<aol.com!isanyati> writes:
>I would just like to point out a few things 1. if Ward Churchill is
>Cherokee/Creek then why is it that neither Nation has any record of him?
>I am from the Creek Nation and have a copy of their letter stating that he
>is neither enrolled with the Creek Nation and is not on the headrights
>either. The Cherokee have said the same. If he is Native American it would
>be very simply for him to clear things up and make quite a few of us look
>like fools at the same time by just stating who his people are. As far as
Ward is not enrolled either with Cherokee or Creek. Ward has never claimed
to be an enrolled member; quite the opposite, he has been very open about
not being an enrolled member. Is it your intention to state that all Natives
who are not enrolled are not, in truth, natives? May I ask where that leads
Leonard Peltier, whom you have previously expressed support for (not to
mention personal aquaintence). Leonard is not enrolled; ergo, acording to
the above paragraph, Leonard is not Native. Also, why is it necessary for
Ward to tell every "self-annointed ethnic investigator" who asks who his
people are? Is he supposed to tatto his lineage on his forehead? Should
he carry his family tree in his wallet, along with his drivers license and
the pictures of his kids and grandkids? As I recall, most people who demand
to see one's papers are residents of the former Soviet Union, not members of
Native American Nations. Let me turn this around - do you know who Ward's
relatives are? If you don't know who they are, then how can you be so sure
that he is not Cherokee or Creek? Further, can you explain how the Indian
communities in both Denver and Boulder accept Ward as an Indian? Can you
explain how it was that Clyde Bellecourt is the one who recruited Ward into
AIM in 1973? To quote Bob Robideau, since when does Clyde recruit whites
into AIM? Or did Clyde just make a really, really stupid mistake? Finally,
I would venture to guess that Ward feels he has much more important work to
do (Leonard Peltier is still in jail, Big Mountain is still being policed by
the Federal Government, and too much other stuff is going on) to want to
make fools of anyone. What purpose does that serve? Do you wish to be made
a fool of? I seriously doubt that.
>people. Then when the time comes for this Tribunal and Clyde walks into
>there with a Pipe which to those of you who have no idea this would be
>like you putting your hands on a bible in court. Well Clyde was bashed and
>acuse of trying to show them how to pray that is riduclous and Russel and
>Robert know this. They know full well what the Pipe signified. This whole
>mess has done nothing but once again divide us and in the process of this
>the problems that we need to be dealing with are not being dealt with for
>we are to busy stabbing each other in the back. And who is at the head of
>this whole thing WARD CHURCHILL a whiteman!
The problem is not so much that Clyde brought a pipe, the problem is that
the group hosting the Tribunal already had a pipe loaded, and were beginning
their own ceremony. Of course Russell and Bob know what the pipe signifies;
they also know that it is usually the hosts who bring the pipe and conduct
the ceremony. As for your assertion that Clyde did not attempt to instruct
the participants on how to pray, can you explain, then, why the participants
(and not just Ward Churchill, Bob Robideau and Russell Means) received that
impression? Do you believe that Ward's power over these people is so strong
that he could somehow convince them that what they had seen with their own
eyes, and heard with their own hears, had not actually happened, but that
instead a Churchill concocted scenario took place? Wow - not only is Ward
not Indian, according to you, but he apparently has supernatural powers and
the ability to cloud one's mind.
Finally, I would like to ask you why you don't use your name in your posts.
Why is it that accusations against Ward are made anonymously, while those
of us defending him are willing to sign our names? Lisa Hellwig, LPSG/McHenry
County, IL
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