Michael Perelman wrote: >1. Churchill is a Native American, who has written extensively about the >Holocaust of Native Americans. His thesis has not been warmly received. So I >can understand why he may express some insensitivity about the slaughter of >Americans -- even if some of the "Americans" were not really Americans are >all. > >2. Churchill's strong language makes for easy criticism, but once Churchill is >picked off, then the pressure put on people like my colleague, George Wright, >for making a couple statements that were taken out of context, becomes >acceptable. The attack on freedom of speech always begins at the margin.
On Ward Churchill, opinions differ. From an interview with Vernon Bellecourt <http://www.imdiversity.com/Article_Detail.asp?Article_ID=2437>: Vernon: What is behind it is the same FBI orchestrated program using agents willing or unwilling or knowing people like Ward Churchill, Russell Means and Bob Robideau in particular. Those three have started this disinformation campaign by attacking the leadership of AIM, making wild allegations. Now what you have to understand about Ward Churchill...this man is still under investigation (we publish reports of our investigation on our website under ministry of information). This man claims to have served in Vietnam as an information specialist. Now, if one would analyze what information specialists did in Vietnam...they were actually misinformation specialists putting out misinformation to set up assassinations of Vietnam leaders, etc. When he got out of the military (in his own writing) he states this. What we are maintaining is that this guy is part of a misinformation campaign. In answer to your question, what he tends to do is take 5% fact and mix it with 95% bullshit and stirs it up to the point where people out there begin to question our message. In other words they begin to question the messenger rather than read the message. Now that was picked up by the Native News outlets and Native American press here in Minneapolis. I have a lawsuit that is moving through the courts because they have now become part of the misinformation campaign. That is, the writer here, Joe Geshick has admitted being an associate of Ward Churchill. Joe Geshick also attended those sham tribunals in California. And it seems to be that the 10 or 12 people that are all lined up with Ward Churchill, seemingly are all behind this misinformation campaign, who previously almost every month or so accused someone else of being implicit in the death of Anna Mae. First it was John Trudell, then it was myself. And now they are suggesting it is Dennis Banks. Now this is a very important point in response to your question. About 7 years ago, after having looked through files of documents, I called a man named Gordon Regguinti, who was the editor of the Circle newspaper here in Minneapolis, and Paul Demain, editor of News from Indian Country. I invited them over to my house. I sat them down and I start putting all these documents in front of them. I said, "you know Paul, I get a sense that a lot of journalists, particularly Indian journalists, you can dangle news right under their noses and they can not see or smell a story when it is put right in front of them. But here is what I think," and I start telling them about the attacks Ward Churchill was launching. How Ward Churchill had gotten Russell Means to meet with the CIA in Virginia. Later, under director of Ward Churchill and Glen Morris, Russell Means entered in from Costa Rica to Nicaragua with the CIA sponsored contra, and in fact actually caused the death of Miskito Indians. When we confronted Ward Churchill with that, he and Russell Means came back and accused us --that is, Bill Means, myself and Clyde---of causing the deaths of Miskito Indians. There were people that were with them, and they know for a fact that it was Russell means that in fact caused a Miskito Indian village to be bombed with several people being killed. But what happens with this misinformation campaign, whenever they're confronted, they come back and make the same accusations--such as accusing me of being an FBI agent, accusing my brother of being an FBI agent. It is a typical misinformation campaign. [...] Vernon: Let me deal with that this way. First of all, based on our investigations, me pouring through all these different documents, Ward Churchill, who was a white man, IS a white man, arrived on the scene, according to his own words: "teaching" the Rapid City police department about AIM. You could take the word "teaching" out of it, put [in] "informing," very easily. And that's exactly what he was. And that is what he is today. He admits to being this white man standing behind the hill from Porcupine on June 26th, [1975] [-] being behind the hill from Porcupine, urinating against the hill when he witnessed these FBI federal marshalls, BIA police with armored personnel carriers in Vietnamese war type uniforms doing a sweep. Right? Was that just a coincidence? Wouldn't it make more sense that Clyde or Dennis Banks might be behind a hill? What's this white man doing there? He was on the periphery. When you look at other people that fit a pattern as I suggested, you see Dave Hill. Someone has to take a real serious look at that. I am looking at documents right now. A list of fingerprints found inside Jumping Bull. Dave Hill appears.
