I had forgotten that Trump’s mother was one of those rapists/murderers/insane asylum residents who invaded our country. I don’t recall him ever mentioning her.
We are all immigrants. It just depends on how many generations one wishes to go back to be able to claim otherwise.
The earliest Homo sapiens, or anatomically modern humans, are believed to have arrived in the Americas during the last Ice Age, likely between 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, the theory being that the migration occurred when humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge, connecting Siberia to Alaska during periods of lower sea levels. However recent discoveries published In a 2021, i a study published in the journal “Science” reported the discovery of ancient human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico dated to around 23,000 to 21,000 years ago using radiocarbon dating of seeds found in the sediment layers above and below the footprints, providing evidence of human presence in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum, a period when ice sheets covered much of the continent, making migration into the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge difficult. If accurate, they suggest that humans may have been in the Americas several thousand years earlier than previously thought.
So your essay this afternoon has prompted the question in my mind tonight: Has there ever been a United States President who had a Native American ancestor regardless of how remote?
Perhaps contributing to this is the fact that Native Americans did not become United States citizens until 1924 with the passage of the Indian Citizens Act. To trot out a phrase similar to one attributed to the first century BCE Jewish leader Hillel the Elder, but more recently popularized by Robert F. Kennedy (the Elder), Ronald Reagan, John Lewis, George Romney and Barack Obama: I ask, “If not, then when? If not now,* then why not?”
* fn. Since we are now 73 (on August 24) days out from the 2004 Presidential Election, past the statutory deadline in Texas for finalizing the November election ballot, “now” should more realistically/accurately read “4 years from now.”
I think that Native American ancestry is a little more difficult an issue. Partially because lots of people have fake ancestry. There are many myths about Native ancestors that research and DNA don’t support. If you can find someone who is truly Native then they have to make it to the public spotlight. There have only been two governors with NA ancestry. The Minnesota Lieutenant governor is NA and will become the first female NA governor. There are four members of the House and one Senator.
I guess I say all that to say the major parties need to do a better job drafting people at the state and local levels so they can rise to the national level.
I think we will truly have broken the color barrier for President when an actual descendant of slaves is elected. I think there's a qualitative difference between just having a black person in the office versus having a black person who's predecessors had been held in bondage
I had forgotten that Trump’s mother was one of those rapists/murderers/insane asylum residents who invaded our country. I don’t recall him ever mentioning her.
Should’ve included a sarcasim emoji, just in case…
We are all immigrants. It just depends on how many generations one wishes to go back to be able to claim otherwise.
The earliest Homo sapiens, or anatomically modern humans, are believed to have arrived in the Americas during the last Ice Age, likely between 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, the theory being that the migration occurred when humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge, connecting Siberia to Alaska during periods of lower sea levels. However recent discoveries published In a 2021, i a study published in the journal “Science” reported the discovery of ancient human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico dated to around 23,000 to 21,000 years ago using radiocarbon dating of seeds found in the sediment layers above and below the footprints, providing evidence of human presence in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum, a period when ice sheets covered much of the continent, making migration into the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge difficult. If accurate, they suggest that humans may have been in the Americas several thousand years earlier than previously thought.
So your essay this afternoon has prompted the question in my mind tonight: Has there ever been a United States President who had a Native American ancestor regardless of how remote?
As far as I know, no president has claimed Native American ancestry.
Perhaps contributing to this is the fact that Native Americans did not become United States citizens until 1924 with the passage of the Indian Citizens Act. To trot out a phrase similar to one attributed to the first century BCE Jewish leader Hillel the Elder, but more recently popularized by Robert F. Kennedy (the Elder), Ronald Reagan, John Lewis, George Romney and Barack Obama: I ask, “If not, then when? If not now,* then why not?”
* fn. Since we are now 73 (on August 24) days out from the 2004 Presidential Election, past the statutory deadline in Texas for finalizing the November election ballot, “now” should more realistically/accurately read “4 years from now.”
Jim Guleke
I think that Native American ancestry is a little more difficult an issue. Partially because lots of people have fake ancestry. There are many myths about Native ancestors that research and DNA don’t support. If you can find someone who is truly Native then they have to make it to the public spotlight. There have only been two governors with NA ancestry. The Minnesota Lieutenant governor is NA and will become the first female NA governor. There are four members of the House and one Senator.
I guess I say all that to say the major parties need to do a better job drafting people at the state and local levels so they can rise to the national level.
I think we will truly have broken the color barrier for President when an actual descendant of slaves is elected. I think there's a qualitative difference between just having a black person in the office versus having a black person who's predecessors had been held in bondage
Most black Jamaicans are descendants of slaves.