Aren’t All Politics IDENTITY Politics?
I was scrolling through my Twitter feed a couple weeks ago, and came across this inspirational post.
Now, no shade to Bruce (nor to whomever originally created this seemingly inspirational image), but the sentiment expressed is a bit problematic and (dare I say?) privileged.
On one hand, the sentiment seems admirable. As a long-time consumer of mental health services (for depression and anxiety), I’m sure therapists would recommend focusing your energy on positive things, not negative. Perfectly reasonable, right?
Not so fast…
I’m sure professionals would also advise against ignoring problems and suppressing your emotions regarding them. (If your a professional, please let me know if I’m misguided.)
The issue is, many of us would love to walk in the sun and focus on the happier things in life. Unfortunately, ignoring the often life or death problems some us face is not an option. Relying on hope and positive thinking won’t protect us. That’s a privilege we just don’t have.
…allowing yourself to continue uncritically experiencing unearned privileges in your life is perpetuating oppression complicitly. A decision to do nothing is action in support of bigotry. ~ Sam Killermann
I’m sure it’s tempting to think, I’m above all the partisan bickering. I’m Switzerland — I don’t take sides. I just want to live at peace with everything and everyone. That’s fantastic, except…
Fine,but do you have to always talk about our differences? All that identity politics and political correctness just further divides us.
I get it. It bites. We used to just be people, then suffrage made us men and civil rights made us white and Harvey Milk made us straight and now “Janet Mock, what is this, you’re telling me I’m cis? I’m more than just a bunch of checked off boxes.” ~ Sam Killermann
When you’re the default — White, straight, cisgender, and/or male — you have the option to go through much of your life giving little thought to your identity and how it shapes your beliefs and politics. Unfortunately, if you vary from the default in any way, society has ways of ensuring you don’t forget.
Besides missing the racial and cultural character of Trump’s electoral-college majority, the critique of identity politics perpetuates a misconception of how identity works. Citizens of the United States are not simply patriots or women or African-Americans or Catholics or Muslims or queer, and so on. Identity is not singular or static, but plural, multivalent, overlapping and often contradictory. We are many things at once, with one (or more) of our “identities” rising to the fore, depending on what the issue is. ~Jonathan M. Hansen
So, to those who say it’s divisive to even discuss our differences, realize that demanding silence is the same as rendering us invisible…voiceless…powerless. You can’t tell me that who I am — all my facets — are valid and accepted but then ask me to ignore some aspect of myself as if it doesn’t shape who I am, how the world perceives me, and how I experience the world.
“Identity Politics” shouldn’t have a negative connotation. It simply means that some aspect(s) of your identity inform your concern for certain issues. (In no particular order) I am a Christian, mother, wife, software engineer, professor, writer, Black, bisexual, Baltimore native, MIT alum…certain topics rank higher for me based on my identity and experiences than they might for someone else. That’s okay!
Instead of asking people to ignore their differences for the sake of unity and harmony, we’d do better to build coalitions that celebrate our differences and build on our common ideals. Sure, it’s a bit more difficult and messy. It requires us to acknowledge that people don’t fit in nice, neat, discrete boxes. Their priorities may not be predictable. Why? They are unique.
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