According to Webster’s, "heritage" is anything passed on to heirs or succeeding generations other than actual property or money.

OK, now what might that be?

Well, the only things that I can think of that would fit that definition are nonmaterial things such as ideas, values, ways of looking at life, and so on.

Now if that’s the case — and that assumption makes a great deal of sense to me — what could these folks be trying to say when they talk about black heritage? Or Hispanic heritage? I haven’t the foggiest notion.

You see, if there were such a thing as black or Hispanic heritage, then Colin Powell, Michael Jordan, and Louis Farrakhan would have a great deal in common. As would Fidel Castro and Federico Peña.

But try as I might, I can’t seem to come up with anything that fits in either case. Yet I keep trying.

And then I ask myself how Clarence Thomas’s ideas, values, and way of looking at life differ from the ideas, values, and ways of looking at life of his fellow Supreme Court justices? Again, I draw a blank. But again, I keep trying.

And then they really throw me a curve. They bring up something called "cultural heritage."

You know, maybe it’s time for me to stop trying. It's like trying to understand how a living person can be a legend. Or a dead one, for that matter. 

Think about it.