Editor's note: Controversial Colorado University Professor Ward Churchill spoke at the University of Hawaii Feb. 22, 2005, continuing his rhetoric that Americans got what they deserved on Sept. 11, 2001, when "gallant combat soldiers" blew up the World Trade Towers, killing innocent civilians. At first he claimed to be American Indian, but many American Indian groups came forward to set the record straight, clearly stating that he is not one of them. The issue of whether he is an American Indian is important because professors at Colorado University say they gave Churchill special treatment and quick tenure because they thought he was an American Indian. He also has used his claimed ethinicity to forward his academic career, claim expertise and to enhance his credibility on Native American Issues. Churchill, when questioned by Hawaii Reporter at a press conference Monday, at first would not answer questions about his heritage, saying it is not relevant, and becoming highly aggitated as he was pressed, ultimately leading him to end the press conference. Seconds later, he marched back to reporters, claiming he is an American Indian, "self-evidently." Here is a statement from the American Indian Movement about Churchill found at http://www.aimovement.org/moipr/churchill05.html
Ward Churchill was scheduled to speak at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York on Feb. 3, 2005. His appearance was canceled by the college after he caused a public furor over his loathsome remarks about the 9-11 tragedy in New York. The American Indian Movement's Grand Governing Council has been dealing with Churchill's hateful attitude and rip-off of Indian people for years.
The AIM's 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.
New York’s Hamilton College Kirklands Project should be aware that in their search for truth and justice, the idea that they have hired a fraud to speak on Indian activism is in itself a betrayal of their goals.
Dennis J. Banks, Ojibwa Nation, is Chairman of the Board of the American Indian Movement and Nee Gon Nway Wee Dung, aka, Clyde H. Bellecourt, Ojibwa Nation is the National Executive Director of the American Indian Movement
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