From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism, 1985-1995 [Paperback]

I wasn't too thrilled with the book. Maybe it's just me but the way it's written made it hard for me to pay attention and understand what was going on.

Do not read this book. Ward Churchill is a wannabe Native. He is not Native American, he's not an enrolled member of the Cherokee, the tribe he claims to be from has denounced him and stated he is NOT an enrolled member and does not have Native American blood. Ward is also not a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM has denounced him as well and has mentioned his falsehood on their grand governing councel website, http://www.aimovement.org.

This is a review of FROM A NATIVE SON: SELECTED ESSAYS ON INDIGENISM, 1985- 1995 by Ward Churchill. Mine is the paperback edition published in 1996 by South End Press in Boston. This book features an introduction by Howard Zinn, notes at the end of each chapter, a selected bibliography and an index. It's nicely bound and is almost 600 pages long. The cover features a portrait of the author looking very indigenous in his sunglasses and long hair. And it's a pretty good portrait. It captures the essence of just how people in "the People's Republic of Boulder" think Indians ought to look.

Although I'm not sure that "Indigenism" is a real word, Churchill has a chapter on it and assures the reader that "I am Indigenist." (p. 509). OK, I know what indigenous means and Howard Zinn's "Introduction" identifies Churchill as a part "of a new generation of Native-American scholars who, by their deliberate self-thrust into the struggles of their people, must be characterized as scholar-activists. Among these is Ward Churchill, Keetoowah Cherokee, who writing - powerful, eloquent, unsparing of cant and deception - has inspired so many others of his people to join the fray, to take a stand." (p. xvii).

Churchill seems to agree and emphasizes that being an Indigenist "gives shape not only to the sorts of goals and objectives I pursue, but the kinds of strategy and tactics I advocate, the variety of struggles I tend to support, the nature of the alliances I'm inclined to enter into, and so on." (p. 509.) Well that certainly cleared things up for me and it's a great example of the author's overblown style of writing. He wants the reader to believe that he's an Indian and he's apparently convinced Howard Zinn that he is, although Zinn seems unusually easy to convince especially from fellow members of his "Blame America for Everything" club.

Churchill is indigenous to Elmwood, Illinois, and the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS investigated 142 of his ancestors in 2005 and reported that they "turned up no evidence of a single Indian ancestor." And, Churchill does not possess a Certified Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) identifying him as a member of the Keetoowah or any other federally recognized band of Indians. I'm willing to cut him a break on this because there was no way a white man could get a job in education, especially at the post-secondary level and especially in Bolshevist Boulder due to the rigid racial profiling used for hiring. He's tall, fit and knows how to look like an "Indian." I was impressed when I saw him years ago in Boulder. He looks the part.

Of course working on campus in Boulder requires "getting your mind right", too. And I believe Churchill has done an excellent job of that. He writes like a real Bolshevik. I can see why Howard Zinn liked him so much.

This book is a great source of information about the far left. It opens a window on what is often called "the People's Republic of Boulder" and the strident, mindless, loud-mouthed rhetoric that passes for scholarly discourse there, but otherwise this book's main value is to level washing machines if you can't locate a two-by-four. This book is hard-left propaganda pretending to be history.

It is useful if you want a dramatic illustration of what's wrong with education today. In my opinion, Ward Churchill should have been driving a bus, not teaching, especially at a university level.

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