[lbo-talk] Ward Churchill responds to U. of Colorado investigation]

[Charles Brown]

Reading the U of Col investigative report section on "Evidence concerning
the spread of small pox  at Fort Clark in 1837", there is reference to
several claims that the Mandan's _did_ contract the small pox from a blanket
that some whites had on a steamboat. So, the "offiicial" , ok, evidence from
white people says that the small pox came from a blanket or blankets.

 
These sources also claim that the blanket was "stolen" by Indians. But these
people could be lying about it being stolen.  At this point, it looks like
to me that the U of Col committee's claim against Churchill on the Fort
Clark issue relies very much on the word of the people who claimed the
blanket was _stolen_.  It is just very possible that an accusation by whites
of Indians "stealing" in this time is a lie. If Churchill assumes that they
were lying , then he is warranted in hypothesizing that the blanket was
given on purpose.

 

  Once the investigating committee accepts that there is reliable evidence
that the small pox was spread to the Indians from a blanket that white
people had, they are in big trouble in concluding that Churchill is
definitely "fabricating" the idea that it was deliberately spread, because
of the real possibility that the people were lying that the blanket was
stolen.

  To try to say it quickly, the investigative committee is unwarranted in
reaching such a _definite_ conclusion that Churchill's conclusion is not
supported by the evidence. The evidence had does not demonstrate that the
small pox was definitely _not_ spread to the Indians on purpose by whites
giving them infected blankets.  Churchill's conclusions are not as
unwarranted or as definitely unwarranted as the investigative committee
would have to claim.

 
Charles