Louis Proyect wrote:
I guess this means that your comment had nothing to do with what I
wrote in
the first place. If you want to engage me with what I've written,
then feel
free to start again.
I am familiar with what you have written. I read the lbo-talk archives.
I bring up his work because it seems inappropriate for somebody like
yourself who knows nothing about Ward Churchill except what you read
in the
Colorado report to write numerous posts blasting him.
Ward Churchill's reputation rests on works like "A Little Matter of
Genocide", a work that I have read carefully. It is scrupulously
researched
and annotated. I find it noteworthy that the investigating panel did not
mention it once. It is a disgrace that someone who has produced such a
*major* work might lose his job.
...
I am not in a position to judge his methodology, but numerous
researchers HAVE come to the same conclusions, and although the reason
for the dispute should be apparent, I'll state it plainly right here.
One thing I'm pretty sure of is every researcher working on these
issues... boarding schools, smallpox blankets... is working with all
known printed matter and data, so one could say that Brown's essay was
correct, as is everyone elses, and if Ward Churchill feels he can
extrapolate on Mr. Thornton's data, a cite is fine, along with your
opinion, clearly stated that it's your extrapolation on work originally
done by (insert name here), and not as the work of the original author.
The dispute is really whether data can be derived to produce different
results.
One example of this type of dilemma can be found in this simple example.
Brenda Childs, the questioner of the 'boarding school death' count
produced research for various reasons that causes her to state her
presumptions on that foundation:
<...>
Child's research was inspired by her grandmother's experiences at the
Flandreau Indian Boarding School in South Dakota during the 1920s.
Boarding school records, largely untouched over the years, preserved
hundreds of letters written by Indians. These exceptional documents,
left by Native students in the schools and their families at home
provide the foundation of the study. So Far Away: Boarding Schools and
American Indian Families, 1900-1940 will be published by the University
of Nebraska Press and won the 1996 North American Indian Prose Award.
Child is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa Tribe
in northern Minnesota
<...>
http://www.hist.umn.edu/faculty/child.html
But, and it's one of the BIG 'buts':
The 'boarding schools' were in existence in various forms since the
1700s, perhaps earlier.
It's nice that Brenda Childs is interested in her grandmother's
experiences, but a thorough investigation would require a jump much
farther back in time.
But enough of all that, let's get visceral, fight dirty.
Brenda Childs, the questioner of the 'boarding school death' count is
Red Lake (Mn) Chippewa group.
Here's a sitrep from the time of shootings at that particular location
last year, a mini-Columbine, and it genuinely leads me to wonder...
wonder if Brenda's been back to the 'rez' lately to study the other,
more modern ways western culture 'contaminated' and destroyed the native
groups?
I mean, since her works seem to place her expertise in the 20th and 21st
century.
---- Original Message ----
From: Leigh Meyers
To: Newsroom-L
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 11:07 AM
Subject: Red Lake Mn: American Indian crime, and justice, and statistics
There are 4 substance abuse programs in the vicinity of Red Lake Mn.
http://www.redlakenation.org/directory.html
Population: 5000 people.
One "group home"
One juvenile "justice" program
one youth recreation program (type: unknown)
[As listed in dirctory.html].
Today's Travus T. Hipp:
Commentary - March 22 2005
Red Lake Minnesota: "Injuns" Without Casinos...
http://snipurl.com/eals
[mp3, +-1mb, 5 minutes]
It's about the large percentage of un-largessed native bands.
