Once upon a time, there was a KKK guy named Leonard "Buck" Mattern. He was a most diligent racist. The FBI watched as he and friends burned crosses, spread terror, played with their guns, and got into brawls.
All this is documented by both the FBI and himself. Our proud racist wrote letters to the editor and gave interviews to media.
Eventually it was time to move on.
So he came up with a "Healing Light Ceremony" scam. Buck dressed up as a Fake Indian. White folks paid admission to watch his performance. He said bad shit was coming soon and that any who wanted to survive should listen to him.
Fast forward through drugs, crime, more brawling.
Then he decided it was time for him to move his flim-flam circus elsewhere.
He gathered his followers and moved across the country. Taking in new cult members along the way.
He and his top people legally changed their names in Snohomish, Washington. Leonard Albert Mattern Jr, known as "Buck" since at least his teen years, became Buck Ghosthorse.
After many an adventure he settled in Goldendale, Washington. He had not worked for honest wages in quite awhile. Where did the money to buy that property come from? How did he support himself?
His people gave him money. As he lied to them, performed as a Fake Indian, told rambling stories, and enjoyed scolding and slapping them.
Buck Ghosthorse was not a Lakota. He did not even have relevant heritage. He wasn't Indigenous anything. He wasn't a medicine man. He was a flim-flam man. A grifter. A racist that continued his racism by claiming racist b.s. about Lakota people.
This isn't a redemption story. He never made amends. He was a white, racist guy who cheated and lied his way through life.
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"COINTELPRO White Hate Groups - Miami" - Search through for references to our racist. Leonard Mattern/Buck Mattern.
"Buck Mattern, a diminutive former Klansman with dark, slicked back hair"
