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<h2>History Professor Denies Native Genocide: Native Student
Disagreed, Then Says Professor Expelled Her From Course</h2>
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<div class="field-item even"><a class="node-detail-author"
href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/advanced/search?fq[0]=ts_field_full_name%3AVincent%20Schilling">Vincent
Schilling</a><br>
<b><small><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/06/history-professor-denies-native-genocide-native-student-disagrees-gets-expelled-course">http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/06/history-professor-denies-native-genocide-native-student-disagrees-gets-expelled-course</a></small></small></small></small></b><br>
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<div class="field-item even">9/6/15</div>
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<p>A Cal State Sacramento University professor who allegedly
told his United States History class he did not like the
term ‘genocide’ in relation to Native Americans in
history, told a Native American student who disagreed with
him that she was disenrolled and expelled from his course.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The Sacramento State History Department has
issued a tweet stating Johnson was not expelled from the
course. You can read the article update here: <a
href="http://bit.ly/1JKjMDS">Sac State History Dept
Tweets - "Student Not Disenrolled." </a></p>
<p>The account is according to Native university student,
Chiitaanibah Johnson (Navajo/Maidu) a 19-year-old
sophomore student at Cal State Sacramento University.</p>
<p>Johnson says when she told her U.S. History Professor
Maury Wiseman that she disagreed with his assessment that
Native Americans did not face genocide, the professor said
she was hijacking his class, and that she was accusing him
of bigotry and racism.</p>
<p>The professor then dismissed the class early, apologized
for Johnson’s disruptions and told her she was disenrolled
at the end of the class on Friday.</p>
<p>“The whole thing started on Wednesday,” Johnson told
ICTMN. “He was talking about Native America and he said
the word genocide. He paused and said ‘I don't like to use
that word because I think it is too strong for what
happened’ and ‘genocide implies that it was on purpose and
most native people were wiped out by European diseases.'"</p>
<p>Johnson, who was offended, did not at first respond to
the professor’s comments.</p>
<p>“I wrote it down. I was enraged for what I felt were
obvious reasons. I didn't say anything [on Wednesday]
because I knew that if I didn't have anything specific to
back it up in terms of tangible or solid evidence that he
would not take my comments into consideration,” she said.</p>
<p>On Friday, Johnson presented her research to the
professor after his discussion on the Iroquois Confederacy
and the Portuguese expeditions.</p>
<p>“He made it a point to say indigenous people were not
peaceful. I was upset for obvious reasons. He'd mentioned
how the French and the Dutch were allies and made it a
point to say native people were killing each other before
white settlers arrived.”</p>
<p>Johnson says that she understands that there were native
conflicts before settlers arrived, but when the professor
talked about the bravery of Portuguese expeditions without
emphasis on the slave trade she again grew upset.</p>
<p>“On Friday, I raised my hand and I said, ‘I understand
why we're talking about the Portuguese people because it
explains how they got to America. But I do not think it is
fair to talk about Portuguese people as if they were only
poor and brave. They became rich by raping and enslaving
the indigenous lands and people that they "discovered,'"
says Johnson.</p>
<p>Johnson says that when she asked why the professor did
not talk about any sort of Iroquoian technological
advances or spirituality and then asked about her
professor's stance on genocide, the professor grew
volatile and rolled his eyes several times.</p>
<p>“I told him, ‘You said genocide implies the purposeful
extermination of people and that they were mostly wiped
out by European diseases.' I said, 'That is not a true
statement.'</p>
<p>“He said, ‘Genocide is not what happened.’ I stood up and
started reading from an article by the United Nations that
said: 'Genocide is the deliberate killing of another
people, a sterilization of people and/or a kidnapping of
their children,' and he said, ‘That is enough.’</p>
<p>"I said, ‘No. You have to tell the truth.’</p>
<p>"He said, 'If you want to come talk to me after class,
now is not the time, you are hijacking my class.'”</p>
<p>After a bit more discussion which Johnson says became
heated, the professor dismissed the class. Additionally,
other students defended the professor. </p>
<p>“He said, ‘You know what class? I am so sorry to
everybody that this is happening. Please everyone come
back on Wednesday have a good weekend.'"</p>
<p>After the class was dismissed, Johnson said she was
expelled from the course by her professor.</p>
<p>“He said, ‘I do not appreciate this in my classroom.’ He
began shaking his finger at me and said, 'I don't
appreciate you making me sound like a racist and a bigot
in my classroom. You have hijacked my lesson, taken
everything out of context and I don't care what kind of
scholarship you have, or what kind of affiliation you have
with the university, you will be disenrolled and expelled
from this classroom.'”</p>
<p>“Within 10 minutes of me asking these questions and
trying to read pieces from the article, he shut me down.
He wasn't listening. He excused everyone out of the room
and told me I was expelled from the class,” says Johnson.</p>
<p>Since being told she was expelled from the course on
Friday, Johnson says she feels overwhelmed by the
close-mindedness and injustice of her situation. She also
was disappointed that no students came to her defense.</p>
<p>“I had zero support from anybody in the classroom,” says
Johnson. “All of the research I had done was very
traumatizing - to read about babies being slammed into
rocks being held from their ankles, to hear of people
being lit on fire while they were still alive, to hear of
them being disemboweled, and having their arms and hands
chopped off .”</p>
<p>“I know these things are true. I have been told about
them personally from my great-grand parents and
grandparents and my mother who was in boarding school.”</p>
<p>“To be kicked out of the classroom so quickly, I was
floored and I thought, 'Are you kidding me? This was the
third day of class, and already you're going to completely
expel me?' I didn't call him names, I did not say he was
racist, I did not use foul language - yes, I raised my
voice because he raised his voice at me and was talking
over me and wouldn't let me say anything. I felt like I
had my feet completely kicked out from under me. I felt
like I approached the situation in a way that a student of
the university level is supposed to approach a
disagreement with the professor.”</p>
<p>“I have been dealing with this kind of racism since I was
a little girl,” says Johnson.</p>
<p>The Johnson family has told ICTMN that their next step in
this matter is for their daughter to write a respectful
letter to the university History Department chair as well
as to the head of the University in an attempt to reach an
amicable resolution.</p>
<p>Since Friday, ICTMN has reached out to the University of
Sacramento about the incident, their Provost of the
University has responded and expressed they will be
investigating this matter. The professor has not responded
to our phone or email requests for comment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Follow ICTMN's Vincent Schilling (Akwesasne Mohawk) on
twitter - <a href="http://twitter.com/VinceSchilling">@VinceSchilling</a></p>
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<address>Read more at <a
href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/06/history-professor-denies-native-genocide-native-student-disagrees-gets-expelled-course"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/06/history-professor-denies-native-genocide-native-student-disagrees-gets-expelled-course">http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/09/06/history-professor-denies-native-genocide-native-student-disagrees-gets-expelled-course</a></a></address>
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