I really loved this week’s readings. They were enlightening and enjoyable, and really opened my eyes to just how far identity politics run in our society and how they operate and determine how we live.

There can be a lot of pressure in our society to fit into specific molds — the white, cisgender, heterosexual molds that we are forced to fit into since birth. By choosing to follow what we think is best and what makes us most comfortable, we are rejecting this mold, and therefore rejecting our oppressors’ attempts to keep us compliant. I think that Garza referring to identity as America’s elephant in the room is a great way to put it. That line really struck me personally. White people often love to suggest that race only divides us further, but they’re the ones who created the very concept of race and allowed for it to divide us in the first place. Pretending as if we’re all the same “human race” completely disregards the struggles that marginalized groups have had to face in our society, and it avoids taking accountability and prevents any real change. In order to successfully dismantle our system, we need to work hard to get to the root of the problem instead of ignoring historical patterns and issues caused by white supremacy and overall bigotry. Taking accountability is very important.