College Insurrection is reporting that Providence College invited anti-racist educator and writer Tim Wise to speak on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Wise used the opportunity not only to address racism, but also to attack the Catholic Church.

Wise said that the Catholic Church was directly involved in the slaughter of Native Americans. His remarks, which received applause, included:

The Church was directly implicated in the conquest of the Southwest. It was directly implicated in sending indigenous children to boarding schools to strip them of their culture, to cut their hair, to kill the Indian and save the man for Jesus.

So I think we can actually say that the Church has some blood on its hands that it must now atone for, and it doesn’t get to atone for it by simply carrying the cross and saying we’re all made in the image of God.

We’ve made the image of God a white man, and it’s on crucifixes at this college. Western Christianity has decided that God looks like my people.

Wise is a frequent lecturer on the college circuit, and a member of Speak Out!'s national network. Speak Out was founded in 1990 as part of the non-profit Institute for Social and Cultural Change which included the publishing house South End Press and Z Magazine.

Speak Out! facilitates speakers on many topics, including: gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues and reproductive rights. Its campus advisory board includes Ricardo Ariza, director of the office of multicultural affairs at Creighton University in Omaha, NE and Denise Witzig, coordinator of the Women's Studies program at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, CA.

Wise is speaking at the College of St. Benedict on March 11.

Wise defended his comments on his website.

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