner of the cell. If I was going to be stuck in there for 2 days I wasn't going to stare at them the whole time. I cleared all the dangers remants myself and remove the constant reminders. I knew I needed a clear head and a strong mind and morning and moping and crying over my beautiful hair would only distract me and possibly cause me to react emotionally in the future instead of wisely. I couldn't afford any more loss of focus or Clarity in this dangerous situation and place.
I was held in the same small concrete cell for 48 hours straight a bright light stayed on 24/7 with no windows or sunlight. I was told the first day by the sergeant I would see a nurse, but that never happened.
I was forced to remain in the same filthy clothes I was arrested in the entire 48 hours with the exception of my undergarments which were removed in the beginning during the strip search only return to me when I was released.
I was never given any soap or toiletries of any kind. I was only handed a crude rubber mat and two blankets and nothing else until they handed me my breakfast the next morning.
I complained to the sergeant during booking that I had nothing to drink from and the sink was filthy as were my hands. So I removed the cardboard roll from the toilet paper and used it as a cup. He remarks not to waste the toilet paper because it's all I would get, to which I told him it was all still there rolled up nice and neatly I only needed a drinking cup. However I was still never offered an actual cup to put water in. I was even forced to use my milk box from The Breakfast the next day as my water cup for the majority of my stay.
The day of the rest I've been working outside all day I was clearing a large fallen tree and some huge limbs from the yard. I broke them down using only a machete into smaller pieces and burned them off in a fire pit. I was still tuning that fire and even roasting food on it when I was arrested that day. So I was filthy covered in fire suit, yard debris, and a day's sweat. This doesn't bother me normally. However I was forced to stay in those filthy clothes for the entire 48 hours and never given any soap. I had to rinse my feet and hands and face in a small dirty sink with cold water, and dry them on my own blanket.
48 hours later after my release I walked out of Clay County jail, holding a plastic grocery bag containing my sacred locks, my 100% dead cell phone(so I couldn't even call a ride to come get me), and my wallet. The wallet , the arresting officer had removed from my purse as I was arrested,but for some reason left my purse sitting there on the ground. I did remember the officer asking if the purse was mine as I was being walked to the cop car. He was holding it in his hand and walking toward his police car, but I was being put in the other police car and missed it when he took my wallet out of my purse and left the purse behind. Also ,As terms of my release ,I was forced to have no contact with the "Mr.Ferguson" who had filed the false charges against me.
So, the Police left my purse there , along with everything else I owned. An entire week later , I had to call the same police that had just assaulted me,and defiled my dignity,and spit me out the back of a jailhouse like a stray cat that had wondered into the wrong house, and have them escort me and stand by as I gather my belongings.
When I was released, I didn't call that police escort right away, i instead went to a female friend's house. Finally able to shower and assess the damage I found 11 different bruises all over my body all photographed below, and all absolutely unnecessary.
I realize that my head was covered in bald patches including one right next to my face where a dreadlocks had been ripped out of my scalp completely. Even short tubs of hair were they just chopped off entire dreadlocks with scissors ,leaving less than an inch of hair behind. Below ,I have before and after pictures and have photographed all the bruises.
In the end , "Mr.Fergouson" stole over a thousand dollars worth of my belongings, and I was forced to stay in North Carolina for two months after the arrest. When he didn't show up to the court date the first time , the judge gave the case a continuance, in order to insure he was properly notified. When he didn't show up the second time , the case was finally thrown out. Mr.Ferguson of course didn't show up because the charges he placed on me were false. He never got charged with anything, not placing false charges , not stealing my belongings, nothing.
