Parisha Taylor

I am standing in the midst of a quandary. There have been UNSUBSTANTIATED accusations, blatant lies and attacks against some people I consider my extended family, people I have been affiliated with for over 25 years in a non-profit humanitarian organization that has always been dedicated to helping people empower themselves through continuing education, personal and professional development and spiritual growth. The primary offensive has been led by reporter Michael Sangiacomo of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. His primary target has been Parisha Taylor. It appears he temporarily gained an audience at the Kingman Daily Miner. All I can say is, Whatever happened to investigative reporting?...that would be as opposed to just taking up someone's rumors. Think its truth because it's "In The News?" Unfortunately not. The vast majority believe this is true. But another reporter?

I have worked with Parisha Taylor since 1986 when I went to the Center for Human Development to book a concert and a music workshop. I began to attend the Spiritual Development class conducted by Parisha and some of her associates on Monday nights. These evenings included prayer and meditation times for world peace, learning how to live healthier through better nutrition and natural foods, holistic modalities for maintaining optimal health in addition to singing and exercises to help the mind-body connection. From there I began to spend some weekends and attend events at farmlands in Summerfield, for which the Center For Human Development had become stewards.

In time I traveled to many wonderful locations in the U.S. and Canada where I attended trainings conducted by Parisha. By way of example, she taught the rest of us how to value ourselves. We stayed in the best hotels and ate well. We laughed, played, and learned about ourselves, ancient cultures and the traditional ways of Parisha’s people.

These trips cost money – to travel there, for the accommodations, to eat, for transportation. And yes, at the end of the trainings¸ I voluntarily gave a monetary “love offering” to measure to the value of what I had gained in knowledge and personal perspective. As a recovered alcoholic I knew a lot of my life has been an ongoing story of taking from others. It has been liberating for me emotionally and financially to practice measuring the worth of something I have received and delivering my “gratitude” in the form of money.

By her own words, Parisha is of mixed heritage – one side of her family is Native and one side of her family is Caucasian. There are “natives” – themselves half-breeds – whom I have witnessed, try to dispute her heritage. Ultimately they run out of gas. Their prejudice and ignorance can’t stand up to the truth. I have been in Cherokee, North Carolina with Parisha to re-visit her homelands where she was raised by her purebred Cherokee Grandmother. I was privileged to witness the respect with which Elders and local native people approached her. If there was any question about her authenticity it would surely have surfaced in the manner in which these people related to her – in the heart of the Cherokee homelands.

Parisha Taylor is a capable personal coach and like a great coach¸ knows how to pull the best from the people who have asked for her help to become their ultimate success. Not everyone who asks to be successful has the inner fortitude or heart to make it happen. To those people, Coach Parisha Taylor may look imposing. But to those of us who have striven to excellence in our lives, she has been a magnificent reflection of our own capability, and relentless support in helping us to reach our goals.

The great teachers and coaches in life have their share of whiners who complain that too much was demanded of them or that person was crazy or demented. The problem is they quit on themselves and can’t face that fact so they look for someone outside themselves to blame. These are the “sources” Michael Sangiacomo sought out to quote in an effort to discredit Parisha Taylor, along with “real natives” (who themselves are mixed breeds because there are very few pure-bred traditionalists left in the nation today).

One of our beloved members died taking part in an exercise on the beaches of Topsail that she and many of the rest of us had participated in several times over the years. But the papers, led Michael Sangiacomo, started a vicious prolonged campaign to try to discredit Parisha and actually implicate her in the death. None of the allegations were ever proven, none of the newspapers running these stories – including the Associated Press wire service - subsequently bothered to substantiate their facts¸ they just ran the stories. Why? Because sensationalism sells.

That was over 20 years ago. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, through reporter Michael Sangiacomo, has resurfaced in a malicious attack once again, apparently because of the good works Parisha Taylor is currently accomplishing along with members of The Learning Center for Human Development in Kingman AZ.

I am dumbfounded. Other than the fact that the printed newspaper is fading fast from the American scene, and maybe Sangiacomo is trying to help save his paper from extinction (like the comic book heroes he writes about), none of this makes sense. I have known Parisha Taylor for over 25 years. I am a better person for what I have learned from her in classes, trainings, and walking along side her. I am a more effective businesswoman and community member for my association with this generous and dedicated woman.

I’m also pretty disgusted. People’s lives can be destroyed by an arbitrary decision to make them newsworthy, or try to sensationalize an event. I would ask everyone reading this, and certainly everyone who knows me to consider that I choose my friends and associates with great care. I believe in Respect for All. Those who try to make their gain at the expense of others give me a lot of opportunity to practice compassion. But then that’s what I’ve also learned from Parisha Taylor. Compassion and Love for my fellow Humans.

Undoubtedly, Sangiacomo will eventually exhaust himself once again. What will be left is a woman who stands in Truth: Parisha Taylor.

©2010 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.