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| Fifth Column |
| "Little Eichmann" Professor's New Indian Name - Chief Wannabe |
| 2005-02-03 |
| EFL...have at it, Rantburgers! A number of Native scholars and activists are challenging his posture of speaking for American Indians in his inflammatory writings on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and even his claim to be an American Indian. The Oneida Indian Nation, which has historic ties to nearby Hamilton, issued the following statement: ''It's disturbing that anyone would use such hateful speech, and do so while claiming to be an American Indian when there is significant evidence that he is not. Oops. Professor Churchill caused many in the media to falsely believe an American Indian scholar could besmirch the lives of those who died on 9/11. Because of this, he owes every American Indian an apology. ''Likewise it is sad that he would perpetrate this apparent hoax on Hamilton College, an institution founded to help educate Indian students.'' (Hamilton was founded by Samuel Kirkland, 18th century missionary to the Oneidas, and the famous Oneida Chief Schenandoah is buried on its grounds.) Churchill resigned his position as head of the CU Ethnic Studies program but kept his $96,000 per year teaching post. After initially planning to move the panel to a larger auditorium, Hamilton College cancelled it, citing credible threats of violence. The Colorado University Board of Regents called for an emergency session but, according to reports just before press time, had decided it did not have legal authority to fire Churchill summarily from his tenured position. Misrepresentation sounds like good grounds to me... Although the national furor struck with the unpredictable suddenness of a Great Lakes storm, Churchill has long been a divisive and somewhat feared figure in Indian country, especially among his former colleagues in the American Indian Movement. Some prominent activists involved in earlier confrontations have devoted a great deal of energy to investigating his claim to be an American Indian himself and have found no evidence to support it. At various times, according to press reports, Churchill has described himself as Cherokee, Keetoowah Cherokee, Muskogee, Creek and most recently Meti. In a note in the online magazine Socialism and Democracy he wrote, ''Although I'm best known by my colonial name, Ward Churchill, the name I prefer is According to Jodi Rave, a well-known Native journalist and member of the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara Three Affiliated Tribes, Churchill was enrolled as an ''associate member'' of the Keetoowah by a former chairman who was later impeached. The one other known member of the same program, since discontinued, was President Bill Clinton Chief I Did Not Inhale When Puffing on Peace Pipe. Rave said that she made this discovery as a student in a journalism class at the University of Colorado. She was also in a class taught by Churchill. When her article came out, she said, he dropped her grade from an A to a C minus. Glad to see he didn't take it personally... 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. 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. |
| Posted by:Desert Blondie |
| #16 Fuck him and the horse who rode in on him. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-02-04 12:00:15 AM |
| #15 BTW, I found out when they released me that my cellmate was in for Murder One. He was a bar owner who blew his wife's head off - and then a customer's head off - double barreled 10 GA - one barrel each. She flirted and flaunted it in his face - for the last time. Nice guy. We played cards cuz we couldn't sleep with Chief Cutahay down the hall, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-03 11:49:32 PM |
| #14 Lol - He wasn't Somali, heh. This was about 1968 or 67 cuz I was just a punk puppy. Prolly a coincidence since only 3 syllables... but thanks! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-03 11:43:39 PM |
| #13 "bring me some khat, dammit!"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-03 11:31:03 PM |
| #12 .com, are you sure the chief was not a Somali? Koo tahay or koo-ban tahay is definitely a somali expression. I know that it is somali, I am sure. By some coincidence it is connected to either alcohol or a substance abuse in general. I can't say no more. (cuz I know a fuque what that means) |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-02-03 11:29:02 PM |
| #11 the way he lies and poses, Ward Churchill's probably not his name |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-03 11:25:36 PM |
| #10 If Ward Churchill's any relation to Winston, we're all in trouble. |
| Posted by: Korora 2005-02-03 10:47:16 PM |
| #9 Heh, or mebbe "kiss my a$$", lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-03 10:20:55 PM |
| #8 it means "let me out of here!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-03 10:18:06 PM |
| #7 As a Native American I'm sort of a washout - no elders around to teach me diddley-squat. I did, however, spend a night or three in jail back in my misspent youth, and there was a ponytail-wearing, chanting, cussing Native American down the hall in the drunk tank, one night. All night long he cried (phonetically): "koo-tah-haaay!" All goddamned night long. You can say it is seared, seared I say, into my brain. I have no doubt it is a colorful epithet, but I would most assuredly appreciate anyone who can translate it into AmerEnglish. This happened in Utah, so he could have been Ute or Souix or or Flathead or from any of a half-dozen other tribes. Thanks, in advance, if anyone can help - it's been bugging me for, oh, 35+ years, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-03 9:44:50 PM |
| #6 When her article (questioning his Indian heritage) came out , she said, he dropped her grade from an A to a C minus. Damn, I thought that Churchill was such a strong advocate of free speech. My mistake. HIS right to speak apparently does not extend to OTHERS. |
| Posted by: GK 2005-02-03 8:15:50 PM |
| #5 Tenure is not protection against Treason during time of war. Of couse if any 'professor' had used similar language to describe the four little school girls killed in the Birmingham bombing in racially colored language you'd be sure the faculty senate would have run the man out of town on a rail. |
| Posted by: Glereper Thigum7229 2005-02-03 8:05:02 PM |
| #4 perhaps they can make "Chief Speaks with Forked Tounge" a literal description of Mr Churchhill...... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-02-03 7:20:36 PM |
| #3 the name I prefer is Kenis I'm fairly certain that's a typo. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-02-03 6:56:31 PM |
| #2 Why not let the Native Americans take care of "Chief Speaks with Forked Tounge" in the manner of their acentors. Not sure what the punishment was for lying, but it can't be bad enough. Clinton/Boxer 2008! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-02-03 6:55:15 PM |
| #1 As soon as I heard the first reports of this "tough guy" in the context of the Hamilton college lecture, I just knew in my bones he would turn out to be a fraud. My BS meter has been tuned superfine since 9/11. I am sure that real Native Americans have a word for such wannabe poseurs (and I fully expect to learn it here on RB...) |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2005-02-03 6:41:23 PM |