Odds and Ends > Etcetera
Ward Churchill
Rattlebone:
--- Quote from: nighthawk on July 01, 2008, 06:03:48 pm ---Wasn't Ward Churchill's claim made originally so he could take advantage of some sort of "affirmative action" hiring program? If that's not the case, correct me if I'm wrong.
There's some similar but not the same program in "Canada" but it's fairly new:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_equity_%28Canada%29
I find that Robert Lovelace is somewhat similar to Ward Churchill, but things have not worked out quite the same way for him in "Canada".
He is (according to him) an American draft dodger, who claimed to be "Cherokee", became a University professor, when people started researching him, he seems to have changed his claim to that of having been adopted by an Algonquin. He also claimed to be a member of AIM, but when that was checked out no one had heard of him. I think he's what I would call a "political pretendian" like Ward Churchill, meaning the main reason for him making such a claim has to do with politics.
All the same objectionable, because both of them in my view are misrepresenting the people.
Anyway as Chief of the Ardoch Algonquins, he organised a protest against uranium mining which resulted in six months in jail for disobeying an injunction, and has been touted internationally as a political prisoner. And he could be considered that by some, but that does not make him NDN.
Many stories about Lovelace on the 'net, here's just one:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1754
As to his claim to be Chief of the Ardoch Algonquins, according to MNN he was involved in negotiating the sale of unceded Haudenosaunee land for large sums of money to "Canada" and the province of "Ontario" (NB: much of "Canada" is on unceded, never sold or transferred, never under any treaty at all, Indigenous land). That was before he got involved in protesting against uranium mining, I think.
http://tinyurl.com/4znj6s
Because of the alleged land sales to "Canada" and "Ontario", I wonder if jailing him actually had to do with giving him some sort of credibility as an NDN activist internationally or something, because a whole lot of people read the name now and think he actually is Native; the facts are somewhat buried, as is the research into his background (the claim to having been an AIM member and "Cherokee" primarily).
--- End quote ---
I am not really familiar with him besides that I know Indian Country today did an article on him a few weeks back in which they interviewed him over his jail time and the reasons behind it.
nighthawk:
- removed by author -
Raven2:
--- Quote from: Rattlebone on June 27, 2008, 07:30:46 pm ---
I think words like that also put me on edge at times being a mixed blood cause people always seem to be judging you, with hatred coming from both sides cause you are t oo this to be that, and at the same time too much of that to be this.
I have had my own relations get drunk and want to fight me because I am Native, and at the same times get the poor treatment from more full blooded people for being mixed.
It is a hard road to walk sometimes, and I often see some that try to some how hide who they are. I often refer to that as "the cowards road." I am not ashamed to be a mixed blood, and often times being as such allows me to help promote understanding between NDN's and NON's. Since I am in between they feel it's easier to speak with me. Then often times I hear things people say and I explain why they are that way if the cultural barriers they have prevent them from knowing.
I suppose that using a word like PODIA is not a bad thing, and explains things in simple to relations as well.
I am sorry for any misunderstandings here.
--- End quote ---
(snipped some from the top, agreeing with you on it causing divisions when words are meant in a bad way, put down others, etc.)
i'm mixed ancestry too (euro [not too sure of this one], l'nu [mi'kmaq], smattering of iiyu [cree]) and i get the same thing from both sides. i know exactly what you're talking about. even down to the NONs coming up to me and talking to me instead of a browner cousin 'cause they see the mix, and figure i walk that middle, lonely, road. same goes for the NDN side, they go, "hey you're ok, talk to them", and i do. that part makes it a little less lonely, and a little less hard. the nasty bits i could do without, of course ;).
i don't need to say that i don't like racism of any sort, not only because i think it's wrong, but also because i've experienced it, and i don't want it to spread. it bugs me to hear my friends, relatives, some community members say ignorant things. i let them know by not laughing, or saying "that's not cool bro/sis".
anyway, this PODIA acronym i don't see it mean, at least used here in that way. my own cultural background i got it mostly from my dad's ma, my gran'ma, since she kept that alive, to a certain extent. i didn't get enough of it, but enough to influence me growing up.
thanks for listening
ganonsononh:
Well despite his ancestry, obviously someone whose experience in relation to indigenous issues consists purely of academic knowledge as opposed to lived experiential knowledge will be questioned by the indigenous community as to whether that person is justified in speaking for/about the issues that they experience day to day.
I always respected his work, cited his work in university and used his theories to expand my own way of speaking about the political and social issues that are central to indigenous communities.
This was until I met him last fall and witnessed the outright disrespect and despicable behaviour he exhibited to the native community where I live in Vancouver BC.
Not only did he advocate for the FBI to investigate themselves in the death of Anna Mae, which as many know the FBI is implicated in her death and to those of us who have the experiential knowledge, understand the role that the security apparatus of the state plays in the continuing genocide of our people. This is done through manipulation of data, criminalization of our own people and in the case of many people...murder. So considering an organization such as this is capable of such means, how could a person who speaks so "radically" possibly support them in their further involvement as the investigators of any case having to do with native freedom fighters such as anna mae!
Ward also denied documented and recorded statements he had made while sitting on a panel with Russell Means and also within one of his own books...when confronted by native activists defending the case of John Graham who is being implicated with AMs murder based on coerced statements (FBI tortured a statement out of Orlo Looking Cloud to implicate John) and evidence classified merely as reasonable doubt...Ward refused to acknowledge what he said and proceeded to get the primarily "white" audience to laugh at the ONLY native people who were actually present. Basically outright denial of his own words and then publicly attempting to humiliate and belittle the native activist community here in Vancouver.
After the confrontation, I witnessed when a friend of mine spoke to him very calmly asking him about the issue, he proceeded to swear at her, myself and another young woman, told us we were not "Real Indians" and said that you cannot treat a guest like this on the territory, that it is not traditional.
I then asked him, "I am a guest on this territory as well, and have been formally welcomed by the coast salish, can I ask whom invited you here?" I knew full well he was invited by a non-native white activist group who had no affiliation to the native community and ignored the concerns raised about this event. He replied "A mixed group of people", I then said "Well if you are unaware of who invited you here, how can you impose traditional protocol onto any of us if you yourself did not follow it while entering this territory yourself?"
He then began shouting obscenities, calling us "fake Indians" and it was at that point I calmly turned around and walked away. My comrades followed and as we walked away from him he continued to yell foul statements and insults.
I also might add, this was the only interaction he had at this event with ANY native person attending, and there were native attendants who were not involved with the confrontation including myself...he seemed only concerned with the non-native academics that were present. I witnessed it, but was not apart of the confrontation which was not only native activists, but also the daughters of John Graham who recently was ILLEGALLY extradited to the states from kkkanada. He basically insulted and attempted to intimidate young women who are directly connected to the struggle, unlike himself who is merely a theorist and academic and has very little actual experience with the hands on struggle.
He also had brought up the Oka crisis as though he were there, used it to support his lecture and my partner who was in Oka had knowledge that in the past Ward offered little support and was not indeed present during the crisis.
So all in all, I feel it is fair to acknkowledge he is a container of theories...a library for language to talk about the struggle, but no means is what he says meant to reflect his actions, his integrity or who he is as a person.
It has been my experience that when I meet the great academics I once admired (Taiaiake Alfred, Vine Deloria Jr., John Mohawk) they did not live up to my expectations that just because they write things I admire, they as people will be ones I wish to admire. No disrespect to John Mohawk, he has passed, he by no means was nearly as bad as the others, but contradicted much of what he wrote about when you spoke to him in person....Taiaiake to a much greater degree (especially with his comments about those who blockade deserving of kkkanadian criminal punishment)
So IMO it must be understood that academia is not the most trustworthy source of knowledge for those of us who are indigenous. Regardless of your blood quantum, to be indigenous is to be truly human. We all have indigenous roots, all across this globe...it is the values you practice, the sense of community you build around you wherever you go, it is seeing the land as no different then yourself and respecting those whose ancestors are buried on the ground you walk no matter where you travel. It is how your culture connects you to the earth and the ability to honor that earth in your struggle to protect it. Regardless of "how" we speak about this in our lives, regardless of our ancestry...our expectations of one another to direct, lead or steer the course FOR us is misled. We can choose what information we choose to use as our medicine, we can be inspired by whatever we want...but don't assume that those who exhibit that inspiration are where the inspiration comes from...
Ultimately you are the one who creates your knowledge and you are the one responsible for what you express...can't make others understand that or fit into some idealism that we would love to believe of them.
Ward unfortunately proved himself to be less then idealistic, so why would it surprise you that others might feel the same if this is an ongoing pattern with him? And what does it matter really...to me he comes off unintegrous and undignified and for that reason he lost any support I may have been willing to give him in the past...someone else may feel different...not going to change how I feel or what I do.
Raven2:
well said about "So IMO it must be understood that academia is not the most trustworthy source of knowledge ... [snip] ... can't make others understand that or fit into some idealism that we would love to believe of them."
it is ourselves who gather our own knowledge, and our own understanding of it, and what we learn from it. having grown up in the city, i know all too well what sort of disconnect can happen. even in the greyest of places, i'm always looking for something green (when the season's right) around me. i find it important to be aware of where your are, who are the people the land's caretakers are where i am, and what's happening to it. to me that's just basic, and too often i'll see other people not even be aware of other humans around, never mind the little plant poking through a crack in the sidewalk, fighting to be alive.
as for ward churchill, all i can say is that his behaviour and actions speak louder than his dozens of books.
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