Thursday, October 25, 2007

Vine Deloria: Ward Churchill's mom told him he wasn't Indian

Over at PB, commenter Heidi has some choice quotes about Ward from Native American sage Vine Deloria, Jr.:
IMHO Vine Deloria would most likely not have supported Churchill. When I posed the question to him he didn't want to answer then went on to talk about the RMN article and how pretty convincing their research was. . . . At a follow-up interview he shared some damning information in regards to Churchill's ancestry, "His mother said to me [']I don't know why he insists on believing he has Indian ancestry. I've told him time and again that he has no Indian ancestry.[']" This is from Mr. Deloria himself. He chuckled after he disclosed that and went on again about the RMN article and [that he] didn't "understand why that guy didn't cite more reputable sources instead of his own." When I asked him about the Ethnic Studies program at CU (which Deloria had a hand in developing) he let a big sigh. I pushed him and asked him what kind of sigh that was. He said "the guy will never learn. He fails to follow a path laid out" and left it at that.
Update: Ward "Didn't Listen To His Mommy" Churchill will be speaking in Vancouver Sunday, according to a brief in Straight magazine (in their "City events for the socially conscience" section):
Sure to test the limits of free speech, controversial academic Ward Churchill, along with others, will be speaking at the Ukrainian Hall (154 East 10th Avenue) at 6 p.m. on Sunday (October 28). The event, No Olympics on Stolen Land, will focus on what the organizers call the Olympics’ “corporate invasion of indigenous territories”. Churchill, a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, was fired from the University of Colorado. He maintains that his dismissal was politically motivated (he made controversial comments about 9/11), whereas the university has claimed that it was the result of academic misconduct. Proceeds from the event will help pay Churchill’s legal bills.
Never seen that sentence before.

Update: Yes, the title changed--from dumb, to fabulous! Or at least descriptive.

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