Ramblings' Journal

AIM: "Ward Churchill is not a real AmerIndian."

The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council in Minneapolis issued a release this week pointing out that Universtiy of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill, who has earned the ire of many Americans by calling the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns" (referring to World War II Nazi thug Adolph Eichmann), is not a true American Indian.

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.

On a related note, word came out of Boulder, CO this morning that Churchill's pick-up truck was vandalized this week with swastikas painted on it.

The vandals painted the swastikas on the tailgate of Churchill's Chevrolet pickup late Tuesday or early Wednesday, said Lt. Phil West, a sheriff's spokesman. He said deputies told him that Churchill's truck was parked in front of his home when the vandals struck.

Also Wednesday, Churchill turned over to deputies copies of "hate mail" he said he had received. Churchill told the deputies he already had provided the hate mail to the CU campus police, West said.

Though New York's Hamilton College has cancelled Churchill's speaking engagement, Churchill is set to speak at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO this coming Tuesday night. The speech is on his book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality, and will be Tuesday night (2/8/05) at 7PM (MT) in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom on the Boulder campus.

I'm sure local folks in the Denver area will make him feel welcome (rolling eyes).

Posted by mhking at February 4, 2005 12:12 AM