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Hawaii Paper Misquotes Churchill, Issues Correction

Beleagured Ethnic Studies Professor Ward Churchill suffers another indignation at the hands of MSM (mainstream media for those of you just joining the conversation.) The Honolulu Star Bulletin yesterday quoted Churchill as saying he was not a Native American. Confronted with the audio and video of his speech, the paper has retracted its claim.

"In fact, he said the exact opposite," [Professor]Stannard said. "It's all over the place now (on the Internet). How do you put it back in a bottle? This gives strength to his argument that he is being misrepresented by the media."

.... Star-Bulletin reporter Craig Gima said he was standing at the back of the room and may have misheard Churchill....after a day-long search for a tape, and an evening spent listening, Star-Bulletin city editor Ed Lynch said the paper would be publishing a correction today. "He said, 'Lets cut to the chase on that,"' Lynch said. "We're going to have to publish a retraction."

Here's what Churchill actually said, according to today's Star Bulletin:

But a review of video and audio tapes of the speech shows that Churchill actually said: "Is he an Indian? We really care. We're trying to protect the rights of Indians to divine for themselves, say this circle of flies in the form of white reporters circling a manure pile like it's of all consequential importance. Cut to the chase on that."

Churchill went on to say that he is an associate member of the Keetoowah tribe and that associates are enrolled in the band after their genealogy has been vetted by the enrollment office. He said that he is less than one-quarter Indian, so he does not qualify to be a full member.

Too bad the paper didn't have enough integrity to accompany its correction with an apology. Not even a "We regret the error."

Not only that, but the paper reports there were 800 in attendance at Churchill's University of Hawaii speech, and most were favorable to Churchill:

The crowd was mostly sympathetic to Churchill, a University of Colorado ethnic studies professor. He was applauded more than a dozen times and was greeted at least three times with standing ovations.

There were about a dozen protestors. But check out the photos accompanying the article. They highlight four persons in attendance, every single one holding a protest sign.

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    Do you propose taking his Vietnam veteran status away? I don't see what this has to do with the Democrats, since his views have not been endorsed by any of them, so perhaps you are making that part up. If you are, please explain why.

    [deleted for name calling] Well I can see he will make the democrats proud.....

    Re: Hawaii Paper Misquotes Churchill, Issues Corre (none / 0) (#3)
    by Linkmeister on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 10:26:16 AM EST
    The local tv stations (on Oahu) were a little better with their "man on the street" interviews pre-speech. They got people who espoused Voltaire (without quoting him) as well as those who called it hate speech. We had only one state legislator publicly howling about the invitation, although the letters pages of both papers have been full of pro- and anti- content.

    `Why did it take a bunch of Arabs to do what you all should have done a long time ago,' ~ Ward Churchill The democrats seem to be supporting Mr Churchill, so I made that wisecrack.. 3,000 unarmed American civilians die at the hands of terrorist and this guy says, why did it take so long! The public vociferation should be so great that Mr Churchill feels very unwelcome here.

    Burger Boy, Churchill is welcome here and anywhere else to express his views. That doesn't mean we have to agree with them but we defend his right to have them and publicly state them. Please, four comments a day max from you, okay?

    Re: Hawaii Paper Misquotes Churchill, Issues Corre (none / 0) (#6)
    by jerry on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 10:46:12 AM EST
    I haven't heard any liberal or Democrat yet express any other sentiment to me other than the desire to high-five this lunatic...

    Jerry and BurgerBoy are typical of the right wing: make stuff up to smear the opposition. Keep it up, and one of you could be the chair of the NY GOP one day.

    I still think that you made it up. If you HAD not made it up, you would have presented specific instances of notable "Democrats" endorsing his views. As it is, any real American will support his right to express any view no matter how offensive. Of course I disagree with him. Ironically, even though I caught you in a lie (a big one, which you repeated), I support your right to make stuff up w/o criminal sanction. Have a nice day. Tomorrow, if possible could you lie about the Norwegians. We have not heard any anti-Norwegian lies in a long time, and I am angry at a specific Norwegian, so I think that one of your trademark "lies" will make me much happier. Thanks and god bless.

    I haven't heard any liberal or Democrat yet express any other sentiment to me other than the desire to high-five this lunatic... Well, let me help you with that, Jerry. I'm a liberal. I'm a Democrat. I don't agree with Churchill's remarks. Personally, I find his opinion uninteresting. No high fives for Ward. On a related matter, I don't think it's good policy to knuckle under to a lynch mob mentality that seeks to weed out college professors because they hold unpopular opinions. As soon as you start doing that, professors become reluctant to have any opinions other than the "approved" ones. See?

    I have not heard ANYONE express agreement with the substance of his argument. Perhaps someone could prove me wrong by showing the text of a Democratic senator or representatives's statements on the matter. Until then, I think that they are lying. I understand that different cultures have different conceptions of "truth" and some people say that we must be receptive to them. However, in my culture, it usually is better to not lie.

    TL I don’t advocate for Mr Churchill to lose the right to free speech. I support his right to jabber. Mr Churchill shows his complete lack of knowledge about the history of Islamic terrorism the middle east and their view of the west. I am not saying America is perfect. But our wrong doings do not justify the lunatic actions of terrorist, as Mr Churchill so declares. Noname @ 11:19am I am just following Maurice Hinchey’s (D NY) example..... It would be political suicide to agree publicly with Mr anti-America, I don’t think the democrats can afford that right now. More of the left seem to be supportive of our enemies than the right, so why wouldn’t they support Ward? Quaker I agree about the job thing to a point. But I think Mr Churchill goes just a bit to far... It is ludicrous to think that one can make such inflammatory remarks and not suffer some repercussions.

    It is ludicrous to think that one can make such inflammatory remarks and not suffer some repercussions. Allright then. What are the proper "repercussions" one should suffer for holding unpopular ideas?