Posted on 05/20/2005 9:56:16 PM PDT by CHARLITE
The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians rescinded all associate memberships in 1994, including professor Ward Churchill's, tribal officials said Wednesday.
They acknowledged that they're not certain whether the University of Colorado ethnic-studies professor was ever notified and that they told reporters as recently as February that he was still an associate member.
"We had no idea how controversial and in-depth this situation would become," said Lisa Stopp, a website designer in the tribal office, when asked about the discrepancy.
The tribal office has been bombarded with calls from reporters about the embattled professor since February, spokeswoman Marilyn Craig said. On Tuesday afternoon, the tribe issued a harshly critical statement disavowing Churchill's association with the tribe.
The statement, attributed to Chief George Wickliffe, reads in part: "The United Keetoowah Band would like to make it clear that Mr. Churchill IS NOT a member of the Keetoowah Band and was only given an honorary 'associate membership' in the early 1990s because he could not prove any Cherokee ancestry. However, the associate rolls were discontinued shortly after Churchill received one" and at that point the tribe ceased to recognize any associate memberships.
Churchill said Wednesday that he did not blame the tribe for issuing the statement.
"They caved," he said, referring to pressure on tribal members concerning him. "They're fighting for survival. They don't need this. I'm disappointed in them, not angry. I'm angry at the people who orchestrated this campaign to get those results."
He disputed the tribe's statement that it had rescinded his associate membership in July 1994.
"If my associate membership was terminated when they said it was, why was it I was the keynote speaker at their conference, as a UKB member, that following fall?" he said.
Churchill has tied proof that he is an American Indian to a videotape of a tribal council meeting June 4, 1994.
That tape, viewed by The Denver Post, shows tribal members debating who can define an Indian and includes them saying they had looked into Churchill's background and would do so again, giving him a membership roll number if he passed scrutiny. Churchill was given the membership card with the number a few weeks later, and a copy of the videotape arrived in the mail.
John Ross, who was chief of the tribe at the time, defined the difference between an associate member and an honorary member to a reporter shortly after that decision. Dignitaries such as the U.S. president were given "honorary" memberships, Ross said, and "associate
member" was for those who don't have one-fourth or more Indian blood, a requirement for full enrollment with the band. Churchill has maintained he is at least one-sixteenth Cherokee. Neither Ross nor current chief Wickliffe could be reached for comment Wednesday.
Tribe spokeswoman Craig said she was not certain how Churchill's membership was established, for the office had converted to electronic files and no longer had any paperwork concerning his membership.
Craig said a statement made to The Post in February by former tribal secretary Ernestine Berry about Churchill's membership standing at that time was correct. In the story, Berry said that Churchill was given an associate membership because he could not prove one-fourth Indian blood, and that while associate memberships were no longer given, none had been rescinded.
Now, however, Craig said the tribe's website statement speaks for Churchill's current status. It reads in part:
"All of Churchill's past, present and future claims or assertions of Keetoowah 'enrollment' written or spoken, including but not limited to biographies, curriculum vitae, lectures, applications for employment, or any other reference not listed herein, are deemed fraudulent by the United Keetoowah Band."
"We're kind of ashamed of him," Craig said.
As to Churchill's controversial statement comparing some of the World Trade Center victims to Nazis, Craig said, "We immediately disassociated ourselves with that statement."
After a public furor erupted over Churchill's comments concerning Sept. 11, CU began an investigation that included allegations of plagiarism and of falsely identifying himself to be Indian. That inquiry is ongoing.
Churchill on Monday sent a 50-page response to CU, answering its charges, including telling the school of the existence of the tribal council videotape, he said.
Staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at aherdy@denverpost.com.
He may, or may not, be 1/16th Cherokee, but it is certain he is 100% trash.
Ward may be having a difficult weekend. I can just see him...sitting there by the fireplace...drinking a beer...and wondering where his Indian heritiage went. His only official connection was that associate membership...and gee...it was dissolved over 10 years ago. Its time to pack up and get back to the roots. Ward just needs to pack up SUV...head off to Montana.
Ward Churchill, from the Wannabee-a-Cherokee tribe.
He looks like a washed up tranny to me.
You mean Ward isn't a real indian? Next you'll be telling me Bill Clinton wasn't our first black president.
How utterly and despicably arrogant. Like he didn't "orchestrate" getting a job at the university based on his non-existant heritage.
The doofas was granted an associate membership, that is not in dispute. The tribe rescinded those memberships, that is not in dispute. He got the job at UC based on an associate membership granted to him because he could not prove he was Native American. The only thing in dispute is whether Warped Churchill has any Native American blood in his veins at all.
But somebody "orchestrated" a campaign against him because he's a cheat and a liar and just plain natsy to everyone around him. "Waaaaa, poor me. I almost got away with it. That makes me a victim and even my barber won't get close enough to me to cut my hair."
Ward's off the reservation on this one.
Frankly, I like the phrase, " Little Eichmann's". Though perhaps misapplied in the case of the 9/11 victims, it is certainly useful in describing unthinking bureaucrats who wreak mayhem and havoc in ordinary peoples' lives by just doing their job, oblivious to the moral and practical consequences.
Let's all pitch in and clean up America.
He's as indian as the guy in that photo.
I never thought of it that way, but you're right. However, I still resent using "Eichmann" and all that he symbolizes, to describe anything American. That's how much of a die-hard conservative patriot I am!
Maybe "mindless, robotic bureaucrat" would be a better term! D'ya think?........or "sqweegie".....or "windshield wiper mentality."
Char
Voted off the reservation, huh?
All those brave Indians who gave their lives in this nation's military service don't want him stinking up their good names and besmirching their Honor.
Unfortunately the White race can't disown him so definitively.
That's a good point! In my opinion, this guy should take a sabbatical in North Korea. Thanks!
Char :)
"He may, or may not, be 1/16th Cherokee, but it is certain he is 100% trash."
Doesn't he realize the lucridity of his claim that his 1/16th Cherokee heritage makes him relevant to his Native native culture.
If he is 1/16th Cherokee, he loses it everytime he gets his nails clipped.
I'm 1/16th Latino. My Mexican ancestor was my great-great grandfather. I can see myself trying to have any kind of influence in the Latino community. It would be a ridiculous effort.
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