On Tuesday, CU/Boulder Prof. Ward Churchill conducted a rally, mustering his supporters and gathering the leadership of the American Indian Movement to give him authenticity. This despite some postings on the AIM Web site indicating some level of conflict with the demagogic pseudo-Native-American. Now he was in his element. Despite his allegations that nearly 3000 office workers in the World Trade Center on 9/11 were "little Eichmanns", he looked not so much the man of the people as the revolutionary leader punching his fist in the air in an ominously Fascist-like salute and leading his sycophants in cheers as he defied the Governor of Colorado and the Regents of the University. (See Denver Post for 2/8/05 at :http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23827%257E2700550,00.html)
He was defiant, he was messianic, he was theatrical, but most of all he was inflammatory. Of course, that's what the college aged audience loves. Those chronologically college-aged, as in students, and those mentally college-aged, as in faculty and media. It was just like rap music where talent, tune, lyric or art are secondary to a deluge of gutter language which titillates the immature.
Churchill, in populist mode, noted that he didn't work for the taxpayers and he didn't work for the Regents. He worked for the audience present. He worked for his followers. He labored for them. But, somehow this intellectual giant missed the point that those loyal, if misguided, fans didn't really sign his paycheck. No, it really us we taxpayers and his position really is dependent upon those Regents. Just as with his writing, poor Churchie doesn't let fact get in the way of a good argument.
He then lamented the challenges to his "Indian-ness". Poor Ward, on his behalf AIM leader Russell Means noted, he is one of "the only ethnic group in the world that has to prove our blood like dogs." Ahh, how sad. Might it be that only dogs which wish to compete in beauty contests need to prove their blood lines? Or, might it be that only those hyphenated Americans who wish preferential treatment or a government handout need to establish their qualfications? Somehow, I've never been challenged on my Lithuanian-Polish-American credentials. But, there is no affirmative action program to compensate us for our past travails. Maybe I should seek reparations for the burning of my great-grandfather's village by the Russians a hundred years ago. I've been traumatized ever since.
A student lamented the treatment that poor Churchill has been receiving. "I'm already embarrassed to be a student here." Wow, and all of the rest of the citizens of Colorado are embarrassed that we've got folks like Prof. Churchill on the payroll who have failed so obviously in providing that young lady the intellectual wherewithal to discriminate between fact and fiction. If she is so embarrassed, she could consider an intellectual defense of Ward's arguments, but then she might discover that simply "believing" isn't adequate at the college level. You've got to base your thesis in reality.
Now, the professional community is beginning to smell blood in the water. It might be the breaching of the ivory tower by this upstart pseudo-intellectual who with only a Master's degree from a one-horse revolutionary hot-bed college in southern Illinois has become a tenured professor and a department chairman. How does that happen? Everyone else needs a PhD to be titled "Professor" and most assuredly a terminal degree is de rigeur for chairmanship. Now, they are looking at Churchill's research. They are finding assertions, urban legends, misstatements, and even a bit of plagiarism in the closet. (Denver Post 2/10/05: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E23827%257E2702788,00.html)
Wow, what will they discover next? There have already been questions about his military record and other claims. Now it appears the intellectualism is crumbling.
Me, I'm still unhappy about his characterization of the air over Baghdad being "undefended" during Desert Storm and the accusation that our Air Force, Navy and Marine tactical aviators who braved that firestorm were indiscriminate in their weapons delivery and targeting. Churchill doesn't deserve this fifteen minutes of Warholian fame. He doesn't deserve this celebrity. He doesn't deserve his job. And, he doesn't deserve any respect.
2 comments:
Well Ward Churchill has admitted to not being a real Native American. As someone in Colorado with university teaching epxerience, would falsification of resume be grounds for dismissal?
P.S. Look forward to hearing Lead Sled stories.
You've got to read between a lot of lines to finally discern that Churchill has little connection in heredity to Native Americanism. His most recent public pronouncements in Hawaii seem to indicate that he's finally acknowledging his lack of ethnic credentials. That might be enough to get him released for falsification of his original job application which apparently required a Native American for the job.
More likely, if he is terminated, it will be for poor scholarship in his writings, i.e. lack of documentation for assertions, plagiarism, mis-attribution, etc. We'll see.
You won't find "Lead Sled" stories here. You might pick up the book(s) or visit my web site at www.thunderchief.org.
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