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by a contributor and mim3@mim.org, February 24 2004
The Keetoowahs formally verified that Ward Churchill is "at least 3/16 Cherokee Indian by blood." This quantum accrues strictly from his lineage through his mother. "I was asked if I wanted to try to document my father's [Creek] side of things," Churchill recalls, "because he was at least as much Indian as Mom. But he's dead now. I never knew him, and I don't know my relatives on that side. So I just let it go. I make the reference in my self-identification out of respect, but I've never claimed the quantum because I don't believe in [quantum]. To me, it's no different whether I'm 3/16 or 3/8. You don't measure identity by either pounds or percentage points unless you're some kind of Nazi.'"
(Source: http://www.coloradoaim.org/why.html) A tiny victory has been won in the Ward Churchill media struggle. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin at about 9:30 AM EST initially reported Churchill as denying he was an Indian without any qualification (Craig Gima, "Churchill attacks essay's critics," February 23, 2005); actually, even with the Star- Bulletin's distortion, he only denied being a full member by the rules set by one particular indigenous organization's bureaucracy.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has posted a correction.
A blog post ("Ward Churchill confesses," "Posted by Al Barger on February 23, 2005 05:44 PM") appearing in Google News repeated the Star- Bulletin's mistake. On the same page, "Shawn" began defending Churchill at "February 23, 2005 07:08 PM" and posting links to "Identity politics and the dirty work against Ward Churchill."
The AP article and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin article (in addition to the emotional blog posts appearing on Google "News") both contributed to the confusion between blood quanta and indigenous identity.
The main problem here is the white man does not sit down with indigenous issues long enough to have a sensitive understanding of the problems created by the genocide of First Nations. Then all the various uninformed media outlets repeat each other.
There is a huge debate among First Nation people about blood and culture issues. The majority of self-identified indigenous people do not live on a "reservation," which could also be called First Nation territory that needs expanding.
Now if the media had sufficiently informed people, with the correct line, they would not be seeking to take advantage of delicate divisions--especially when the original topic of discussion was 9/11.
As an Indian Country writer Scott Richard Lyons explains, it turns out that Ward Churchill has 50% more Cherokee blood (3/16 vs. 1/8) than Cherokee Chief John Ross, who fought against Andrew Jackson and was an absolutely pivotal chief in Cherokee history. Lyons said, "Unlike the fullblood ''Treaty Party'' who signed the illegitimate agreement with the Americans, thereby paving the road we now call the Trail of Tears, the light-skinned Chief Ross is fondly remembered by many Cherokee today as a great leader who fought hard against the ethnic cleansing that eventually took place." So naturally there's an argument that action speaks louder than blood, and as far as that goes, Ward Churchill has strong ties to his community within Colorado borders. The Colorado AIM (American Indian Movement organization) recognizes him, while the federal one does not.
So we should try to understand this carefully. The current rules of the band he is affiliated with would not have recognized Cherokee Chief John Ross. As MIM has explained in other articles before this dispute, there are good reasons for that. There are also drawbacks, but the main point is that it's a difficulty because of the genocide wiping out 90% of the full-blooded indigenous people. For the white media to yell out screaming "Hah, you First Nations have problems with your blood quanta!" is truly obscene. So now they want to lynch a man based on the fact of changing bloodline rules made difficult by the original North American invasion by the white man. The white man creates the problem and then fans it so there is infighting.
Sadly, not all indigenous people thought through the attack and counter-attack logic inevitable in all this. Why they want this discussion in the white man's media is beyond MIM. We can only think that they are afraid for their federal grants, because influential Republicans orchestrated the attack on Ward Churchill and Republicans are in charge of grant money in the Congress. Surely his indigenous critics knew that friends of Ward Churchill would counter-attack and this would open a whole can of worms.
MIM to media: Slow down. It ain't that simple! We're quite sure that Ward Churchill would be accepted in other First Nations and could even receive benefits. He chose to affiliate with one band that rejected him as a full member by 1/16 of blood. All these news outlets clamoring have not changed one thing. The facts are what they have been all along. You stupid media outlets have not uncovered anything new. He's an associate member, not a full member, but Chief John Ross would not have been one either.