Let my people go

Michelle Malkin has an interesting post, pointing out how in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there is a tendency for minorities to refer to others in their particular ethnic group as "my people".

There is certainly nothing wrong with identifying with your heritage, with where you come from, but is it healthy to divide ourselves into separate camps, especially at a time when it is most necessary to work together?

From this starting point, it is too easy to lapse into victim status. "My people" and I huddle together because we are oppressed. "My people" were slaves 150 years ago, therefore I am oppressed now.

Is it not a way to get beyond the hurts of the past, to move from "my" to "we"? We are one nation, we should promote brother with brother, sister with sister.

Relatives of mine, who I obviously have never met, lived in Russia, and the Communists under Stalin took their land and sent them to Siberia.

Am I a victim? Should I demand that Russia compensate me to redress past wrongs?

The German-Russians that make up some of my ancestors are, in a sense, "my people", but so are the people hurting in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama. Especially my fellow Christians. And it doesn't matter what color the skin. When I choose to include someone in the category I think of as "my people", I've taken a big step towards living well with them.

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View From Minnetonka has another example of separateness.