In a 2005 interview in The Rocky Mountain News , Churchill said , " I have never been confirmed as having one @-@ quarter blood , and never said I was . And even if [ the critics ] are absolutely right , what does that have to do with this issue ? I have never claimed to be goddamned Sitting Bull . " The longtime indigenous activist Russell Means said in February of that year , " So I want , from this day forward , every media person nationally , internationally and locally to know that we have ascertained that Ward Churchill is a full @-@ blooded Indian leader . "