What happened to the ‘melting pot’?
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Editor,
“About 77 percent of people living in American Indian and Alaska Native areas are non-Indian,” according to a recent census report. “Roughly half of American Indian women are married to non-Indians,” the Justice Department has said. Pretty interesting statistics, wouldn’t you say?
My own children are 1/8 Cherokee-Blackfoot mix. So, should they respect their “Indian heritage” at the expense of their 7/8 non-Indian heritage and accept government subsidies for that minority status? I think not. Should those on our reservation respect their blended down 1/4 Indian heritage (that allows them to be registered members of an exclusive club receiving “subsidies”) at the expense of their 3/4 non-tribal heritage? I think not.
Doesn’t that make them 3/4 sovereign American and 1/4 sovereign whatever tribe and, in a “democracy,” that swings their allegiance to “American”? I believe it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said that he wanted his children judged on the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. The glaring hypocrisy of claiming personal value based on a minority heritage is outside the box of rational thinking, in any society.
People living in the “sandpit” of the Middle East are killing (that’s murdering) each other for their religious persuasions and genealogy. It’s now coming to America. Do you still want to claim your minority status and be left to fend for yourselves? Is that the prudent thing to do in the coming era?
Once you cross the line, as in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” there’s no coming back. You want special privilege based on a unique trait; you run the risk of being left out there alone when the clans gather – memories are long and when tied to emotion, often very strong. We seem to be titrating out solids from the melting pot.
Michael Gale
Ronan
