"One Community of Non-Hyphenated Americans"

As you probably know, February is Black History Month. There is an article today in the Denver Post that I really like. Wayne Hare is a black man who works in western Colorado for the Bureau of Land Management. He makes the following points:

Blacks have been a silent part of American history from the beginning. There has been no glory and no shame that was not shared by both whites and blacks.

Nowhere is this truer than in the West, where black Americans fought in all of the Indian wars, drove cattle from Texas to Kansas and beyond, led wagon trains over mountain passes, trapped beaver, formed cavalry units, founded entire towns, parachuted into raging wildfires, been among the most notorious of outlaws and, conversely, some of the bravest U.S. marshals. They've even owned slaves and profited from slavery.

Like every other American throughout our brief history, blacks have been among the good, the bad and the ugly.

Hare then goes on to give some examples of everyday black men who were true heroes. Here are his final two paragraphs:

Black history, American history — aren't they the same thing? In spite of the ugliness and distance that we maintain to this day, our histories have always been intertwined.

Let us celebrate black heroes this month, but someday, I hope, we can become one community of non-hyphenated Americans, solving all the problems that we all share.

Amen to that!