First White Man to Scalp an Indian

While flipping around the television channels the other day, I came upon an old 1946 musical comedy entitled Two Sisters from Boston, starring a very young June Allyson and an even younger Peter Lawford. I kept it on just a few minutes as it was more than a tad cheesy. But in the part that I saw, Peter Lawford wooed his prospective girlfriend by saying “I come from good stock. My great grandfather was the first white man to scalp an Indian”. Did I hear him right? Scalping Indians? How politically incorrect is that?

We live in an age where everybody is soooo sensitive. The latest flap over Michael Richards’ (Kramer of Seinfeld fame) off the wall comments, made after being heckled by some African Americans during his comedy act, is a case in point. The video of his racist tirade made the uncensored rounds on the internet, as well as the tamed down version on the television news shows. I don’t condone his racist rant. It was disgusting. Celebrities should know better. On the other hand, any of you who have watched some of the black comedians on the BET network, or on Comedy Central, or any of the Def Comedy Jam shows on HBO know how horribly racist, mean spirited, and vulgar those comedians are, not only towards other blacks, but towards whites. Not to mention Bill Maher's HBO program where he called soon to be ex-Senator Rick Santorum a D-----bag. No one says a word.

One of the broadcast networks is currently running a public interest promo saying we should celebrate our diversity. Why? Isn’t celebrating diversity the first step toward over emphasizing our differences instead of searching for our commonality? What we have in common is what will bring this nation together, not what separates us.

A year or two ago, I had a run in at a conference with the diversity director from one of our local businesses. She was a huffy, buxom woman who smiled once. She was appalled by the amount of segregation in our community, not only between blacks and whites, but among the various ethnic groups that are found in our area. She didn’t understand that the one thing this area has in common IS our diversity, and we have learned to laugh at it, accept it, and revel in it. Our diversity is the tie that binds.

Local politicians freely discuss their need for the Polish vote, or the Italian vote, or the Irish vote, or the Black vote....except they use the more "colorful" slang terms to describe these ethnic segments. When I described to the diversity director the tenor of some of the political meetings I have attended over the years, it was coronary city. I told her she better not go into one of the ethnic churches with her message. They would listen politely, then laugh their heads off when she left the room. When I told her I was the only Italian in a Slovak/Polish law office, again in more colorful terms, she was ready for CPR. "I would never use you as a lawyer" she gasped as she clutched her chest. I politely replied "Thank God, ma'am, because I wouldn’t want you as a client".

Whether one wants to celebrate diversity, or look for commonality, or find commonality in our diversity, wouldn’t it be better if we left the sanctimonious attitudes behind us and simply accept that all of us have our prejudices rooted in our individual experiences? No amount of preaching is going to change any of our minds. At the end of the day, I would rather have a good laugh at the absurdity of the situation than go through the tortures of the damned trying to change it. Now, does anyone have a tomahawk??