"Racial groups in this country are more alike than different. American Indians and Hispanics, for example, have a lot of similarities, especially in skin color. From my experience, when American Indian people and Hispanic meet in their journey through life, they often make an automatic connection, based at first on skin color.
Many times, Indian and Hispanic people will marry and perhaps live on a reservation. After awhile, this cultural immersion makes the newcomer almost indistinguishable from the Indians who were born on the reservation.
Years ago, when I traveled to the southwest and Mexico, I was taken as a Mexican or Hispanic. I’ll never forget that while shopping in Nogales, Mexico, a vendor spoke to me in Spanish. I, of course, didn’t understand him and said so. In English, he said “Do you think you’re too good to speak Spanish?”
I took that comment to mean he wasn’t proud of his race, but perhaps it was an insult to me as an American.
Why point out your race, anyway? This is America, after all. Yes, this is America, and we are a unique place, a mosaic where different races blend. It’s diversity — the peaceful joining together of cultures and races — that makes us Americans.
We are a special country where we can look at one another, relate to similarities and be awed by differences."
Get the Story:COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: Out of many, one: That's America (The Grand Forks Herald 9/24)
pwpwd More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: Wild plum picking in North Dakota (9/22)
Yellow Bird: Birds bring magic to North Dakota (9/17)
Yellow Bird: Race a poisonous role in the election (9/15)
Yellow Bird: UTTC powwow keeps getting bigger (9/10)
Yellow Bird: Interview with new president of UND (9/8)
Yellow Bird: North Dakota tribe at turning point with oil (9/3)
Yellow Bird: Committing to a lifetime of sobriety (9/1)
Yellow Bird: Veterans Memorial Wall an inspiration (8/27)
Yellow Bird: Cancer on Indian Country's doorstep (8/25)
Yellow Bird: Good friends and good chokecherries (8/20)
Yellow Bird: Olympics, a war without destruction (8/18)
Yellow Bird: Investing in college students (8/11)
Yellow Bird: Exploring healthy, traditional foods (8/6)
Yellow Bird: Eliminate smoking at all tribal casinos (8/4)
Yellow Bird: On UNITY, Amtrak and North Dakota (7/30)
Yellow Bird: Sundance offers food for the soul (7/23)
Yellow Bird: Watching the sky for hints of danger (7/14)
Yellow Bird: Humbled by Turtle Mountain tornadoes (7/10)
Yellow Bird: Sometimes the media gets carried away (7/7)
Yellow Bird: Smudging room at North Dakota hospital (7/2)
Yellow Bird: Adventures that stir the spirit (6/18)
Yellow Bird: Exhibit focuses on Arikara Scouts (6/16)
Yellow Bird: My heart belongs to the Great Plains (6/11)
Yellow Bird: White buffalo signals hope and peace (6/9)
Yellow Bird: Sen. Barack Obama for president (6/4)
Yellow Bird: There's good and bad in oil development (6/2)
Yellow Bird: Remembering all relatives a big chore (5/28)
Yellow Bird: Oil on the Fort Berthold Reservation (5/26)
Yellow Bird: Recycle and live lightly on the Earth (5/12)
Yellow Bird: Leaps in America's multiracial society (5/7)
Yellow Bird: Diversity in the United States (5/5)
Yellow Bird: Pollution a threat to North Dakota (4/30)
Yellow Bird: Program graduates Indian nurses at UND (4/21)
Yellow Bird: Recovering from brain aneurysm surgery (4/17)
Yellow Bird: A fight for oil on the reservation (03/31)
Yellow Bird: Excitement in North Dakota's weather (3/26)
Yellow Bird: Thoughts on Sen. Obama and race (3/24)
Yellow Bird: Pray for rain in western North Dakota (3/19)
Yellow Bird: Grandchildren are the greatest gift (3/17)
Yellow Bird: UND powwow survives budget woes (3/10)
Yellow Bird: Stereotypes and Hillary Clinton (3/5)
Yellow Bird: Celebrating 125 years of UND history (3/3)
Yellow Bird: High hopes for Indian health bill (2/28)
Yellow Bird: More Plains foods that are good for you (2/25)
Yellow Bird: Chokecherries, the wonder fruit (2/20)
Yellow Bird: Sadness on a trip to Standing Rock (2/18)
Yellow Bird: It's time for a change in music (2/11)
Yellow Bird: 'Sioux' drives Indian students away (2/7)
Yellow Bird: Another cold January in North Dakota (1/30)
Yellow Bird: Tribal casinos should be alcohol free (1/28)
Yellow Bird: Race and gender in presidential race (1/23)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama is my choice for 2008 (1/16)
Yellow Bird: Artman right on off-reservation gaming (1/9)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama's big win in Iowa (1/7)