Kings and Queens

If you have listened to black talk radio or to a black history lecture, you have probably heard that we are the descendants of "kings and queens." The speaker receives adulation, but the royalty premise is never challenged. It is possible that some of us are descendants of kings and queens, but what about the rest of us? Were some of us descendants of ne'er-do-wells? Thugs? Solid cititizens, but whose feats were nothing to write home about? Of course. We are descendants of the accomplished as well as the unaccomplished. Winners and losers.

Why must the "kings and queens" comment be brought forth so often? Are we so in need of a boost in self esteem, that we have to make a shallow grab for royalty? Are we that unsure of our intrinsic merit that was conferred to us just for being born? Some of us are just that insecure.

Enough of that false pride. Let's hear it for our ancestral losers. They shaped us as much as our winners.