Our Heritage

The other day I overheard a conversation between a Black man and his son. It was a touching conversation, as I heard it. We should be proud of who we are and where we come from. But after reflection, I feel that the Father missed a major point. It is true, I certainly agree that we should be proud of our heritage. But the gist of the conversation was that being Black is sufficient reason for being proud. In fact, I feel that a great part of the racial tension in America is that we place too much emphasis on the color of our own skin than the accomplishments that we have achieved.

As a middle-aged, middle-class man, with mixed Native American heritage and White heritage, I feel that there should have been much more said. Don’t get mad and quit reading before I have a chance to say that there is nothing wrong about being Black, or being Native, or being White, or Asian or anything else. You should, whatever your race, be proud of those who came before you. Every race, without exception, has had those who have achieved greatness. We should celebrate their achievements. But, we should not lay personal claim to the achievements of others. Those achievements are what made those people great and have nothing at all to do with us. Just as every race has those we would rather not claim, we should condemn their actions. And those actions do not make us bad people.

This is where the conversation I overheard was lacking, What does the achievements of our forefathers do with who we are? In the case of the Black man I overheard speaking, it is true that Martin Luther King was a great man. His actions, and those of other men of his time and before, made it possible for Blacks today to have more opportunity than they would have had otherwise. But, how does this alone make an individual Black today better? We achieve greatness because of what we do as individuals, not what others before us have done. I do want to make it clear that this problem exists in all races. There are those who are Whites, Natives, Asians and mixed races who believe that living on welfare is honorable - the best way to go. These who believe that it is good to live off the labor or others are missing one great point. If you take from those who work and give to those who do not, then you take away the initiative to succeed.

Unless I am missing something, many Blacks - those who sit back and the Government take care of them rather than working to better themselves, are letting Martin Luther King down. His struggle was to give them a greater opportunity to be equal. Yet, today, with all the concessions aimed at raising the standard of the Blacks, they seem to be sinking lower. Perhaps it is not possible for the Government to raise the level of a society. Perhaps only the effort and intuitive of the individual can raise their level.

To be sure, many are doing well. I have several Black friends who have achieved success. And they are proud of their accomplishments. Those who are successful did not achieve greatness because of Government handouts. These did not achieve greatness because of Martin Luther King. Perhaps it is because of King that the door to success was unlocked. But it was they who opened the door and entered. Individual intuitive is what makes greatness.

I have many ancestors in my Native American heritage of whom I am proud. And, from the White side of my family, there are many more. However, this pride is OF my ancestors. I am proud of their accomplishments - of what they contributed in their time. But that pride is a lesser pride than that I feel of myself. I am proud of what I have accomplished in my life. I am proud of the overcoming the obstacles that have been between me and success. I am proud of the way my children have turned out. I am proud I who I am. My great ancestors have not made me a better person. Just as Thorfinn “the Skullsplitter” (my 27th Great Grand Father) does not make me a hooligan.

And, who we are, who we have become, have nothing to do with my ancestors. They didn’t bring us to this point. The individual decisions we have made on our own have brought us to this point.

But what I really want to talk about is the coming election. It seems that have a candidate who seems to be more proud of his Black heritage than warrants. To be sure, he does have some Black blood. And, he has some White blood. That, in my opinion, makes him mixed. There is nothing wrong with being mixed. I am mixed, part Native, part White. The truth is, most of us are of mixed blood. But, what does the race of his Ancestors have to do with his ability to run the country?

What does Barak Obama have to be proud of? Look at his record. What is his contribution to society? What is his record on Taxes? What is his record on worker’s rights? What is his record on Human Rights? What is his record on Immigration? What is his record on voting attendance? What is his record on abortion? What is his record on person rights? What does he really mean by “redistribute the wealth”? What is his record on energy independence? Do we really know enough about this man to allow him to be the leader of our country?

Be cautious of listening to him talk about his plans. Be cautious of listening to ANY candidate talking about their plans for the future. What is more important, what is more telling about their character, is their past record on the issues. It is easy to say “I will work to help the poor achieve a livable wage!” Any candidate can say that. But, when we look at the past record, we can see where the truth really is. When we look at their past associations, we can tell something about their character.

Obama claims to be for change. However, what are we changing? Some parts of our country are working well. Some things don’t need changed. And those things that do need changed, need to be changed for the better.

If I were bleeding from my finger, I have a problem. I need that problem addressed. And, I need change. However, cutting off my hand isn’t the solution. Sure, the hand isn’t bleeding anymore. But, I have a more pressing problem to deal with.

One thing that needs changed is the entire election process. We are forced to choose between the few candidates that are brought forward. Many who would like to become president, some who could do a great job, are never given a real opportunity to run. And, we are left with no real choice at all.

Sure, we have the opportunity to vote for candidate A, or candidate B. And, perhaps there is another candidate who doesn’t have a real chance to win, but voting for this candidate may alter the outcome of the election and give us the President we really didn‘t want to have. But we are limited to voting for these few people that we don‘t really think has our, nor America‘s best interest at heart.

For us to have a real choice, we should be able to vote for “none of the above”. What would accomplish? This would give us, the people, the right to tell the parties that neither of the candidates they have offered meet our approval. And, if this is the case, then a new election must be held. And, none of the candidates that ran in the first election can run in the new election. Therefore, the parties will be forced to come up with REAL and viable candidates. We, the People could even remove from office people who were running unopposed. But, we do not have that power. The Government doesn’t want us to have that power.

But, the odds of us ever having this opportunity are remote. Neither party will give the people real power. With this power, we would have total control over the elections. We would, in the opinion of the politicians, have too much power We could actually vote a candidate out of office. Even if the contest were uncontested, we would have the opportunity to vote “none of the above” and force the candidate out of office.

This could have the effect of ending the problem of term limits. Currently we have the problem of the incumbent who has built a dynasty. And other politicians are unwilling to run against them. It isn’t that the incumbent is doing a good job. It is just that he has too much momentum and power to oppose. And, frequently he has too many people in his pocket. Perhaps he has supplied too much pork to the community. Whatever the case, even without an opponent.

But, we will never get that right. The system is against us. But, remember, this is a Government “for the people and by the people”. We need a return to the constitution. We need to return to greatness.