I think identity politics are something that has empowered all of us to take pride in the differences that make up our individual identities. I take pride in being a member of the LGBTQ community while also cherishing my black skin. I love being a man and cherish the women in my life. But I liken identity politics to a fully loaded gun; a gun is a tool that can be used by a person for nefarious purposes. I totally believe Trump and his political team used identity politics to help him when the 2016 presidential election. He made it very clear who he considered his core supporters but disguised his actions as progressive steps that ultimately only benefited his support group. For example, he approved a female nominee to take the vacant seat when Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed; a move that on the outside looked like a progressive for a man known to exclude women from management roles. However, he was strategic in picking the candidate as she was approved by his core group of supporters.

This is a great example of controlling the narrative as Garza mentioned in the reading. Garza states that “Controlling the story of who we are and what makes us who we are is an exercise of power…the more people you can get to invest in that story, to make your story their own, the more powerful you become.” It is important that we continue to fight for equal footing for all humans, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, and any other difference that makes a person unique. If we don’t acknowledge our unique histories, we can never expect said history to be included in conversations at the table in which we are working so hard to be seated. In learning that ‘the system’ is essentially an ongoing force of oppression designed to keep Christian, cis-gendered white men in privilege, I’ve also learned that we have to address the injustices that put them in there in the first place. My classmate, Raquel Hernandez, posted a snapshot of a meme that sums up the opposition to this. 

I remember having a conversation with someone about why I supported the Blacks Lives Matter movement and not the All Lives Matter movement. He was a straight, cis-gendered white male and couldn’t grasp the concept of acknowledging the pain other races had endured because they happened in the past. I tried to explain how the traumas of these historical events could be echoed in the experience of non-white people. How it’s not as easy as just saying we’re all humans because that has not been our experience. I gave him an example of how my sister, whose mom is white while our dad is black, struggles to be accepted socially. When she doesn’t straighten her hair, she is told it’s nappy or that it looks unprofessional. However, when she straightens it, she can sometimes pass for races other than black. Her natural hair is not something she was taught to embrace because we were told that we needed to be interculturally competent and able to adapt in order to be successfully. That, like many of her ancestors, she needed to be as close to white as she could be if she wanted to get anywhere.