Ward Churchill is Not An Indian I am an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and I used to work for the BIA I added into the article the written opinions of people that have researched Churchill s Indian ancestry and 99 of these Indian folks point out that Churchill has not provided the basic information required to prove that he is an Indian I put it up last night and it much of it was taken down early this morning It was information where I provided sources for the comments I understand that what I wrote can and should be edited But taking out information that provides sources and citations seems to be an attempt to stifle the information Dear Fred Bauder it IS fair to ask if Churchill really is an Indian He is taking away from actual Indian people the ability to speak for themselves He has build his whole career on being someone who has experienced the oppression of a minority culture It is similar to a white middle class Protestant person from Idaho was writing books about himself being a Jew in Hitler s Germany And don t even say that I just made a inaccurate analogy because Churchill himself compares and uses Hitler and Nazi analogies I m sure that is how you learned about him in the first place because he made this most recent comment about 9 11 victims are all Eichmann s Look providing information about whether you are an Indian or not should not be that difficult Why You have Indian parents It is simple as that Even if you don t have brothers and sisters then you have Indian parents and your parents have brothers and sisters Correct Why doesn t anyone in Indian Country know any of these people This is NOT a cheap shot as you indicated above It goes to the heart of who he claims that he is As Suzan Harjo pointed out Churchill is taking jobs and speaking engagements from real actual Indians and building a whole career on it Those jobs and speaking engagements should go to actual Indian Also Harjo made the point that Churchill s comments are having a backlash and where is that backlash going On to Indian Country Look no one believes that he should not have the right to say what he wants We all believe in the First Amendment even if it is difficult speech However just don t run around and claim that you are an Indian when you aren t and that you personally have been oppressed Let s say that I am a white person that lives in Kentucky and I attend a Baptist church and my parents came the United States from South Africa do you really believe that I could run around and write books on Irish experience of oppression in Belfast No But that is what he is doing And you are calling it a cheap shot It is not a cheap shot It goes to who and what he is He is what we call in Indian Country a Wannabee There is a whole tribe of Indians called the Wannabee Indians and he is the Chief The people that making the complaints about his fake Indian heritage are not conservatives by any stretch of the imagination either Suzan Harjo worked for Bill Clinton Dennis Banks Founder of the American Indian Movement etc He can say wherever he wants about 9 11 or America but he shouldn t lie and claim that he is an Indian when he isn t And schools like the Univ of Colorado should do a better job of doing there homework when they hire a someone and put out to the world that he is an Indian because he isn t Keetoowah 17 45 20 Feb 2005 UTC