By Lloyd & Namiko Hart
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."
Booker T. Washington, 1911
Lloyd and Namiko's marxist professors would be proud.
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."
Booker T. Washington, 1911
--GREAT QUOTE from somebody who hasn't got enough attention, for obvious reasons.
Don't Walk the Black Man's Path
by David A. Yeagley
Originally published at FrontPageMagazine.com | February 13, 2001
Indian elders used to warn against "walking the white man's road." But, since the late 1960s, I'm afraid it is the "black man's path" that has posed a greater peril for us.
By the black man's path, I mean the familiar strategy of black civil rights leaders, who bait, belittle, provoke and bully white people, then run for cover, screaming "racist" when their white victims react.
Sadly, more and more young Indians are following this path, thanks to the influence of leftwing college professors and media personalities such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Take the current disturbances at the University of North Dakota. The university has a mascot called, "The Fighting Sioux." Some Indian students have called it offensive and demanded that it be changed.
Not surprisingly, white students and alumni have fought back.
One alumnus currently building an $85-million hockey arena for the university has threatened to kill the project if the name is changed.
As a member of the Comanche tribe, my name is on all the Indian mailing lists. I recently got an e-mail calling for solidarity with the UND protesters.
It says that Indian students have suffered physical attacks, name-calling, slashed tires, and broken windshields.
Indian students at UND now face a "hostile environment," says the e-mail. Many are seeking to transfer to other schools, to escape their abusive classmates.
Physical attacks of this sort are deplorable. The culprits should be caught and punished.
At the same time, the Indian students have to accept their own responsibility for helping to create the "hostile environment" they now face.
I'm all for fighting when there's something to fight about. But, in my view, this is not the case at UND.
Why should any Indian object if a university has an Indian warrior as its emblem?
The purpose of a mascot is to inspire the school's athletes to fight hard and win. That the school chose an Indian to represent its fighting spirit is a sign of respect. It shows an admiration for the courage and manliness of the Sioux warrior, who laid so many whites in their graves just a few generations ago.
All of this seems perfectly obvious to me. But those who have chosen to walk the "black man's path" are experts at finding things to get offended about. Virtually everything that white people do, no matter how innocuous, can be cited as an excuse to cry "racist."
Take the name game.
Every few years, leftwing black academics announce to their people that they must now call themselves something different. At one time, it was colored, then Negro, then Afro-American, then black, then African-American and so on.
None of these names are better or worse than any of the others. Not long ago I was interviewed by black conservative talk show host Ken Hamblin. He told me that he's perfectly happy being "colored."
Yet many black Americans have been conditioned to treat the nuances between these words as matters of life and death. Try calling a black man a "Negro" nowadays and see what sort of reaction you get.
The name game creates new sources of friction out of thin air, for no good reason. As fast as white people get used to one name, black people change it. That way, no one ever quite knows what to call them, and everyone has to tippy-toe around on eggshells trying to figure out how to avoid giving offense.
I don't pretend to know why so many African-Americans go in for this sort of nonsense. But I do know that many blacks, such as Ken Hamblin, refuse to indulge in it, and for that I respect them.
What concerns me is that so many Indians nowadays - and especially the younger generation - seem to be following the worst examples.
Back in the late '60s, some Indians even started playing their own version of the name game, by calling themselves Native Americans. I don't know who started it. Maybe it was a white liberal.
To this day, most Indians still prefer to be called Indians. I know I do. But white people now have to tippy-toe around calling us Native Americans, for fear that we will take offense.
It's all about playing the victim. Frankly, I find it weak and undignified. It's not the way of our warrior ancestors.
Those young Indians at UND should end their needless fight with the university. The pursuit of academic excellence would be a far better testing ground for their warrior spirit.
Dr. Yeagley's Biography
David A. Yeagley was born in Oklahoma City. He is a direct descendent of Bad Eagle (quin-ne kish-su-it), headman of a Antelope (kwerharenu) Comanche band (1839-1909). Yeagley is an enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe, Lawton, Oklahoma.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin Conservatory of Music; a Master of Divinity from Yale University; a Master of Arts from Emory University; an Artist Diploma from Hartt School of Music; and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona. He was a special student (doctoral level) at Harvard, in American Studies.
Yeagley is a classically trained pianist, composer, and lyricist. He has created a new system of harmonic organization, and presented it in a formal lecture in Israel, 1998. There his duet for oboe and bassoon, exemplifying the new tonality, was premiered. Yeagley has written a grand opera based on the story of Jack Eisner, a Holocaust survivor. He has written for solo guitar, Indian flute, chamber groups, voice, and orchestra.
Dr. Yeagley has studied religion, literature, and history. He has written many scholarly research papers, book-length manuscripts, and also epic poetry and fiction. He has written works on Christology, biblical studies, literary criticism (specializing in Poe and Hawthorne), and musicology.
Yeagley has a special interest in Persian culture. He wrote the only epic poetry in English in the 20th century. Jahan-dideh (1984) is a collection of seven epics, dedicated to Her Imperial Majesty, The Shahbanou of Iran Farah Diba Pahlavai. Yeagley writes regularly for Persian Heritage Magazine, and serves on the editorial board. Dr. Yeagley spent a two week lecture tour in Iran, 1999. He lectured at the University of Tehran, and at Ferdowsi University, Masshad. He visited Razavi University as well. He presented a paper on "Zoroaster and the Jews" to the Iranian Studies Conference in Washington in 2000, and is scheduled to present another, "David and Darius" 2002.
Yeagley is a portrait artist as well. In 1989, he created a genealogy in portraiture, "Bad Eagle and His Descendents," which showed at Yale Peabody Museum, Philips Academy Peabody Museum, and in Boston's President's Church (Quincy). This collection of portraits includes the male line of a single Comanche family, beginning with Bad Eagle, and ending with Yeagley himself.
Dr. Yeagley has written Indian poetry, and plays Comanche flute. He also gourd dances, and designed his own gourd.
Since January, 2001, Yeagley has written regular columns for Front Page Magazine, the internet news journal of David Horowitz. Yeagley has since appeared on national television and radio, and his articles have appeared in several newspapers in the country. Yeagley is also on the Young America's Foundation speakers list, and speaks at colleges and universities.
Dr. Yeagley is an American Indian Patriot, and has advocated the mandatory teaching of patriotism in public schools. His proposal to the Oklahoma State legislature was endorsed by Governor Frank Keating, and is currently being considered and refined for presentation in the near future.
Dr. Yeagley has taught at Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City, University of Central Oklahoma, and currently teaches for University of Oklahoma. He has taught Humanities and Psychology since 1996. Yeagley has six years of social work experience in Connecticut, working with the elderly, and emotionally disturbed children and youth.