I had the pleasure of speaking with author, academic and American Indian Movement worker Ward Churchill last night. I'd been concerned prior to the meeting because my recollection of interviews with him and speeches by him I'd seen suggested he was fairly gruff.Instead he was kind, thoughtful and generous with his time. We talked extensively about politics, of course, but later I asked him what artists, books or films he enjoyed. He cracked me up when he said the last film he'd seen and liked was Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.
There is a very slight resemblance between Churchill and Kurt Russell, but that's just a coincidence. Anyway, meeting someone you've admired for a long time can be difficult, since not everyone is very nice.
But Churchill was extremely nice, down to earth, and decent. I can't recommend highly enough his book (co-written with Jim Vander Wall) Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret War Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement.
Posted by Malcolm Azania.
