Rose Cottage Ltd

Boy, it’s hard to be a white person in the US these days.

Yesterday, I had to listen to a rather selective recount of all the things “my ancestors” did to the poor Indians when the “white man” came to America.

Really?

This, spoken by a 19 year-old who is riding in a nice car, while checking in on his smart phone, and telling me about what “we” did. Would he have rather left Tuesday instead of Thursday in order to walk to our relatives for Thanksgiving dinner? I doubt it.

Well guess what? I wasn’t there. I’m not responsible. I had no say in anything that happened. But as a side-note, they were his ancestors too.

This was about as annoying as blaming me for slavery – because I have white skin. I wasn’t there either. My family – as far back as I can find here in the United States, which is about 1700 – had no slaves. They were too busy trying to put food on the table – or maybe to find a table to put food on.

My family didn’t take land to lay railroads – for which they made huge fortunes. My family didn’t actively work to kill Indians to flush them out of the territories. My family just tried to survive – just like most of us are still doing.

My family was also not in politics or government. They made no policies regarding Indians and have had no hand in the horrible treatment they received. There are PLENTY of things going on in today’s government my family and I also seem to have no input in or control over. I don’t like this either. But other than to vote, I have little input into this country’s policies.

So, I am sick and tired of being blamed for things out of my control. I agree American Indians were treated horribly. They were stolen from, lied to, and slaughtered. This is fact. But is every single citizen in the US today to be held responsible? NO! I refuse. In fact, maybe I should be traumatized because an event happened in the past where MY family was scalped by Indians! (Not true but what if?) Should I research this? Or should I just “assume” and hold a grudge – NOW? No.

All this conversation and blame-laying just creates noise and distraction from the crap going on in TODAY’s US Government. You want something to be angry about? Study on those things for awhile.

But quit placing blame on others based on the color of their skin. Just because I am white doesn’t mean my life is perfect, or that I’ve gained so much just from being white. The fact that I am here just means that I, and my ancestors, must have been survivors – now, and in the time frames in which they lived. This means that everyone ELSE is also from a family of survivors.

This would have been a much more constructive conversation to have this Thanksgiving.