Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A minority

So I was talking with my part Native American friend, who is a member of his tribe, and he told me this story.

He is a business owner in the Cities and is a member of the minority business owner's group (or something like that). He got a call from a government minority business agency asking him to a meeting. So he set up an appointment and met with the guy.
My friend described the guy as an African American in an office with a big desk between them. The government guy takes a look at my friend and says, "Native American, huh? What tribe are you?"
Friend says, "What tribe are you?"
G Guy gets a little uncomfortable and says, "I'm African American. What's the name of your chief?"
Friend says, "What's the name of your chief?"
G Guy lets out a breath of air and says, "I'm trying to determine if you are active in your Native American community and if you are Native American."
Friend says, "Why do I have to prove that I am Native American and you do not have to prove you are Black?"
Now after this, I think things deteriorated....

My friend has a point. Why is it that only Native Americans need to prove their ancestry and tribal membership? Why is it that being only a percentage of NA discredits one from being NA, but only a percentage of any other ethnic heritage still qualifies one for being of that ethnicity? I think it's because if you want to get rid of a people, you need only to wait long enough for them for them to be diluted. Did you know there were over 300 different native tribes, with 300 different languages?
Why is Obama credited as the first black president, when his mother was a white woman from Kansas? I think he was the first mixed president. Isn't that honor enough? Wouldn't it be great if he would have always said he was mixed? Wouldn't it be great if the government didn't keep trying to divide us based on who our ancestors were? Or what color our skin is?

How much land in the Hawaiian islands is owned by native Hawaiians?

How well do you speak spanish?


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