Posted on 02/23/2005 12:49:23 PM PST by Pikamax
Churchill attacks essay’s critics University of Colorado president calls for calm
By Craig Gima cgima@starbulletin.com Ward Churchill, the outspoken Colorado professor who created a national uproar by comparing 9/11 victims to Nazis, told an overflow crowd at the University of Hawaii last night that he is the target of a right-wing strategy to attack academia.
"I was targeted because they thought I would be an easy target," Churchill told the crowd of about 800. "That was a mistake.
"It's not just an attempt to purge me," he said. "It's a purge of the academy."
The crowd was mostly sympathetic to Churchill, a University of Colorado ethnic studies professor. He was applauded more than a dozen times and was greeted at least three times with standing ovations.
Before the speech began, about a dozen members of a UH college Republican group protested.
"I never wanted to be a poster boy for academic freedom," Churchill said. "You can't give an inch. If you let this one down, you've lost it all."
Much of Churchill's speech was devoted to explaining and expanding on his essay written on Sept. 11, 2001, that called 9/11 victims "little Eichmanns."
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LUCY PEMONI / STAR-BULLETIN University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill drew about 800 people to his speech at UH-Manoa last night -- plus a dozen protesters like these.
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He said the theme of his essay and a later book was that the United States has been involved in violating international law and killing innocents and should not be surprised that some people would want to kill Americans -- the "chickens coming home to roost," as his essay is titled. He argued that the World Trade Center could be considered a legitimate target because it is a symbol of the financial power that allows the United States to flex its military might.
He said if you read his essay, he called the "technicians" in the World Trade Center "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who actually did not kill any Jews but made it possible for the trains to run on time and for the Holocaust to take place.
It's obvious, Churchill said, that he did not mean to say children, janitors, firefighters and innocent bystanders were part of that group. Instead, he said, he was referring to investment bankers and others who make the killing of innocents by the U.S. military and U.S. policy possible.
Churchill did address the issue of his ethnicity, admitting that he is not Native American.
"Is he an Indian? Do we really care?" he said, quoting those he called his "white Republican" critics.
"Let's cut to the chase; I am not," he said.
His pedigree is "not important," Churchill said: "The issue is the substance of what is said."
He went on to explain that the issue of whether he is Native American has been blown up by sloppy reporting and reporters quoting other reporters.
His speech drew mostly positive reaction from those who attended. But Tyrone Hogenauer said he was disappointed.
"I thought he was going to talk on free speech," Hogenauer said.
Instead, Churchill talked about himself and attacked his critics the way they are attacking him, Hogenauer said: "It's a sad thing."
UH student Kirsten Chong said her professors assigned her to listen to the speech.
"He was humorous and he certainly didn't pull any punches," she said, adding that because she is native Hawaiian, she agrees with much of what he said.
churchill in circa 1980 sported jet black hair, the color of indians or asians.
he musta dyed it.
now his hair color is brown with grey spots.
neither indians' nor asians' hair turn brown with grew spots.
Good idea!
Instead of undermining academic freedom, conservatives should be defending conservatives who are victims of PC policies. Once academic freedom is destroyed, the first people to be fired and silenced will be conservatives.
Meaning what?
Not your fault, I assume they are on the list. But I would say that the majority of Freepers will not click on a link. I know that I don't.
I'm going to get all over my elected CU Regent. Why not just eliminate the entire "ethnic studies" program. Eliminate his job. Downsize. Outsource. Lay him off, permanently.
Wow.. what to say about this man. I'm almost inclined to go into defense mode and tear his rhetoric into shreds. I believe the majority of Americans are disgusted by this man. However, we do have that right to voice whatever we feel we would be necessary.
Yet, with that said, I feel the MSM needs to be a little more responsible with their reporting. Why give this guy 15 minutes of fame? Why even aknowledge his views as newsworthy? What I see is an instigator (the MSM) throwing this out to the American people knowing it will cause controversy. As it becomes heated and goes to blows the MSM sits back and watches.
This man is scum and 85% of Americans (possibly more) feel the same. Why give him the satisfaction of knowing he has got under our skin? This is the reason why Jesse and Al get all the attention as well. We've been played folks. By aknowledging them, we have empowered them. It's time to let these sycophant's voices fall on deaf ears. Yes, if you ignore them they WILL go away. These people are extortionists playing on the hearts of those who are looking for a leader.... mainly because they've been brought up in a society that condones violence and anarchy and rejects the system.
Who knows.. maybe I'm alone on this?
We've had this conversation before, haven't we?
"neither indians' nor asians' hair turn brown with grew spots"
Depends on how much Indian. There are plenty of brown-haired Indians. Hell, by now there are blond-haired blue-eyed Indians (and they run Pequot casinos in Connecticut...). But black hair turns white. Not brown with white spots.
Except for this mautchi-memaangishens.
I don't believe this. First, he was already empowered in the sense that he was, before he was exposed, free to spread his propaganda virtually without challenge. Now he's being challenged. It's even possible that some of his current and former students are giving his views a second thought.
Second, exposing his views, and the circumstances surrounding his employment, brings to light the suspect hiring practices of CU and other universities. Basically, the guy was hired because he claimed to be part Indian, not because he's a scholar of any quality. I imagine that even many conservatives weren't aware of the extent of the academic rot in our universities. It's a useful thing to know.
And finally, I don't believe one should ever ignore evil. Leaving this guy in place sends a bad message, gives his writing a certain academic validity, and allows him to continue to propagandize young minds. Beyond that, why not shine a light on evil, and keep shining a light on it, until you can get rid of it?
Could've guess that before I looked at him. Indians are smarter and less abrasive than twits like this. My ancesters certainly are. (Pay no attention to the abrasiveness of this reply, however. I'm a new age Cherokee with freeper influence - just kidding)
Not much of a man either, nor an intellect. How did this guy ever qualify as a prof? Guess the standards are pretty low at most universities these days. Oh, well, they are mostly liberal passivist whiner stink-tanks anyway. Go figure.
Tar and feather job would be too kind, IMO. We indians would drag him tied to a horse through a creek with a bed of nasty rocks.
SOT
Lord what a dumbassed chick.....Chong is not a native Hawaiian name and wtf does she mean anyhow.
"Lord what a dumbassed chick.....Chong is not a native Hawaiian name and wtf does she mean anyhow."
Maybe her papa was named Cheech.
That would explain everything.
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