07 Feb 2005
Students Disrupt Meeting While Regents Try to Discuss Professor

Well, this subject has been blogged to death, but as far as I know nobody has noticed the really strange (and, from my perspective, sad) part of this sordid tale:

Some Native American groups have also called for Churchill's ouster, not because of what he said, but for claiming to be an Indian. Churchill describes himself as a member of the Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians based in Tahlequah, Okla...

The group said it had no record of Churchill in its files...

Leaders of the American Indian Movement based in Minnesota said they had told Colorado University officials that Churchill was not an Indian, but were ignored.

"He has been building his career for years by masquerading as an Indian behind his dark glasses and beaded hat," said Vernon Bellecourt of AIM. "He would not have been published and promoted if CU didn't think he was an Indian."

The urge to connect with one's ancestors in present in all humans: it's just that here, in 21st century America, it's become distinctly politically incorrect to be a "European-American". You can be every other kind of hyphenated American, as long as you don't claim descent from the "oppressor" race...

Of course, this ignores the fact that the "oppressors" were "oppressed" at one point in time, too. And that, humans being what they are, members of every race have "oppressed" others sometime.

This has only come about in the past 40 years or so - before that, there were all kinds of organizations for European immigrants to maintain their heritage: Italian-Americans had organziations (besides the Mafia), there was the Ancient Order of Hibernians for the Irish, the Sons of Norway, the Swedish American Associations, along with numerous German, Czech, Polish and Russian groups. And while many of these fraternal societies survive, their membership is aging and dwindling rapidly.

The syndrome of claiming a completely different or a minority ancestry (Mr. Churchill now claims to be 3/16th Cherokee - which makes him 13/16ths European) is usually found on the political Left, although there are certainly a lot of examples from the Right as well.

I firmly believe that one of our missions as Heathens is to reconnect folks to their ancestors in the great unbroken chain. Lying about your ancestry constitutes a very deep disrespect for your forebearers, as well as for yourself.

Which is why I get really depressed when I run across morons like Churchill. We certainly have our work cut out for us.

Los Angeles Times - AURORA, Colo. — A student protest turned into a brawl here Thursday, shutting down a meeting of the University of Colorado board of regents after it agreed to investigate a professor who compared the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to Nazis.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link