INDIAN ELDERS used to warn against “walking the white man’s road.” But, since the late 1960s, I’m afraid it is the “black man’s path” that has posed a greater peril for us.

By the black man’s path, I mean the familiar strategy of black civil rights leaders, who bait, belittle, provoke and bully white people, then run for cover, screaming “racist” when their white victims react.

Sadly, more and more young Indians are following this path, thanks to the influence of left-wing college professors and media personalities such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Take the current disturbances at the University of North Dakota. The university has a mascot called, “The Fighting Sioux.” Some Indian students have called it offensive and demanded that it be changed.

Not surprisingly, white students and alumni have fought back.

One alumnus currently building an $85-million hockey arena for the university has threatened to kill the project if the name is changed.

As a member of the Comanche tribe, my name is on all the Indian mailing lists. I recently got an e-mail calling for solidarity with the UND protesters.

It says that Indian students have suffered physical attacks, name-calling, slashed tires, and broken windshields.

Indian students at UND now face a “hostile environment,” says the e-mail. Many are seeking to transfer to other schools, to escape their abusive classmates.

Physical attacks of this sort are deplorable. The culprits should be caught and punished.

At the same time, the Indian students have to accept their own responsibility for helping to create the “hostile environment” they now face.

I’m all for fighting when there’s something to fight about. But, in my view, this is not the case at UND.

Why should any Indian object if a university has an Indian warrior as its emblem?

The purpose of a mascot is to inspire the school’s athletes to fight hard and win. That the school chose an Indian to represent its fighting spirit is a sign of respect. It shows an admiration for the courage and manliness of the Sioux warrior, who laid so many whites in their graves just a few generations ago.

All of this seems perfectly obvious to me. But those who have chosen to walk the “black man’s path” are experts at finding things to get offended about. Virtually everything that white people do, no matter how innocuous, can be cited as an excuse to cry “racist.”

Take the name game.

Every few years, left-wing black academics announce to their people that they must now call themselves something different. At one time, it was colored, then Negro, then Afro-American, then black, then African-American and so on.

None of these names are better or worse than any of the others. Not long ago I was interviewed by black conservative talk show host Ken Hamblin. He told me that he’s perfectly happy being “colored.”

Yet many black Americans have been conditioned to treat the nuances between these words as matters of life and death. Try calling a black man a “Negro” nowadays and see what sort of reaction you get.

The name game creates new sources of friction out of thin air, for no good reason. As fast as white people get used to one name, black people change it. That way, no one ever quite knows what to call them, and everyone has to tippy-toe around on eggshells trying to figure out how to avoid giving offense.

I don’t pretend to know why so many African-Americans go in for this sort of nonsense. But I do know that many blacks, such as Ken Hamblin, refuse to indulge in it, and for that I respect them.

What concerns me is that so many Indians nowadays – and especially the younger generation – seem to be following the worst examples.

Back in the late ’60s, some Indians even started playing their own version of the name game, by calling themselves Native Americans. I don’t know who started it. Maybe it was a white liberal.

To this day, most Indians still prefer to be called Indians. I know I do. But white people now have to tippy-toe around calling us Native Americans, for fear that we will take offense.

It’s all about playing the victim. Frankly, I find it weak and undignified. It’s not the way of our warrior ancestors.

Those young Indians at UND should end their needless fight with the university. The pursuit of academic excellence would be a far better testing ground for their warrior spirit.

Reprinted from FrontPageMagazine.com, February 13, 2001