The following is taken from a post I made at Ancestry.com. The original Hi-Jacking of All Melungeon research is below this part II and if you have not read it, you need to do so in order to understand the current arguments that are taking place. Just scroll down the page to get to that entry before reading this.
A member of the opposing group of Melungeon researchers responded to my original post. Here is my response to her with bits and pieces of her post so that it will make sense:
Nancy wrote:
You and your group have HI-JACKED ALL Melungeon research and your response to this post of mine shows what I am saying to be EXACTLY what you are doing.
You refuse to let anyone have any opinion of their own about Melungeons and ONLY the things that you say are supposed to be true. You inundate the internet with hateful mail and then when folks respond you have it deleted!! But at least it is on there long enough for folks to read both sides of the story.
And this post will be on my blogspot soon at:
http://journals.aol.com/nmorri3924/MelungeonResearch/
Your OPINIONS do not make things TRUE. You have NEVER been able to turn this into anything to amount to anything.
You note:
For years you ran this on your page
''Here is an overview of the five major medical problems that some Melungeon descendants inherit. ''
YES, I did. I have never denied this. Then ONE illness was shown to not be inherited, so I changed that, THEN I was ASKED to remove the MJD materials by Marie Boutte with whom I PERSONALLY consulted, not just listened to a report because of the seriousness of the illness and the stigma that it placed upon families amongst whom it was found.
You have ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF of the following statement. YOU WISH it were true. IT is NOT.
"When in fact there was not ONE Melungeon descendant that had inherited it."
Please note the following from my own report which you just used on Marie's talk about MJD which you THOUGHT proved your point. It doesn't!:
Nancy wrote:
"At 10:30 am June 17, 2004, Marie gave a talk to a full room on Machado-Joseph's Disease.
MJD is a rare illness. To date Marie said that she had not identified this illness in any Melungeon family and she was researching in order to do so or eliminate this illness.
PLEASE NOTE the 'to date' - Marie was not able to eliminate this illness simply because of what Brent KNEW.
You just DISPROVED your own wish by copying Kennedy's statement:
"Also conveniently overlooked by DeMarce are half a dozen confirmed cases of the extremely rare genetic disorder Machado-Joseph Disease among Melungeon descendants (most recently in an elderly East Tennessee male now cooperating with Portuguese geneticists at McGill University, and an eastern Kentucky woman diagnosed with MJD this spring at Johns Hopkins, who has also been referred to McGill)."
Aside from these folks mentioned above, I personally spoke with 2 other people who had been diagnosed with this illness. It is ALWAYS fatal and if one parent has it, there is a 50/50 chance that the children can have it. IT STIGMATIZES EVERY family that shows this illness.
AND it SHAMES YOU that you continue to mention this illness, when you KNOW what you are saying about it is NOT TRUE and it is damaging to all Melungeons.
You note:
"No Melungeon diseases,"
NO ONE HAS EVER SAID there were any Melungeon diseases. I have repeatedly said, "there are no Melungeon diseases and there never have been!"
And yet, you continue this litany apparently hoping not only to convince others but yourself that it is true when it already IS TRUE. There are no Melungeon diseases and you and your group are the ONLY ones who use this terminology and are RESPONSIBLE for spreading this lie around the internet.
You said:
"no Melungeon squats,"
I apologize for starting this MYTH in my innocence as a beginning Melungeon researcher. I HAVE ALREADY apologized all over the internet anywhere I find this mentioned. I have been apologizing for YEARS now. NO ONE BUT YOU has ever kept this up. YOU are responsible for spreading this MYTH around the internet simply because you think it embarrasses me, when in fact you are the one who should be embarrassed.
You wrote:
"no Melungeon bumps"
And again this is YOUR MYTH. No one has EVER spoken of a Melungeon BUMP. Anatolian yes, but NOT MELUNGEON and YOU are responsible for spreading this MYTH over the internet.
You said:
"-- we haven't hijacked anything but we sure have straightened out the Melungeon research"
And that is strictly YOUR OPINION of your research capabilites and your EGO speaking!! You can not prove any of the things you have spoken of in THIS e-mail. What you have done is use innuendo, half-truths, untruths and other specious arguments to try to put yourself in a good light and demean others. You embarrass yourself by continuing to do so but apparently you do not see that. Is it not seeing the forest for the trees?
A good researcher does not need to do things like you have done; destroying reputations of disabled folks who are not able to defend themselves should not make you proud. How sad that it seems to for you!
Love and health in family ties,
Nancy
The Melungeon Health Education and Support Network:
http://www.melungeonhealth.org
You and your group have HI-JACKED ALL Melungeon research and your response to this post of mine shows what I am saying to be EXACTLY what you are doing.
You refuse to let anyone have any opinion of their own about Melungeons and ONLY the things that you say are supposed to be true. You inundate the internet with hateful mail and then when folks respond you have it deleted!! But at least it is on there long enough for folks to read both sides of the story.
And this post will be on my blogspot soon at:
http://journals.aol.com/nmorri3924/MelungeonResearch/
Your OPINIONS do not make things TRUE. You have NEVER been able to turn this into anything to amount to anything.
You note:
For years you ran this on your page
''Here is an overview of the five major medical problems that some Melungeon descendants inherit. ''
YES, I did. I have never denied this. Then ONE illness was shown to not be inherited, so I changed that, THEN I was ASKED to remove the MJD materials by Marie Boutte with whom I PERSONALLY consulted, not just listened to a report because of the seriousness of the illness and the stigma that it placed upon families amongst whom it was found.
You have ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF of the following statement. YOU WISH it were true. IT is NOT.
"When in fact there was not ONE Melungeon descendant that had inherited it."
Please note the following from my own report which you just used on Marie's talk about MJD which you THOUGHT proved your point. It doesn't!:
Nancy wrote:
"At 10:30 am June 17, 2004, Marie gave a talk to a full room on Machado-Joseph's Disease.
MJD is a rare illness. To date Marie said that she had not identified this illness in any Melungeon family and she was researching in order to do so or eliminate this illness.
PLEASE NOTE the 'to date' - Marie was not able to eliminate this illness simply because of what Brent KNEW.
You just DISPROVED your own wish by copying Kennedy's statement:
"Also conveniently overlooked by DeMarce are half a dozen confirmed cases of the extremely rare genetic disorder Machado-Joseph Disease among Melungeon descendants (most recently in an elderly East Tennessee male now cooperating with Portuguese geneticists at McGill University, and an eastern Kentucky woman diagnosed with MJD this spring at Johns Hopkins, who has also been referred to McGill)."
Aside from these folks mentioned above, I personally spoke with 2 other people who had been diagnosed with this illness. It is ALWAYS fatal and if one parent has it, there is a 50/50 chance that the children can have it. IT STIGMATIZES EVERY family that shows this illness.
AND it SHAMES YOU that you continue to mention this illness, when you KNOW what you are saying about it is NOT TRUE and it is damaging to all Melungeons.
You note:
"No Melungeon diseases,"
NO ONE HAS EVER SAID there were any Melungeon diseases. I have repeatedly said, "there are no Melungeon diseases and there never have been!"
And yet, you continue this litany apparently hoping not only to convince others but yourself that it is true when it already IS TRUE. There are no Melungeon diseases and you and your group are the ONLY ones who use this terminology and are RESPONSIBLE for spreading this lie around the internet.
You said:
"no Melungeon squats,"
I apologize for starting this MYTH in my innocence as a beginning Melungeon researcher. I HAVE ALREADY apologized all over the internet anywhere I find this mentioned. I have been apologizing for YEARS now. NO ONE BUT YOU has ever kept this up. YOU are responsible for spreading this MYTH around the internet simply because you think it embarrasses me, when in fact you are the one who should be embarrassed.
You wrote:
"no Melungeon bumps"
And again this is YOUR MYTH. No one has EVER spoken of a Melungeon BUMP. Anatolian yes, but NOT MELUNGEON and YOU are responsible for spreading this MYTH over the internet.
You said:
"-- we haven't hijacked anything but we sure have straightened out the Melungeon research"
And that is strictly YOUR OPINION of your research capabilites and your EGO speaking!! You can not prove any of the things you have spoken of in THIS e-mail. What you have done is use innuendo, half-truths, untruths and other specious arguments to try to put yourself in a good light and demean others. You embarrass yourself by continuing to do so but apparently you do not see that. Is it not seeing the forest for the trees?
A good researcher does not need to do things like you have done; destroying reputations of disabled folks who are not able to defend themselves should not make you proud. How sad that it seems to for you!
Love and health in family ties,
Nancy
The Melungeon Health Education and Support Network:
http://www.melungeonhealth.org
