US History Professor Denies Native Genocide, Expels Student for Disagreeing

Chiitaanibah Johnson, a 19-year-old Native American sophomore at Cal State Sacramento University, was expelled from her course after she disagreed with her US History Professor Maury Wiseman about his assessment that Native Americans did not face genocide.

According to the account of the university student, “The whole thing started on Wednesday,” Johnson told weekly online newsletter Indian Country Today Media Network (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.”

Johnson was offended but she did not respond to the professor’s comments. The next day the professor made a point to say that the indigenous people were not peaceful and were killing each other before the white people arrived.

Johnson says that she understands that there were native conflicts before settlers arrived, but when the professor talked about the bravery of Portuguese explorers without mentioning the slave trade, she again grew upset.

Johnson says that when she asked why the professor did not talk about any 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.

“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,” Johnson told ICTMN.

After a few minutes into the debate the professor dismissed the class and told Johnson that she was expelled from the course.

“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.'”

Johnson says she feels stunned by the close-mindedness and injustice of her situation. She also was disappointed that no students came to her defense.

“I have been dealing with this kind of racism since I was a little girl,” Johnson said.

The Johnson family said 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 effort to reach a cordial resolution.

The professor has not responded to ICTMN’s requests for comment. The Sacramento State History Department has issued a tweet stating Johnson was not expelled from the course.