Thursday, May 17, 2012

A Marvelous Letter From Yesterday's Wall Street Journal Web Page

It regards the woman who was once referred to as the Harvard Law School faculty's "person of color", an ostensible 1/32nd Cherokee, whose claims to being the member of any tribe are...weak:

I think everyone is missing the point about the Elizabeth Warren matter. What's important isn't whether or not she lied. What's important is that once she was hired, and Harvard et al. were able to check the diversity box, it didn't matter one little bit if she was actually an Indian or not. This whole kerfuffle exposes the diversity hoax.
On the one hand, back in 1997 we were to celebrate that Harvard had hired its first "woman of color." Finally, Harvard was diversified, which is apparently vitally important for many unnamed reasons, or so we are told. On the other hand, we are assured by all the involved parties that she was hired and evaluated on her performance, not on the diversity that she brought to the institution.
Unlike Warren, I am an "official" Cherokee Indian. I have the pedigree card from the Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs Bureau to prove it. But just like Warren, any "diversity" I bring to an institution has nothing to do with that pedigree. I didn't grow up on a reservation. I don't participate in any Indian-specific religious or cultural institutions. The diversity I bring is related to being the first in my family to go to college. It comes from being in the military. It comes from growing up, being educated, serving my country, and working under my own unique circumstances. In short, the diversity I bring is only different, not better, not worse, than anyone else's "diversity," regardless of skin color or bloodline. It is certainly not related to my great-grandmother being a Cherokee.
But if I check that box, somehow my employer might be viewed as better, more progressive and more "diverse" than others. That's a pile of Indian-pony dung.
Of course this means that any who are of mixed racial background, and yet are as oatmeal-colored as Elizabeth Warren, are held up to even more ridicule by pure Caucasians; something that has been an unforturnate experience for some time.  Between academic poseurs such as Warren, and the odd collection of "Indians" who operate casinos, the honest claim of Indian blood is now always to be suspect.  In the 21st century, the only good Indian is the one you can pretend to be.