« Iran, Rep. Weldon and secret sources | Main | Marxists riot over flushing Das Kapital »
June 09, 2005
Marx's Revenge on Churchill
Colorado University professor Ward Churchill became an international celebrity by calling the victims of the September 11 attacks "little Eichmans." Now the families of the victims might want to call Churchill a "little liar." The long-haired professor has long claimed to be an American Indian. In fact, he received his position at the CU and his special status as a political activist on the basis of his Indian blood. What's more, he has continously represented himself to students and others as an Indian. So this Rocky Mountain News story is devastating to Churchill. There is no evidence that he or his family have any Indian blood, but there is ample evidence that they were slave holders.
Churchill could be torn apart by the inherent contradictions of the
modern Left, which places so much emphasis on the issue of identity. In that world view, only a Indian can speak or write authentically about Indian affairs, Asians about Asian affairs and so on. So his Indian status is what enables him to carry out his profession as an Indian specialist. To lose that is to lose his livelihood. The relation to documented slave masters just compounds the problem. If the classical liberal view were prevalent today, than the issue of his identity would
be moot. Only the quality of his work would matter. But those days of
old-fashioned liberalism are long gone on America's campuses. Churchill has prospered under the New Left's doctrines and now he may suffer under them.
Posted by Richard Miniter at June 9, 2005 08:05 PM