Today on "Mitakuye Oyasin" on KBOO in Portland, Oregon, Dean Looking Hawk and I interviewed Ward Churchill. I am going to try to get the interview podcast, but unfortunately that would be without the excellent music that went along with the interview, which were as follows:
"The AIM Song," by Blackfire from their CD "Silence is a Weapon."
"Silence is a Weapon," by Blackfire from the same CD.
"She's Crying for Many," a poem written and read by Benjamin Zephaniya from the compilation CD, "'Til the Bars Break."
"Fear Poem," by Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice, from their CD "Letters from the End of the Twentieth Century."
"Indian Woman," a poem written and read by Jeanette Armstrong to some amazing music and vocables, from the CD, "'Til the Bars Break."
In the first half of the interview, we discussed with Ward his recent legal win over his firing from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He gave us a history of it, which was instigated from his "little Eichman's" comment. He made mention that there were over 40 other cases at the university of plagiarism like he was accused, none of which are being investigated. He has a case coming up at the end of June to get his job back.
We discussed the behavior of academia in support of lies and liars, such as Carlos Castenada and the Piltdown Man issue. Carlos Castenada has been proven to be a liar and his works are still referenced in academia. Piltdown Man was the English discovery of what was called the oldest man known at the time and "the missing link," discovered in England. Piltdown Man stood for over 50 years, and was proven to be a complete falsification. Odd that folks like Castaneda are still held up as relevant scholars and continue to go unchallenged despite being a proven liar. The big differences, as Ward pointed out in the interview, is that Carlos doesn't challenge the status quo, and Ward's work does, complete with vast notation. Ward stated he is writing a book about his case which should be interesting.
Ward wrote an excellent book called, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man," about boarding and residential school abuses against Indians. We took this topic all the way to the rampant abuse problem in Indian Country. I asked what we can do about it, and he said that one of the first steps is to name the problem honestly, it is "rape." RAPE! If not actual, then figurative, and that behavior gets passed down from generation to generation and is expressed variously by the individuals effected by it. That is it's name...RAPE! Now we address it honestly. It is a process, not something that goes away with a simple naming. What do we do about abuse, folks? How do we address it in Indian Country and all over the world, as it doesn't just happen in Indian country? How do we break and change the patterns of abuse? It is a process, there are no simple answers.
We then interviewed Ethan Neerdales, of First Nations Network whom we interviewed previously about his website, firstnationsnetwork.com, and an event that has now taken place, "Indigenous Voices." This most excellent young man, we discovered, gets revenue from his website via advertising. They take enough to keep the website going and give what's left over to a local battered women's shelter. Folks, take example of this enthusiastic young man.
Ward agreed to do an interview after his case to get his job back at the end of June. Ward's case has been a "kill the messenger" case in order to "kill the message."
With all that we've been through this last month, it is becoming more clear to me in a positive way that I'm glad all of the issues faced have come up, and I believe that they will be taken care of in a good way now. Exactly how, I don't know, but we have fostered a safe area for those who have felt endangered to express themselves in a good and safe manner.
Take care, one and all, and stay tuned.
Eugene Douglas Johnson
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