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Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer, activist, and academic. He is a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and author of over twenty books and hundreds of essays. In addition to his academic writing, Churchill has written for several general readership magazines of political opinion.
Churchill was widely discussed and criticized in the mass media during 2005, stimulated by publicity given to a 2001 essay in which Churchill questioned the innocence of many of the people killed in the World Trade Center attacks, labeling them as "technocrats" and "little Eichmanns."
Background
Early life and education
Churchill was born in Elmwood, Illinois and attended Elmwood High School. He claims American Indian ancestry from both his parents, and has claimed to be an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, but these claims are disputed by the United Keetoowah Band and others. He was drafted by the U.S. Army and saw active service in the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1968. Military records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show he was trained as a projectionist and light truck driver. Radio host Bob Newman published these military records to dispute alleged 1987 claims by Churchill that he had served as a paratrooper trained in reconnaissance. Churchill later received his B.A. and M.A. in Communication from Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois at Springfield.
In 1990, he joined the University of Colorado at Boulder as an assistant professor and was granted tenure the following year. He resigned as chairman of the Ethnic Studies department at the University of Colorado in January 2005, but remains as a tenured professor.
Writing
As a scholar, Churchill has written on Native American history and culture, and is particularly outspoken about what he describes as the "genocide" inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America by European settlers and the repression of indigenous peoples that he claims continues to this day.
In Fantasies of the Master Race (1992), Churchill examines the portrayal of Native Americans and the use of Native American symbols in popular American culture. He focuses on such phenomena as Tony Hillerman's mystery novels, the film Dances with Wolves, and the New Age movement, finding examples of cultural imperialism and exploitation. Churchill calls author Carlos Castaneda's claims of revealing the teachings of a Yaqui Indian shaman, the "greatest hoax since Piltdown Man."
Churchill's Indians 'R' Us (1993), a sequel to Fantasies of the Master Race, further explores Native American issues in popular culture and politics. He examines the movie Black Robe, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation killings, the prosecution of Leonard Peltier, sports mascots, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and blood quantum laws, calling them tools of genocide. Churchill is particularly outspoken about New Age exploitations of shamanism and Native American sacred traditions, and the "do-it-yourself Indianism" of certain contemporary authors.
Struggle For The Land (reissued 2002) is a collection of essays in which Churchill chronicles the U.S. government's systematic exploitation of native land and the killing or displacement of the Native Americans who once inhabited it. He details Indian efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries to prevent defoliation and industrial practices such as surface mining.
Churchill's A Little Matter of Genocide (1998) is a survey of ethnic cleansing from 1492 to the present. He compares the treatment of North American Indians to a number of genocides in history, such as those in Cambodia and Armenia, and those of the Gypsies, Poles, and Jews by the Nazis.
In Perversions of Justice (2002), Churchill argues that the U.S. legal system was adapted to gain control over Native American people. Tracing the evolution of federal Indian law, Churchill argues that the principles set forth were not only applied to non-Indians in the U.S., but later adapted for application abroad. He concludes that this demonstrates the development of America's "imperial logic," which depends on a "corrupt form of legalism" to establish colonial control and empire.
In Agents of Repression (1988), co-authored by Jim Vander Wall, the authors describe "the secret war" against the Black Panther Party and American Indian Movement carried out during the late 1960s and '70s by the FBI under the COINTELPRO program. The COINTELPRO Papers (reissued 2002), co-authored with Jim Vander Wall, examines a series of original FBI memos that detail the Bureau's activities against various leftist groups, from the U.S. Communist Party in the 1950s to activists concerned with Central American issues in the 1980s.
Activism
Churchill has been active since at least 1984 as the co-director of the Denver-based American Indian Movement of Colorado, an autonomous chapter of the American Indian Movement. In 1993, he and other local AIM leaders—including Russell Means, Glen Morris, Bob Robideau, and David Hill—broke with the national AIM leadership, including Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt and Vernon Bellecourt, claiming that all AIM chapters are autonomous. The schism continues, with the AIM claiming that the local AIM leaders are tools of the government being used against Indians.
Churchill has been a leader of Colorado AIM's annual protests in Denver against the Columbus Day holiday and its associated parade. These protests have brought Colorado AIM's leadership into conflict with some leaders in the Denver Italian American community, the main supporters of the parade. Churchill and others have been arrested while protesting for acts such as blocking the parade.
Initially (in the early 1990s), some local American Indian support and advocacy organizations in the Denver metro area believed that the activities of the Colorado AIM chapter damaged the work of the Colorado Indian Commission and Denver Indian Center. Since then, thousands of local American Indians have participated annually in the protest.
In April 1983, Churchill traveled to Tripoli and Benghazi as a representative of the AIM and the International Indian Treaty Council to meet Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya while a U.S. travel ban to that country was in place. The visit was intended to seek support from al-Qaddafi regarding the U.S. government's violation of Indian treaties.
Artwork
Apart from his academic position and writing, since the 1970s, Churchill has attained a certain notoriety as a visual artist. Works by Churchill, such as lithographs, woodcuts, and drawings are fairly widely exhibited in galleries of the American Southwest, and to some degree elsewhere. As with the work "Winter Attack", Churchill frequently takes as subject matter of visual compositions historical photographs or other past works, particularly ones associated with Native American figures. Screen prints and other signed works by Churchill are often available on eBay.. The online journal Artnet mentions Churchill's artwork.
9/11 essay controversy
Main article: Ward Churchill 9/11 essay controversyChurchill wrote an essay in September 2001 entitled "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens" about the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which he argued that American foreign policies provoked the attacks. In 2005, this essay was widely publicized, leading to both condemnations of Churchill and counter-accusations of McCarthyism lying at the root of such accusations.
Allegations against Churchill
Main article: Ward Churchill misconduct allegationsAs a result of the controversy over the essay, "Some People Push Back", additional allegations became the subject of debate in the media and on Internet weblogs. These included disputes over his claim of partial Native American heritage, and allegations of academic fraud and plagiarism. University of Colorado administrators ordered an investigation, which as of 2006 is currently underway, into the allegations of research misconduct, which include plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. Churchill was defended by University of Colorado Regent Michael Carrigan. He has also been accused of intimidating his colleagues, and has made remarks allegedly advocating that soldiers kill their commanding officers.
References
- A revised and expanded version of the essay Some People Push Back appears in Churchill, Ward (2003). On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality. AK Press. ISBN 1902593790.
- NNDB Ward Churchill entry
- An American Holocaust? The Structure of Denial by Ward Churchill
- Bob Newman, "Ward Churchill's Military Claims Proven False", Mens News Daily (Guerneville, CA: Java King, February 11, 2005); Retrieved August 11, 2005
- "Columbus parade could see less strife: Churchill, conflict having an effect" By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News, September 24, 2005
- Westword, "Civil Wars: The Fury Flies as Indian Activist Take Aim at Each Other." By Steve Jackson, Article Published Feb 9, 1994
- "Chronology of Events Concerning (Transform) Columbus Day" (html). Transform Columbus Day Alliance. Retrieved March 28.
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- Artnet describing Ward Churchill's artwork
- Michael Carrigan (April 6). "Regent Carrigan on Churchill (Sunday, 06 February 2005)" (html). The Cherry Creek News.
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Works
Books
- Ward Churchill, ed. (1984). Marxism and Native Americans. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 089608177X (hardcover: ISBN 0896081788).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1984). Culture versus Economism: Essays on Marxism in the Multicultural Arena. Indigena Press. ).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1988). Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 0896082938 (hardcover: ISBN 0896082946).
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Churchill, Ward (1991). The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret War Against Domestic Dissent. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 0896083594.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Churchill, Ward (1992). Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, Cinema, and the Colonization of American Indians. Common Courage Press. ISBN 0872863484.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall, ed. (1992). Cages of Steel: The Politics of Imprisonment in America (Activism, Politics, Culture, Theory, Vol. 4 ed.). Maisonneuve Press. ISBN 0944624170.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Re-released as Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall, ed. (2004). Politics of Imprisonment in the United States. AK Press. ISBN 1904859127.{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1993). Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1567510000 (hardcover: ISBN 1567510019).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Released in a revised and expanded edition as Churchill, Ward (2002). Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization. San Francisco CA: City Lights Publishers. ISBN 0872864146 (hardcover: ISBN 0872864154).{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) (One essay in this book has been accused of containing a plagiarized paragraph). - Churchill, Ward (1993). Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1567510205 (hardcover: ISBN 1567510213).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1995). Since Predator Came: Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation. Aigis Press. ISBN 1883930030.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1996). From A Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism 1985-1995. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 0896085538.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (1997). Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 0896085678 (hardcover: ISBN 0896085686).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Re-released as Churchill, Ward (2005). Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians. Boulder CO: South End Press. ISBN 0896087387).{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Churchill, Ward (1998). Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America. Arbeiter Ring. ISBN 1894037073.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Churchill, Ward (1998). A Little Matter Of Genocide: Holocaust And Denial In The Americas 1492 To The Present. San Francisco CA: City Lights Books. ISBN 0872863239 (hardcover: ISBN 0872863433).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2000). Draconian Measures: The History of FBI Political Repression. Common Courage Press. ISBN 1567510582 (hardcover: ISBN 1567510590).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2002). Acts Of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader. Routledge. ISBN 0415931568 (library binding: ISBN 041593155X).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2002). Perversions of Justice: Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law. San Francisco CA: City Lights Books. ISBN 0872864111 (hardcover: ISBN 0872864162).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2003). On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality. AK Press. ISBN 1902593790.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2004). Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools. San Francisco CA: City Lights Publishers. ISBN 0872864340.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2004). Speaking Truth in the Teeth of Power: Lectures on Globalization, Colonialism, and Native North America. AK Press. ISBN 1904859046.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2005). To Disrupt, Discredit And Destroy: The FBI's Secret War Against The Black Panther Party. Routledge. ISBN 041592958X (hardcover: ISBN 0415929571).
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2004). Speaking Truth in the Teeth of Power: Lectures on Globalization, Colonialism, and Native North America. AK Press. ISBN 1904859046.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Churchill, Ward (2006 (forthcoming)). Confronting The Crime Of Silence: Evidence Of U.S. War Crimes In Indochina. AK Press. ISBN 1904859216.
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Articles
- Churchill, Ward (2004). "From the Pinkertons to the PATRIOT Act: The Trajectory of Political Policing in the United States, 1870 to the Present". The New Centennial Review. 4 (1): 1–72.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Churchill, Ward (1998). "Smoke Signals: A History of Native Americans in Cinema". LiP Magazine.
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Audio and video
- Doing Time: The Politics of Imprisonment, audio CD of a lecture, recorded at the Doing Time Conference at the University of Winnipeg, September 2000 (AK Press, 2002, ISBN 1902593472)
- Life In Occupied America (AK Press, 2003, ISBN 1902593723)
- In A Pig's Eye: Reflections on the Police State, Repression, and Native America (AK Press, 2002, ISBN 1902593502)
- US Off The Planet!: An Evening In Eugene With Ward Churchill And Chellis Glendinning, VHS video recorded July 17, 2001 (Cascadia Media Collective, 2002)
- Pacifism and Pathology in the American Left, 2003 audio CD recorded at a AK Press warehouse in Oakland (AK Press Audio)
- Z Mag Ward Churchill Audio
- Ward Churchill talking at the University of Colorado, 2/9/2005, search the C-Span website
- Churchill Speaks About Academic Freedom - Free Speech Radio News February 09, 2005 *Ward Churchill Under Fire - Free Speech Radio News, February 03, 2005.
- The Justice of Roosting Chickens: Ward Churchill Speaks The Pacifica Network Show, Democracy Now! from February 18, 2005 features extended Audio/Video exclusive interview with Churchill.