Ward Churchill: U.S. continues tradition of ethnic cleansing

The United States’ tradition of killing innocent people for political gain continues today, as is evident by its policies following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said Native American activist Ward Churchill Friday night at the University Student Commons.

Churchill was the focus of national headlines in 2007 when
an essay he wrote in 2003 surfaced. In the essay, he stated the
victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were not innocent, and
terrorists had the “courage of their convictions.” As a result, he
was fired from his position as a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

About 100 people attended the event, “From a Native Son:
Conquest and Colonization in the Americas,” which was sponsored by Student Affairs and Enrollment Services. Churchill said the U.S. government is designed to serve an elite sector.

“What you see going on in this country right now is not
incompetence,” Churchill said. “It is ethnic cleansing.”

With the money spent killing thousands in Iraq, he said, the
United States could have rebuilt the Ninth Ward, a neighborhood in New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

“I’m not in an especially good mood tonight,” Churchill said.
“I don’t need Jon Stewart to tell me George Bush is a disaster.”
Churchill criticized celebrations of Columbus Day and the
anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. He said the major
difference between European settlers’ genocide of Native Americans and Nazi Germany’s holocaust during World War II was that Germany lost.

Churchill also said each individual has a moral responsibility
to create needed change.

Jeremy Kidd, 23, a first-year student at VCU Medical Center
and the former events coordinator for the Commons, was involved in arranging Churchill’s visit. He said he could not disclose the amount of money Churchill was paid to speak.
“I know that people had reservations,” Kidd said. “But it seemed like everyone really enjoyed it.”

Churchill was asked to speak at VCU because of his reputation as a nationally recognized and prolific scholarly voice, Kidd said.

“His recent controversy at Colorado Boulder was kind of an
illustration of a larger conversation that takes place about academic freedom,” he said.

Mary Ann Owens, adjunct professor of mass communications,
said she did not attend the event because she objected to Churchill profiting financially as a speaker on the lecture circuit. “I certainly support his right to freedom of speech,” Owens said. “But it’s very easy to be sitting over 2,000 miles away and come up with wording that dehumanizes the lives and deaths of over 2,000 people.”

Churchill said he aims to continue his work as an author and
political activist in the future.

“Sometimes I do get tired of hearing myself talk,” he said. “All I’ve ever tried to do was shoulder what I felt was my responsibility.”