You gotta face your face when the race fad fades. And besides, we are all Africans. --JdB
by Jerome du Bois
On the Ward Churchill story, I knew this was going to happen.
Today, From Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters:
Now CQ reader Jim Walker notes a press release from the American Indian Movement and signed by well-known activist Dennis Banks that outs Churchill as a fraud:
The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council representing the National and International leadership of the American Indian Movement once again is vehemently and emphatically repudiating and condemning the outrageous statements made by academic literary and Indian fraud, Ward Churchill in relationship to the 9-11 tragedy in New York City that claimed thousands of innocent people’s lives.
Churchill’s statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate European Jews and others, should be condemned by all.
The sorry part of this is Ward Churchill has fraudulently represented himself as an Indian, and a member of the American Indian Movement, a situation that has lifted him into the position of a lecturer on Indian activism. He has used the American Indian Movement’s chapter in Denver to attack the leadership of the official American Indian Movement with his misinformation and propaganda campaigns.
Ward Churchill has been masquerading as an Indian for years behind his dark glasses and beaded headband. He waves around an honorary membership card that at one time was issued to anyone by the Keetoowah Tribe of Oklahoma. Former President Bill Clinton and many others received these cards, but these cards do not qualify the holder a member of any tribe. He has deceitfully and treacherously fooled innocent and naïve Indian community members in Denver, Colorado, as well as many other people worldwide. Churchill does not represent, nor does he speak on behalf of the American Indian Movement.
I studied Native American medicine ways for awhile, lived on the Navajo Reservation for a year, and travelled around to several tribes in the North Midwest. Every Indian I met could see this guy coming a mile away; they were everywhere, vamping on the vanishing redman romance. Only overeducated academic liberals got snowed by people like this five-sided comedian. (For a local version, see my pieces on ASU teacher John Jota Leanos, here and here.)
Captain Ed points out that if Churchill received tenure (for Ethnic Studies) partly based on the understanding that he was Native American, then the regents would have just cause to dump the guy. Good point, but the regents folded like a camp tent, and now Churchill can crow --for a little while, anyway, until word gets around that he's not even a belasana --Navajo for "apple" --red on the outside, white on the inside. This guy's white on the outside, white on the inside, and all squishy.
Sorry, I don't know the Navajo word for maggot.
Update: I love the Internet. After writing the above, I checked in with Instapundit to see if I spelled Morrissey's name correctly. Check this out, from Glenn Reynolds:
UPDATE: Indian Country Today has much more:
Suzan Shown Harjo, a columnist for ICT who has tracked Churchill's career, said that aside from the in-laws of his late Indian wife, he has not been able to produce any relatives from any Indian tribe.
Beyond the question of his personal identity is the question of his standing to represent Indian opinion, not only on 9/11 but also in his other published works. Mohawk ironworkers helped build the World Trade Center and other monuments of the New York City skyline, and one crew was actually at work in the flight path of the plane that struck the second tower. St. Regis Mohawk Chief James Ransom noted that they joined rescue teams at great personal risk.
Churchill's other writings repudiate not only the U.S. but also most Indian tribal institutions. In one 1994 essay, he described tribal self government as a ''cruel hoax'' carried out by ''puppets'' of ''an advanced colonial setting.'' He equated the status of Indian tribes in the U.S. to that of European colonies in Asia and Africa. His analysis reflected an extreme version of European left-wing ideology.
[Glenn adds] But wait, there's more:
Far from suffering for his views, Churchill appears to have been sought out by many in the universities as a representative of American Indian thinking. But to many Native intellectuals, he is traveling under false pretenses, both in his ideology and his personal identity.
The crows are coming home to roost at CU.
Update 2/4: Gerard van der Leun at American Digest has lots more about this fraud. (Via Instapundit, who has the link to a Volokh piece on resume fraud, too.)
Update 2/4 #2: And here's a nice summary, and a challenge to Churchill, from Indian Country.
Update 2/4 #3: Colorado blogger has an email from the University President which seems to indicate Churchill is going down.
So, does this mean he won't be owning the University?
Technorati tag: Ward Churchill
Posted by Jerome at February 3, 2005 09:16 PM | TrackBack