All politics is connected to identity.
We all identify ourselves according to some marker or the other. Not just race, not just religion, not just gender - these markers inform our politics - yes really.
The family we were born into, the community we live in, the city, the state , the region, the country, are all markers of identity. Depending on our circumstances , these factors influence access to wealth and capital and opportunity. And in the power struggles of day to day living, in the space we live , in this pluralistic space, there are specific concerns shaped by these factors , all connected to history and norms and culture. To pretend this is not a thing, and wish to usurp it with class struggle ( which every damn democrat acknowledges anyway) is harmful, myopic and suggests the author finds the whole thing inconvenient, her passionate affair with an AA dancer notwithstanding.
If Hillary Clinton had won the election, the author would still be complaining about "Identity Politics". The Left has always sought to balance the concerns of groups and their treatment by institutions with economic prosperity. While many on the right forever try to ignore plurality, insisting on some uniform idea of "America" which is only *their* vision of America - which , ironically , is a form of ID politics.
For many people of color , like myself, who are forever hyphenated, we couldn't afford to play cute this election cycle. I'll leave it to Very Smart Brothas, who dropped it on Mark Lilla's ID piece, to explain, it's applicable here..
"The concept of “diversity” — of wanting it recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated — isn’t just some sort of classroom rhetoric or academic thought exercise. The recognition of and sensitivity to it is vital because it literally saves lives. For the tens of millions of historically marginalized Americans, this isn’t about being right or wrong. It’s about safety. It’s about being able to relax and exhale in our own home. It’s about a pursuit of the most basic human need; one that, for as long as America has existed, has been beyond our grasp. We’re not upset about the election because “our team” lost. We’re upset because this incoming administration — through both their campaign and the decisions made since the election — has promised to provide us with pain. Yet, he (Lilla) fails to grasp that, and distills and limits this entire concept to a high-minded, academic context. Ultimately ignoring that the fight to be recognized as full citizens has been and will continue to be a bloody one."
http://verysmartbrothas.com/mark-lillas-the-end-of-identity-liberalism-is-the-whitest-thing-ive-ever-read/
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