Ward Churchill

Churchill was born in Urbana, Illinois, to Jack LeRoy Churchill and Maralyn Lucretia Allen. His parents divorced before he turned two. He grew up in Elmwood, Illinois, where he attended local schools.{{cite news

|title=Questions stoke Ward Churchill's firebrand past |first1=Dave |last1=Curtin |first2=Howard |last2=Pankratz |first3=Arthur |last3=Kane |work=Denver Post |url= https://www.denverpost.com/2005/06/08/questions-stoke-ward-churchills-firebrand-past/ |date=June 9, 2005|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001000349/http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_0002709008|archivedate=October 1, 2007|accessdate=May 7, 2023|url-status=dead}}

In 1966, Churchill was drafted into the United States Army. On his 1980 resume, he claimed to have served as a public-information specialist who "wrote and edited the battalion newsletter and wrote news releases." In a 1987 profile in the Denver Post, Churchill claimed to have attended paratrooper school and to have volunteered for a 10-month stint on Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol in Vietnam. Churchill also claimed to have spent time at the Chicago office of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and provided firearms and explosives training to members of the Weather Underground.[http://www.gnosis.cx/photos/news/Churchill-DenverPost-1987.gif photostat of Denver Post article, Claire Martin and (name illegible), Denver Post] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070619192424/http://www.gnosis.cx/photos/news/Churchill-DenverPost-1987.gif |date=June 19, 2007 }}, January 18, 1987. Retrieved February 7, 2010 In 2005, the Denver Post reported on fabrications in Churchill's service record. Department of Defense personnel files showed that Churchill was trained as a film projectionist and light truck driver, but they do not reflect paratrooper school or LRRP training.

Churchill received his B.A. in technological communications in 1974 and his M.A. in communication theory in 1975, both from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield).

In 1978, Churchill began working at the University of Colorado Boulder as an affirmative action officer in the university administration. He also lectured on issues relating to Native Americans in the United States in the ethnic studies program. In 1990, the University of Colorado hired him as an associate professor, although he did not possess the academic doctorate usually required for the position. The following year he was granted tenure in the Communication department, without the usual six-year probationary period, after having been declined by the Sociology and Political Science departments.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/ConferenceReport.pdf|title=Conference report}}

Churchill received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Alfred University in 1992.{{cite web |url= http://www.herr.alfred.edu/special/archives/histories/honorary/1990.shtml |title= Alfred University, Honorary Degrees, 1990–1999 |access-date= August 28, 2007 |archive-date= May 24, 2003 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030524095848/http://www.herr.alfred.edu/special/archives/histories/honorary/1990.shtml |url-status= dead }}

In 1994, then CU-Boulder Chancellor James Corbridge refused to take action on allegations that Churchill was fraudulently claiming to be an Indian, saying "it has always been university policy that a person's race or ethnicity is self-proving."{{cite news |title=Red-flagged career: Churchill's tenure at CU marked by warnings of trouble |first1=Charlie |last1=Brennan |first2=Stuart |last2=Steers |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=February 17, 2005 |url= http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/feb/17/red-flagged-career/}}

In 1996, Churchill moved to the new Ethnic Studies Department of the University of Colorado. In 1997, he was promoted to full professor. He was selected as chairman of the department in June 2002.{{cite news |title=Churchill tenure questioned: Prof was granted job security without usual review process |first1=Berny |last1=Morson |first2=Charlie |last2=Brennan |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=February 16, 2005 |url= http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/feb/16/churchill-tenure-questioned/}}{{cite news |first=Jefferson |last=Dodge |title=Churchill's personnel files released by CU-Boulder |work=Silver & Gold Record |date=February 24, 2005 |url= https://www.cu.edu/sg/messages/4218.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060922112926/http://www.cu.edu/sg/messages/4218.html |archive-date=September 22, 2006 |df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees, 1990–1999 |work=Special Collections & Archives |publisher=Herrick Memorial Library, Alfred University |url= http://www.herr.alfred.edu/special/archives/histories/honorary/1990.shtml |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030524095848/http://www.herr.alfred.edu/special/archives/histories/honorary/1990.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 24, 2003}} Documents in Churchill's university personnel file show that Churchill was granted tenure in a "special opportunity position".

In January 2005, during the controversy over his 9/11 remarks, Churchill resigned as chairman of the ethnic studies department at the University of Colorado — his term as chair was scheduled to expire in June of that year.[http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/44.html Ward Churchill Resigns Administrative Post] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060924200253/http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/44.html |date=September 24, 2006}}, University of Colorado Boulder,

January 31, 2005

In 2005, the University of Colorado's Research Misconduct Committee conducted a preliminary investigation into whether Churchill misrepresented his ethnicity to "add credibility and public acceptance to his scholarship". The committee concluded that the allegation was not "appropriate for further investigation under the definition of research misconduct".{{cite press release |title=Statement Regarding Decision Of Standing Committee On Research Misconduct |first=Pauline |last=Hale |publisher=CU-Boulder Office of News Services |date=September 9, 2005 |url= http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/standingcommittee.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071128124106/http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/standingcommittee.html |archive-date=November 28, 2007 |df=mdy-all}} The university has said that it does not hire on the basis of ethnicity.

On July 24, 2007, Churchill was fired for academic misconduct.

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The quality of Churchill's research had been seriously questioned by legal scholar John LaVelle and historian Guenter Lewy.{{Cite journal |title=Review of "Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America" |first1=John |last1=LaVelle |journal=The American Indian Quarterly |volume=20 |pages=109–118 |date=1999 |url=http://lawschool.unm.edu/faculty/lavelle/american-indian-quarterly.pdf |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/1184946 |first2=Ward |jstor=1184946 |last2=Churchill |access-date=February 14, 2007 |archive-date=December 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208144926/http://lawschool.unm.edu/faculty/lavelle/american-indian-quarterly.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite journal |title=The General Allotment Act "Eligibility" Hoax: Distortions of Law, Policy, and History in Derogation of Indian Tribes |first=John |last=LaVelle |journal=Wíčazo Ša Review |date=Spring 1999 |pages=251–302 |url=http://lawschool.unm.edu/faculty/lavelle/allotment-act.pdf |doi=10.2307/1409527 |volume=14 |issue=1 |jstor=1409527 |access-date=February 14, 2007 |archive-date=December 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208144451/http://lawschool.unm.edu/faculty/lavelle/allotment-act.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite web

| title=Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide? |first=Guenter |last=Lewy |work=History News Network |date=November 22, 2004| url=http://hnn.us/articles/7302.html}} Additional critics were sociologist Thomas Brown, who had been preparing an article on Churchill's work; and historians R. G. Robertson and Russell Thornton, who said that Churchill had misrepresented their work.{{cite news |title=A New Ward Churchill Controversy |first=Scott |last=Jaschik |work=Inside Higher Ed |date=February 9, 2005 |url= http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/02/09/churchill2_9}}{{Cite journal |title=Did the U.S. Army Distribute Smallpox Blankets to Indians? Fabrication and Falsification in Ward Churchill's Genocide Rhetoric |first=Thomas |last=Brown |journal=Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification |volume=1 |date=2006 |pages=1–30 |url= http://www.plagiary.org/smallpox-blankets.pdf |issue=9 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070712044609/http://www.plagiary.org/smallpox-blankets.pdf |archive-date=July 12, 2007 |df=mdy-all}}

In 2005, University of Colorado Boulder administrators ordered an investigation into seven allegations of research misconduct against Churchill.{{Cite book |title=Report on Conclusion of Preliminary Review in the Matter of Professor Ward Churchill |first1=Philip |last1=DiStephano |first2=Todd |last2=Gleeson |first3=David |last3=Getches |date=March 24, 2005 |publisher=University of Colorado Boulder |url= http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/report.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120629204440/http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/report.html |archive-date=June 29, 2012 |df=mdy-all}} The allegations included three allegations of plagiarism, allegations of fabrication or falsification regarding the history of the Dawes Act and the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and alleged claims that smallpox was intentionally spread to Native Americans by John Smith in 1614 and by the United States Army at Fort Clark in 1837.Brown, Thomas. 2006. "Did the U.S. Army Distribute Smallpox Blankets to Indians? Fabrication and Falsification in Ward Churchill's Genocide Rhetoric." Plagiary 2006 1 (9): 1-30.

On May 16, 2006, the university released its findings; the Investigative Committee unanimously concluded that Churchill had engaged in "serious research misconduct", including falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism. The committee was divided on the appropriate level of sanctions. Following further deliberations by university bodies,{{Cite book |title=Report and Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct Concerning Allegations of Research Misconduct by Professor Ward Churchill |first1=Joseph |last1=Rosse |first2=Sanjai |last2=Bhagat |first3=Mark |last3=Bradburn |first4=Harold |last4=Bruff |first5=Judith |last5=Glyde |first6=Steven |last6=Guberman |first7=Bella |last7=Mody |first8=Linda |last8=Morris |first9=Uriel |last9=Nauenberg |first10=Cortlandt |last10=Pierpont |date=June 13, 2006 |publisher=University of Colorado Boulder |url= http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/churchill/download/ChurchillStandingCmteReport.pdf}}{{cite news |title=Regents dismiss Ward Churchill |first=Jefferson |last=Dodge |work=Silver & Gold Record |date=July 26, 2007 |url= https://www.cu.edu/sg/messages/5704.html |access-date=2008-01-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928080322/https://www.cu.edu/sg/messages/5704.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |df=mdy-all}} on July 24, 2007, the university regents voted seven to two to uphold all seven of the findings of research misconduct. The regents voted eight to one to fire Churchill.

The next day, Churchill filed a lawsuit in state court claiming that the firing was retribution for his expression of politically unpopular views.{{cite web |title=First amended complaint & jury demand |work=Ward Churchill v. University of Colorado |url= http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/pdf/complaint.pdf |date=July 25, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210803/http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/pdf/complaint.pdf |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |df=mdy-all}} The jury in Churchill's suit for reinstatement weighed the university's claims of academic misconduct per jury instructions it received in the case. On April 1, 2009, the jury found that Churchill had been wrongly fired, and awarded $1 in damages. On July 7, 2009, Judge Larry Naves found that the university was entitled to quasi-judicial immunity as a matter of law, vacated the jury verdict, and determined that the university did not owe Churchill any financial compensation.{{cite news |title=No job, no money for Ward Churchill |first=Tom |last=McGhee |work=Denver Post |date=July 7, 2009 |url= http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12769291 |access-date=2009-07-07}}{{cite court |url= http://domainnameattorney.com/ward-churchill.pdf |litigants=Churchill v. University of Colorado |opinion=Order Granting Defendants' Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law and Denying Plaintiff's Motion for Reinstatement of Employment |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701000000*/http://domainnameattorney.com/ward-churchill.pdf |archive-date=1 July 2011 |url-status=dead}} Churchill appealed, but Judge Naves's decision was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals{{cite web |url= http://www.lawweekonline.com/2010/11/ward-churchill-wont-get-job-back-appeals-court-rules/ |title=Ward Churchill Won't Get Job Back, Appeals Court Rules|publisher= Law Week Colorado |date= November 24, 2010 |access-date=2010-11-26}}{{cite court|litigants=Churchill v. University of Colorado at Boulder |vol=293|reporter=P.3d|opinion=16 |pinpoint= |court=Colo. App.|date=November 24, 2010 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1476399561735171689|access-date= January 10, 2023|quote= |postscript= }} and by the Colorado Supreme Court.{{cite news|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-september-idUSBRE9300AL20130401 |title=Supreme Court declines to hear controversial professor's appeal |publisher=Reuters |date=2013-01-04|access-date=2013-01-04}}

{{cite court |litigants=Churchill v. University of Colorado at Boulder |vol=285 |reporter=P.3d |opinion=986 |pinpoint= |court=Colo. |date=September 10, 2012 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1164974651751151550

|access-date= January 10, 2023|quote= |postscript= }} On April 1, 2013, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Churchill's case.{{cite news |title=Ex-university professor Ward Churchill won't get Supreme Court appeal on firing |work=FoxNews.com |date=April 1, 2013 |url= https://www.foxnews.com/us/ex-university-professor-ward-churchill-wont-get-supreme-court-appeal-on-firing/}}{{cite court|litigants=Churchill v. University of Colorado at Boulder |vol=569|reporter=U.S.|opinion=904 |pinpoint= |court=|date=April 1, 2013 |url=

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11655396224721484042|access-date= January 10, 2023|quote= |postscript= }}

A 2011 report by the Colorado Committee to Protect Faculty Rights of the Colorado Conference of the American Association of University Professors investigating academic freedom at the University of Colorado - Boulder determined that Churchill's termination was unjustified.{{cite magazine|url= https://www.westword.com/news/cus-treatment-of-ward-churchill-phil-mitchell-makes-it-questionable-employer-report-finds-5899889 |title=CU's treatment of Ward Churchill, Phil Mitchell makes it questionable employer, report finds |magazine=Westword |date=2011-11-09|access-date=2018-07-28}}{{cite report |title=CCPFR Reports on the University of Colorado's Terminations of Phil Mitchell and Ward Churchill |publisher=Colorado Conference of the American Association of University Professorsdate=2011 |url= https://www.scribd.com/document/71999087/Mitchell-Churchill-Report?ad_group=725X1265248Xcd0a796752f362dd987b1e0e5000507e&campaign=SkimbitLtd&keyword=660149026&medium=affiliate&source=hp_affiliate}}

According to the University of Colorado investigation, Churchill's academic publications "are nearly all works of synthesis and reinterpretation, drawing upon studies by other scholars, not monographs describing new research based on primary sources." The investigation also noted that "he has decided to publish largely in alternative presses or journals, not in the university presses or mainstream peer-reviewed journals often favored by more conventional academics." Historian Gavriel Rosenfeld criticized Churchill for "numerous errors reflecting sloppy or hasty scholarship".{{cite journal |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=G. D. |title=The Politics of Uniqueness: Reflections on the Recent Polemical Turn in Holocaust and Genocide Scholarship |journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies |date=1999 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=28–61 |doi=10.1093/hgs/13.1.28}}

In 1986, Churchill wrote the essay "Pacifism as Pathology: Notes on an American Pseudopraxis" criticizing pacifist politics within the U.S. left as being hypocritical, de facto racist and ineffectual.{{cite web |last=Churchill |first=Ward |title=Pacifism as Pathology: Notes on An American Pseudopraxis |url= http://zinelibrary.info/files/pap_imposed.pdf |work=Zine Library |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120914103542/http://zinelibrary.info/files/pap_imposed.pdf |archive-date=September 14, 2012}}{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oaiJp3EoXWAC&q=%22Pacifism+as+Pathology%22&pg=PA35 |title=Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence |last=Orosco| first=José-Antonio |date=2008-01-01 |publisher=UNM Press |isbn=9780826343758 |pages=35–37}} In 1998, Arbeiter Ring Publishing published the essay in a book entitled Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America, listing Ward Churchill as the author. The book included a preface by Ed Mead (of the George Jackson Brigade), a new introduction to the essay by Churchill and a commentary by Michael Ryan. The book sparked much debate in leftist circles and inspired more aggressive tactics within the anti-globalization movement in the following few years.{{cite news |last=Kauffman |first=L. A. |title=Who were those masked anarchists in Seattle? |url= http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/10/anarchists/print.html |work=Salon.com |date=December 10, 1999 |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080304153844/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/10/anarchists/print.html |archive-date=March 4, 2008}} George Lakey, a co-founder of the pacifist Movement for a New Society, published a detailed response in 2001 titled "Nonviolent Action as the Sword that Heals: Challenging Ward Churchill's 'Pacifism As Pathology{{' "}}.{{cite book |last=Lakey |first=George |author-link=George Lakey |title=The Sword that Heals: Challenging Ward Churchill's 'Pacifism as Pathology' |date=2001 |publisher=Training for Change |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VVCLGwAACAAJ}}{{cite web |last=Lakey |first=George |author-link=George Lakey |title=Nonviolent Action as the Sword that Heals |url= http://trainingforchange.org/nonviolent_action_sword_that_heals |work=TrainingForChange.org |publisher=Training for Change |access-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090208223743/http://trainingforchange.org/nonviolent_action_sword_that_heals |archive-date=February 8, 2009 |date=March 1, 2001}} The 2007 edition published by AK Press includes a preface by Derrick Jensen.{{cite book |title=Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America |isbn=978-1904859185 |last1=Churchill |first1=Ward |date=2007|publisher=AK Press }} A third edition was published in 2017 by PM Press with updates by Churchill and Ryan, and a foreword by Dylan Rodríguez.{{cite news |last=Rai |first=Milan |title=Ward Churchill & Michael Ryan, Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America |url= https://peacenews.info/node/8908/ward-churchill-michael-ryan-pacifism-pathology-reflections-role-armed-struggle-north-ameri |work=Peace News |issue=2612–2613 |date=December 2017 |access-date=August 23, 2019}}

Churchill's Indians Are Us? (1994), a sequel to Fantasies of the Master Race, further explores Native American issues in popular culture and politics. He examines the movie Black Robe, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation killings, the prosecution of Leonard Peltier, sports mascots, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, and blood quantum laws, calling them tools of genocide. Churchill is particularly outspoken about New Age exploitations of shamanism and American Indian sacred traditions, and the "do-it-yourself Indianism" of certain contemporary authors. John P. LaVelle of the University of New Mexico School of Law published a review of Indians Are Us? in The American Indian Quarterly. Professor LaVelle, an enrolled member of the Santee Sioux Nation, states that Indians Are Us? twists historical facts and is hostile toward Indian tribes. It was in this book that Churchill first made the assertion that the United States distributed "smallpox-infested blankets" to Indian tribes, an assertion which he repeated several times over the next decade. The assertion has been criticized as a falsification.{{Cite journal|url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.5240451.0001.009|title=Did the U.S. Army Distribute Smallpox Blankets to Indians? Fabrication and Falsification in Ward Churchill's Genocide Rhetoric|first=Thomas|last=Brown|date=August 3, 2006|journal=Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification|hdl=2027/spo.5240451.0001.009}}

Churchill argues that in the American continent the Indigenous populations were subjected to a systematic campaign of extermination by settler colonialism: "For Churchill, the greatest series of genocides ever perpetrated in history - in terms of magnitude and duration - occurred in the Americas...".{{Cite journal |last1=Curthoys |first1=Ann |last2=Docker |first2=John |date=2001 |title=Introduction: Genocide: definitions, questions, settler-colonies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45135468 |journal=Aboriginal History |volume=25 |pages=1–15 |issn=0314-8769 |jstor=45135468 |quote=Churchill argues that settler-colonies around the world established during European expansion post-1492 in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina, are not only potentially but inherently genocidal...In Churchill's view, settler-colonies involve genocide in their very being.}} He discusses American policies such as the Indian Removal Act and the forced assimilation of Indigenous children in American Indian boarding schools operating in the mid-1800s to early 1900s.Ward, Churchill, A Little Matter Of Genocide: Holocaust And Denial In The Americas 1492 To The Present (San Francisco CA: City Lights Books, 1998) pages 1-17. {{ISBN|978-0-87286-323-1}} (paperback); {{ISBN|978-0-87286-343-9}} (hardcover). He has called manifest destiny an ideology used to justify dispossession and genocide against Native Americans, and compared it to Lebensraum ideology of Nazi Germany.{{Cite book |last=Churchill |first=Ward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Q30HcvCVuIC&q=manifest+destiny+genocide&pg=PA437 |title=Encyclopedia of Genocide |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-87436-928-1 |editor-last=Charny |editor-first=Israel W. |page=437 |quote=The size of the aggregate native North American population in 1500 is currently estimated at about 15 million. By 1890 it had been reduced by some 97.5 percent, to less than a quarter-million. That year, it was announced that "aboriginal land-holdings" amounted to only 2.5 percent of US territory. Anglo-America's professed "manifest destiny" to acquire "living space" by liquidating the "inferior" peoples who owned it had been fulfilled.}}

Churchill argues that the United States instituted blood quantum laws based upon rules of descendancy in order to further goals of personal enrichment and political expediency.{{cite web|url= http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_3838645%2C00.html |title=The charge: Mischaracterization |access-date=2017-05-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051225071656/http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_3838645%2C00.html |archive-date=December 25, 2005}}, The Rocky Mountain News; June 7, 2005 For decades in his writings, Churchill has argued that blood quantum laws have an inherent genocidal purpose. He says: "Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it [has] and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence".Churchill, Ward, Kill the Indian, Save the Man, San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 2004, p. 88

Churchill's assertions about the blood quantum were raised when research-misconduct allegations were brought against him in 2005 {{crossreference|printworthy=y|(see above)}}. He has been accused of using his interpretation of the Dawes Act to attack tribal governments that would not recognize him as a member. Oglala activist Russell Means has defended Churchill’s Native American identity, stating, “We are the only ethnic group in the world that has to prove our degree of blood, like the dogs and the horses.”{{cite web |url=https://www.laits.utexas.edu/africa/ads/431.html | title=USA/Africa Dialogue, No 431: Ward Churchill of Colorado: "What did I really say?" }}

Churchill wrote an essay in September 2001 entitled On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. In it, he argued that the September 11 attacks were provoked by U.S. foreign policy. He described the role of financial workers at the World Trade Center as an "ongoing genocidal American imperialism" comparable to the role played by Adolf Eichmann in organizing the Holocaust. In 2005, this essay drew attention after Hamilton College invited Churchill to speak. This led to both condemnations of Churchill and counter-accusations of McCarthyism by Churchill and his supporters. Following the controversy, the University of Colorado interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said, "While Professor Churchill has the constitutional right to express his political views, his essay on 9/11 has outraged and appalled us and the general public."

Churchill's subjects are often American Indian figures and other themes associated with Native American Culture. He uses historical photographs as source material for works.{{cite web |url= http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/news/artnetnews2/artnetnews3-15-05.asp |title=Artnet News: Art Troubles for WTC "Little Eichmanns" Critic |work=Artnet |date=March 15, 2005 |access-date=2007-07-26}} In the early 1990s at Santa Fe Indian Market, Churchill protested the passage of the 1990 Indian Arts and Crafts Act. It requires that, to identify and exhibit works as being by a Native American, artists and craftsmen must be enrolled in a Native American tribe or designated by a tribe as an artisan.Croteau 220–221

Churchill's 1981 serigraph Winter Attack was, according to Churchill and others, based on a 1972 drawing by the artist Thomas E. Mails.{{cite web |last=Chohan |first=Raj |title ='Original' Churchill Art Piece Creates Controversy |publisher=KCNC-TV (CBS Broadcasting) |date=February 24, 2005 |url =http://cbs4denver.com/local/ward.churchill.raj.2.541927.html |access-date =2008-01-16|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080906185147/http://cbs4denver.com/local/ward.churchill.raj.2.541927.html|archive-date=September 6, 2008}} Churchill printed 150 copies of Winter Attack and sold at least one of them. Other copies are available online for purchase. Churchill says that, when he produced Winter Attack, he publicly acknowledged that it was based on Mails's work. The online journal Artnet mentions Churchill's artwork and the controversy surrounding its originality.

In 1977, Churchill began living with Dora-Lee Larson. The relationship was later described in divorce documents as a common-law marriage. Larson filed for divorce in 1984 and asked to have her address kept secret because of “past violence and threats” from Churchill.

Churchill later married Marie Annette Jaimes, who also worked at the University of Colorado. Their marriage ended in 1995.

Churchill's third wife was Leah Kelly. On May 31, 2000, the 25-year-old Kelly was hit by a car and killed. Churchill has written that Kelly's death left a "crater" in his soul.

As of 2005, Churchill was married to Natsu Saito, a professor of ethnic studies.

In 2003, Churchill stated, "I am myself of Muscogee and Creek descent on my father's side, Cherokee on my mother's, and am an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians."{{cite journal |first=Ward |last=Churchill |title=An American Holocaust? The Structure of Denial|journal=Socialism and Democracy |date=2003 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=25–76 |url= http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm |doi=10.1080/08854300308428341|s2cid=143631746 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050206103859/http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm |archive-date=February 6, 2005 |df=mdy-all|url-access=subscription }}{{cite web|title=Ward Churchill |work=Ethnic Studies |publisher=University of Colorado |url= http://www.colorado.edu/EthnicStudies/faculty/churchill.html |access-date=2008-01-09 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080107003916/http://www.colorado.edu/EthnicStudies/faculty/churchill.html |archive-date=January 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy}} In 1992, Churchill wrote elsewhere that he is one-eighth Creek and one-sixteenth Cherokee.{{cite book |chapter=Federal Indian Identification Policy: A Usurpation of Indigenous Sovereignty in North America |title=The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization and Resistance |last=Jaimes |first=M. Annette |editor-last=Jaimes |editor-first=M. Annette| publisher=South End Press |location=Boston |date=1992 |isbn=0-89608-424-8 |pages=123–138 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rgO3XR2MRSsC}} Churchill told the University of Colorado investigative committee that he wrote this essay in its entirety.

In 1993, Churchill told the Colorado Daily that "he was one-sixteenth Creek and Cherokee."{{cite news |first=Jodi |last=Rave |title=Free Speech for Fake Indian |url= http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2005/02/12/news/opinion/opin338.txt |work=Rapid City Journal |date=February 12, 2005 |access-date=2008-07-27}} Churchill told the Denver Post in February 2005 that he is three-sixteenths Cherokee.{{cite news

| title=CU prof affirms Indian heritage: Tribe says he's not full member |first=Howard |last=Pankratz |work=Denver Post |url= https://www.denverpost.com/2005/06/08/cu-prof-affirms-indian-heritage/ |date=February 3, 2005}}

In a statement dated May 9, 2005, and posted on its website, the United Keetoowah Band said: "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". The Band added that Churchill's claims of Keetoowah enrollment were deemed fraudulent by the United Keetoowah Band.{{cite news |title=Tribe snubs prof: Cherokee band says Churchill's claim of membership a fraud |first=Charlie |last=Brennan |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=May 18, 2005 |url= http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3786590,00.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051126175832/http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3786590,00.html|archivedate=November 26, 2005|url-status=dead|accessdate=May 7, 2023}}

Two days later, the United Keetoowah Band replaced its earlier statement with the following: "Because Mr. Churchill had genealogical information regarding his alleged ancestry", and because he was willing "to assist the UKB in promoting the tribe and its causes, he was awarded an 'Associate Membership' as an honor". The Band clarified that Churchill "was not eligible for tribal membership due to the fact that he does not possess a 'Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB)", and added that associate membership did not entitle an individual to voting rights or enrollment in the tribe. The Band's spokesperson, Lisa Stopp, stated the tribe enrolls only members with certified one-quarter American Indian blood. While the United Keetoowah Band voted to stop awarding associate memberships in 1994,{{cite news |first=Kevin |last=Flynn |title=The Churchill files; Are Ward Churchill's claims of American Indian ancestry valid? |url= http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/churchill/indexDay5.shtml |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=June 9, 2005 |access-date=2007-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015344/http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/churchill/indexDay5.shtml |archive-date=October 1, 2007 |df=mdy-all}} the Band indicated in 2005 that Churchill still held an associate membership.{{cite news |title=Keetoowah Band says Churchill is honorary, Indian tribe states membership is not recognized |last=Clark |first=Elizabeth Mattern |publisher=Daily Camera.com |date=May 19, 2005 |url= http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2005/may/19/keetoowah-band-says-churchill-is-honorary |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090223203415/http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2005/may/19/keetoowah-band-says-churchill-is-honorary/ |archive-date=February 23, 2009 |df=mdy-all}}The Tahlequah Daily Press, February 4, 2005

Churchill has never asked for CDIB certification, and has said that he finds the idea of being "vetted" by the US government offensive.{{cite news |title=Tribe clarifies stance on prof: Milder statement explains Churchill's 'associate' label |first=Charlie |last=Brennan |work=Rocky Mountain News |date=May 21, 2005 |url= http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/may/21/tribe-clarifies-stance-on-prof/}}{{cite news |title=Tribe shifts stand, acknowledges Churchill's alleged Cherokee ancestry |first=Amy |last=Herdy |work=Denver Post |date=May 20, 2005 |url= http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2746403 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050522003926/http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2746403 |archive-date=May 22, 2005}}

In June 2005, the Rocky Mountain News published an article about Churchill's genealogy and family history. The newspaper's research "turned up no evidence of a single Indian ancestor" among 142 direct ancestors [of Churchill's] identified from records. The News reported that both Churchill's birth parents were listed as white on the 1930 census, as were all but two of his great-great-grandparents listed on previous census and other official documents. The News found that some of Churchill's accounts of where his ancestors had lived did not agree with documented records. Nevertheless, numerous members of Churchill's extended family have longstanding family legends of Indian ancestry among ancestors.

Some of Churchill's Native American critics, such as Vernon Bellecourt (White Earth Ojibwe) and Suzan Shown Harjo (Southern Cheyenne-Muscogee Creek), argue that without proof, his assertion of Native American ancestry might constitute misrepresentation.

In a 2005 interview in The Rocky Mountain News, Churchill said, "I have never been confirmed as having one-quarter blood, and never said I was. And even if [the critics] are absolutely right, what does that have to do with this issue? I have never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull."{{cite web| url=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/dec/24/year-in-quotes/ |work=Rocky Mountain News |title=Year in quotes |date=December 25, 2005}}

Churchill has been a leader of Colorado AIM's annual protests in Denver against the Columbus Day holiday and its associated parade.{{Cite web|url= http://www.transformcolumbusday.org/media/20050924-rm.htm|title=Rocky Mountain News: Columbus parade could see less strife|work=Transform Columbus Day}}

Books, as editor

• {{cite book

|date=1984

|title=Marxism and Native Americans

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-178-9

|url-access=registration

|url= https://archive.org/details/marxismnativeame0000unse

}}

• {{cite book

|editor=Sharon Venne

|date=1997

|title=Islands in Captivity: The International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-568-8

}} Re-released as {{cite book

|editor=Sharon Venne

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=2005

|title=Islands in Captivity: The Record of the International Tribunal on the Rights of Indigenous Hawaiians

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-738-5

}}

• {{cite book

|editor=Natsu Saito

|date=2006

|title=Confronting The Crime of Silence: Evidence of U.S. War Crimes in Indochina

|publisher=AK Press

|isbn=978-1-904859-21-5

}}

Books, as author and co-author

• {{cite book

|author=with Elisabeth Lloyd

|date=1984

|title=Culture versus Economism: Essays on Marxism in the Multicultural Arena

|publisher=Indigena Press

}}

• {{cite book

|author=with Jim Vander Wall

|date=1988

|title=Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-294-6

|url-access=registration

|url= https://archive.org/details/agentso_chu_1988_00_5587

}}

• {{cite book

|author=with Jim Vander Wall

|date=1990

|title=The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret War Against Domestic Dissent

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-359-2

}}

• {{cite book

|date=1992

|title=Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, Cinema, and the Colonization of American Indians

|url= https://archive.org/details/fantasiesofmaste00chur

|url-access=registration

|publisher=Common Courage Press

|isbn=978-0-87286-348-4

}}

• {{cite book

|editor=Jennie and Jim Vander Wall

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=1992

|title=Cages of Steel: The Politics of Imprisonment in America

|edition=Activism, Politics, Culture, Theory, Vol. 4

|publisher=Maisonneuve Press

|isbn=978-0-944624-17-3

}} Re-released as {{cite book

|editor-first=Jim |editor-last=Vander Wall

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=2004

|title=Politics of Imprisonment in the United States

|publisher=AK Press

|isbn=978-1-904859-12-3

}}

• {{cite book

|date=1993

|title=Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America

|url= https://archive.org/details/struggleforlandi0000chur

|url-access=registration

|publisher=Common Courage Press

|isbn=978-1-56751-001-0

}} Revised and expanded edition: {{cite book

|date=2002

|title=Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization

|publisher=City Lights Books

|location=San Francisco CA

|isbn=978-0-87286-415-3

}}

• {{cite book

|date=1994

|title=Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America

|publisher=Common Courage Press

|isbn=978-1-56751-021-8

|url= https://archive.org/details/indiansareus00ward

}}

• {{cite book

|date=1995

|title=Since Predator Came: Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation

|publisher=Aigis Press

|isbn=978-1-883930-03-5

|url= https://archive.org/details/sincepredatorcam00chur

}}

• {{cite book

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=1996

|title=From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism 1985–1995

|publisher=South End Press

|location=Boulder, Colorado

|isbn=978-0-89608-553-4

|url= https://archive.org/details/fromnativeson00ward

}}

• {{cite book

|author=with Mike Ryan (introduction by Ed Mead)

|date=1998

|title=Pacifism as Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America

|publisher=Arbeiter Ring

|isbn=978-1-894037-07-5

|title-link=Pacifism as Pathology: Notes on an American Pseudopraxis

}}

• {{cite book

|date=1998

|title=A Little Matter of Genocide

|publisher=City Lights Books

|location=San Francisco CA

|isbn=978-0-87286-343-9

| title-link=A Little Matter of Genocide

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2000

|title=Draconian Measures: The History of FBI Political Repression

|publisher=Common Courage Press

|isbn=978-1-56751-059-1

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2002

|title=Acts Of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader

|publisher=Routledge

|isbn=978-0-415-93156-4

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2002

|title=Perversions of Justice: Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law

|publisher=City Lights Books

|location=San Francisco CA

|isbn=978-0-87286-416-0

|url= https://archive.org/details/perversionsofjus00chur

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2003

|title=On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality

|publisher=AK Press

|isbn=978-1-902593-79-1

|url= https://archive.org/details/onjusticeofroost00chur

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2004

|title=Kill the Indian, Save the Man: The Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools

|publisher=City Lights Books

|location=San Francisco CA

|isbn=978-0-87286-434-4

|url= https://archive.org/details/killindiansavema00chur

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2004

|title=Speaking Truth in the Teeth of Power: Lectures on Globalization, Colonialism, and Native North America

|publisher=AK Press

|isbn=978-1-904859-04-8

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2005

|title=To Disrupt, Discredit And Destroy: The FBI's Secret War Against The Black Panther Party

|publisher=Routledge

|isbn=978-0-415-92957-8

}}

• {{cite book

|date=2017

|title=Wielding Words like Weapons: Selected Essays in Indigenism, 1995–2005

|publisher=PM Press

|isbn=978-1-629-63101-1

}}

Articles

• {{cite journal|first=Ward |last=Churchill |date=July–September 1992 |title=I Am Indigenist: Notes on the Ideology of the Fourth World |journal=Z Papers |volume=1 |issue=3 |url= http://www.zmag.org/Chiapas1/wardindig.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20010916092312/http://www.zmag.org/chiapas1/wardindig.htm |archive-date=September 16, 2001}}
• {{cite web

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=1994

|title=Let's Spread the Fun Around

|publisher=American Indian Movement of Colorado, Denver/Boulder Chapter

|url= http://www.coloradoaim.org/Wardchurchillspreadthefunaround.htm

|url-status=dead

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070912073326/http://coloradoaim.org/Wardchurchillspreadthefunaround.htm

|archive-date=September 12, 2007

|df=mdy-all

}} First published as "Crimes Against Humanity" in {{cite book

|first=Margaret |last=Anderson |editor-first=Patricia |editor-last=Hill

|title=Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology

|url= https://archive.org/details/raceclassgendera00ande |url-access=registration |date= 1994 |publisher=Wadsworth |location=Belmont, CA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/raceclassgendera00ande/page/366 366]–73

|isbn=9780534247683 }} Also published under the titles "The Indian Chant and the Tomahawk Chop" and "Using Indian Names as Mascots Harms Native Americans".

• {{cite journal

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=November 1998

|title=Smoke Signals: A History of Native Americans in Cinema

|journal=LiP Magazine

|url= http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/revichurchill_35.htm

}}

• {{cite journal

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=Winter–Spring 2003

|title=An American Holocaust? The Structure of Denial

|journal=Socialism and Democracy

|volume=17

|issue=2

|pages=25–76

|url= http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm

|doi=10.1080/08854300308428341

|s2cid=143631746

|url-status=dead

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050206103859/http://www.sdonline.org/33/ward_churchill.htm

|archive-date=February 6, 2005

|df=mdy-all

|url-access=subscription

}}

• {{cite journal|first=Ward |last=Churchill |date=Spring 2005 |title=The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice and Roosting Chickens |journal=Alternative Press Review |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=45–56 |url= http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=352&page=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061002092543/http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=352&page=1 |archive-date=October 2, 2006}}
• {{cite journal

|first=Ward

|last=Churchill

|date=July–August 2007

|journal=Left Turn

|volume=25

|pages=25–29

|title=The Fourth World: Struggles for Traditional Lands and Ways of Life

|url= http://www.leftturn.org/?q=node/695

}}

Audio and video

• Doing Time: The Politics of Imprisonment, audio CD of a lecture, recorded at the Doing Time Conference at the University of Winnipeg, September 2000 (AK Press, 2001, {{ISBN|978-1-902593-47-0}})
• Life in Occupied America (AK Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-902593-72-2}})
• In a Pig's Eye: Reflections on the Police State, Repression, and Native America (AK Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-1-902593-50-0}})
• US Off the Planet!: An Evening In Eugene With Ward Churchill And Chellis Glendinning, VHS video recorded July 17, 2001 (Cascadia Media Collective, 2002)
• Pacifism and Pathology in the American Left, 2003 audio CD recorded at an AK Press warehouse in Oakland (AK Press Audio)
• [https://archive.today/20040829135321/http://www.zmag.org/churchillaudio.html Z Mag Ward Churchill Audio] August 10, 2003 and earlier
• [http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050209_news.html Churchill Speaks About Academic Freedom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050219133641/http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050209_news.html |date=February 19, 2005 }} – Free Speech Radio News February 9, 2005
• [http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050203_news.html Ward Churchill Under Fire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315010641/http://www.fsrn.org/news/20050203_news.html |date=March 15, 2005 }} – Free Speech Radio News, February 3, 2005.
• [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/18/157211 The Justice of Roosting Chickens: Ward Churchill Speaks] The [http://www.pacifica.org Pacifica] Network Show, [http://democracynow.org/ Democracy Now!] from February 18, 2005, features extended Audio/Video exclusive interview with Churchill.
• [http://www.makingthelinksradio.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=2 "A Little Matter of Genocide: Linking U.S. Aggression Abroad to the Domestic Repression of Indigenous Peoples"], recorded in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, on March 19, 2005
• Debate with David Horowitz and Ward Churchill at George Washington University April 6, 2006
• {{cite web

|title=Full two-hour audio of debate with David Horowitz

|work=rightalk.listenz.com

|url=http://rightalk.listenz.com/!ARCHIVES/ChurchillVSHorowitz2-64-44M.mp3

|access-date=2006-07-02

|archive-date=June 19, 2007

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070619192424/http://rightalk.listenz.com/!ARCHIVES/ChurchillVSHorowitz2-64-44M.mp3

|url-status=dead

}}

• {{cite web

|title=David Horowitz vs. Ward Churchill — Round 1

|work=Young Americans Foundation

|url= http://media.yaf.org/latest/03_21_06.cfm

|access-date=2006-07-02

|url-status=dead

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060428033206/http://media.yaf.org/latest/03_21_06.cfm

|archive-date=April 28, 2006

|df=mdy-all

}} Video and audio (excerpt)

• {{cite web

|title =David Horowitz vs. Ward Churchill

|work=insidehighered.com

|url= http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/04/07/debate

|access-date=2006-07-02

}}

• List of scientific misconduct incidents
• Pretendian

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• Brown, Thomas. [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/plag/5240451.0001.009/--did-the-us-army-distribute-smallpox-blankets-to-indians?rgn=main;view=fulltext "Did the U.S. Army Distribute Smallpox Blankets to Indians? Fabrication and Falsification in Ward Churchill's Genocide Rhetoric"] University of Michigan, 2006. ([https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/did-the-us-army-distribute-smallpox-blankets-to-indians.pdf?c=plag;idno=5240451.0001.009;format=pdf PDF version] also available.)
• Chapman, Roger. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC&dq=Ward%20LeRoy%20Churchill%20(born%20October%202%2C%201947)&pg=PA93 Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, Volume 1]. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-7656-1761-3}}.
• Croteau, Susan Ann. [https://books.google.com/books?id=faz2AQzuJKoC&dq=Croteau%20Indian%20art&pg=PA65 "But it doesn't look Indian": Objects, archetypes and objectified others in Native American art, culture, and identity]. University of California, Los Angeles, 2008.

{{American Indian Movement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Ward}}

Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

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Category:American political writers

Category:G7 Welcoming Committee Records artists

Category:American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent

Category:Members of the American Indian Movement

Category:People from Elmwood, Illinois

Category:Scholars of Marxism

Category:University of Colorado Boulder faculty

Category:University of Illinois at Springfield alumni

Category:Writers from Urbana, Illinois

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:American people who self-identify as being of Muscogee descent

Category:Academic scandals

Category:Racial impostors