In this week’s reading by Williams and Garza expanded my knowledge on identity politics because it gave me a different view of what it means to some but what it looks like. To Garza it looked like the blonde girl complaining about how everyone should be united instead of divided but does not knowledge that history of oppression not only to Black people but Black women’s most of all cannot be forgotten. Garza begins with his statement by stating that power is what drives “identity politics” and examine how the blonde women is the best example of how power works, when you have it you tend to not acknowledge those that do not. In this week’s read “The power of identity politics” the examination of what “identity politics” continue and even provide the same quote I was having difficulty with last week with the Combahee River collective, “The personal is politics.” That phares was used for the women’s movement and even with Garza explaining that in the case of Black women they had to put away their own wants of free for the sake of unity. Just like the blonde girl wants unity instead of acknowledging, she expects everyone white or black to put aside their thoughts and opinions just because she does not like how blacks divide themselves from others. This Is just a way of how he showed that this problem still occurs to Black people. In Williams “Too Latina to Be Black, Too Black to Be Latina” I learned that many would try to mold you into what they think you should be based of your features, complexion, even language but knowing every aspect of your identity is what should matter to you. Her story expanded my knowledge because I did not think that it was possible for something like that to happen. I guess since I have been living in New York my whole life and everyone here is diverse and does not follow the whole sticking to a kind of group based on your appearance thing I never really was brought to my attention how different other places are.  

I have seen someone on the discussion board mention wanting to learn about capitalism more in depth, and I think that would be something I would like to read about more. This is because I mostly struggle with the subject of capitalism and how it could affect those who have less.  

This week’s reading touches base on identity politics and the race crisis. Identity politics continues to be complex. There is an issue with the power we hold and society’s power over you. In the chapter of Garza’s book “The Power of Identity Politics,” Garza expresses the “black feminist attempting to locate themselves in social movements that purported to fight for their freedom but were constrained by their replication of the very dynamics they sought to destroy.” The movement fought interlocking oppression because they were anti-racist, unlike their white counter partner, and anti-sexist, unlike their white and black counterparts. They wanted to fit in where there were just looked at as human beings. Their white counter partners looked out for themselves only. The thought was all women were fighting for all women’s rights, but that isn’t true. We see it time and time again.
In the reading ” Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina,” Aliechia Williams speaks to us about her times growing up in New York City. The diversity in the city allowed Aliechia to be accepted as a Latina but not identified as a black woman. When she moved to North Carolina, that wasn’t the case. Her peers identified her as a black woman that could not possibly speak Spanish. She wasn’t welcomed to a table that she thought would make her comfortable, but that wasn’t the outcome. They judged her by her skin color and not by who she was. There are moments when instead of getting to know you by sparking up a conversation that will lead to who you are, certain people want to choose who you are without allowing you to speak up. The assumption that you must be Mexican if you speak Spanish upset me because there is Central American and South America that also speak Spanish. I want to throw into the discussion that Spaniards look down on Mexican people because they supposedly don’t speak the Spanish language appropriately. First of all, we had our native language, which was Nahuatl. It was a language introduced by the Aztecs. The Spanish conquered Mexican and introduced the Spanish language.
I believe if we weren’t conquered, we would speak our native language. There is an intersection that happens in Mexico too. If you are too brown, you come from the ranch or farmlands and are considered poor. If you’re light-skinned or white, you are more nuanced and are most like middle class or wealthy. You are looked at because of your skin color, most likely anywhere. If you live in the state and go back to Mexico to visit, most people in Mexico expect you to be light. If not, it’s questionable. We should all be more focused on that we are all just human beings.

In Alicia Garza’s 2020 book “The Power of Identity Politics” you can see how she focuses more on what “identity politics” really is. It talks about how it comes from the same civil rights that could be seen in the article we saw last week from “Combahee River Collective” where they see how women of color fight for the same rights that every woman needs. I also feel like political identity is based on being able to give a name to all those experiences of people who are not cisgender, white or because of their sexual orientation. Identity politics is being able to let people know how they should be defined and how this has not been possible to state in any country. I feel that these readings broadened my knowledge of identity politics due to the fact that they are necessary things to be able to accept and respect each person in the country. It is very sad the fact of the story about the woman and the man, about how he classifies by how I saw it lightly the “race” of the person instead of saying a compliment correctly. Since, it’s not fair to say that you want to see more black people in the movie, because I feel like it’s an unnecessary comment, maybe, to refer to or emphasize a person’s race (and this is contradictory since when we talk about the racism we refer the people who is being racist “whites” or just by their races). In reading Williams, “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina” it is very sad to know the fact that they always say that the United States is a country of diversity, where you can be accepted without any complications, but Williams tells us his story, where it is totally the opposite of what it should be. The same is connected with political identity, because many times people are not cataloged by their correct label and only labeled by the way they look.

I would like to explore a little more about mixed cultures, the truth is that this week’s articles were very informative for me and at the same time I was able to connect a lot. So I would like to be able to find out more about this and the different stories of people.

It’s no secret that identity politics has had a profound impact on American society. From protests and movements, to social commentary and political discourse, identity politics has been a major part of our culture for the past four decades.
It’s in these moments that we’re introduced to the power of identity politics. We learn about the ways that these social categories have been used to construct our society and our world, and we learn about the ways that we can use our identities to challenge these systems and construct new ones. This is a critical part of understanding identity politics. It’s in these moments that we’re introduced to the ways that social categories such as race, gender, and sexual orientation have been used to construct society, and the ways that we can use our identities to challenge these systems and construct new ones.
In the years since Combahee, we’ve seen identity politics come to dominate our culture. From the Women’s March to the New York City Council to the nation’s college campuses, identity politics has played a major role in our society. And while it’s undeniable that identity politics has had an impact on our culture, it’s also important to understand the ways that these social categories have been used and misused.

This week’s readings were very helpful to have a broader understanding of the term “identity politics”. Garza’s quote “identity politics is the radical notion that your world view is shaped by your experiences and history and that those experiences will vary in relationship to the power a group or an individual has in the economy, society, or democracy.” gives a clear explanation on how identity politics it’s to base your politics on who you are as a person and the issues that affect you personally. Supporting causes that are relevant to you and fighting for your own liberation instead of somebody else’s. The United States politics are meant to benefit white, cis-hetero, males, everyone else who isn’t part of that privileged group has to adapt to this political system that isn’t meant for their success. Identity politics creates political space for the minorities to have conversations about their issues and create an agenda in order to fight those issues. As Garza said, now the majority of the United States population are not white heterosexual males, so we can hope that in the future every single person, no matter their race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. can enjoy their rights. However, I’m scared because I don’t know how are we going to fight capitalism, without capitalism going down, it will be very complicated to empower minorities.

Some topics that I would enjoy learning about are the origin of gender roles, I am curious about how were they created and their evolution in our society. I am also curious about the witch trials, actually, I didn’t know about that at all until the last couple of years. I would like to learn about that and how are they related to sexism and gender violence.

This week the two readings were both very helpful in bringing me to a clearer understanding of identity politics. In the short reading “Too, Latina to be Black, Too Black to Be Latina” the writer is explaining her race crisis and how she had a hard time figuring out where she truly fit in when struggling with figuring out whom she truly identified with. Her struggle with “Identity Politics” came from coming from a melting pot of cultures to a segregated one. In the reading “The Power of Identity Politics” Garza explains in depth what we would be doing by falling into the narrative of not seeing each other as black or white and just as humans. When in-fact we are not just humans. My take away and understanding from all of this is we cannot get rid of- or down play identity politics, because societies general identity overall is not one that is a shared culture or experience, for minorities of any kind or group outside the white culture experience in life. We all identify differently and connect to different cultures and races our experiences with and in-life are not the same. The playing field is not equal for all of us, and to just say let’s view it as such is exactly why it will continue to be this way, unless we make a change. The notion is black women are making a separate movement for no reason when the belief is we should all be fighting for the same oppressions. However, we have not shared the same oppressions to do such a thing. There have been movements that have liberated black and white men as well as white women but never has anyone advocated for the black woman except the black women. There is a power in the voice of opposition to the societal norms generated by lies and oppression of those in power and ignoring or getting rid of identity politics gets rid of the possible power that can be obtained to gain true equal power amongst everyone. 

I would like to learn more about Capitalism. I want to learn more about the entities involved and just how deep it goes. These are essentially the people in power profiting off of our struggle.

In the reading “Too Latina To be black, Too black to be Latina” Williams explains the concept struggle of being an Afro-Latina. In society, if you’re an Afro-Latina it’s either you’re too Latina to be black or you’re too black to be Latina. When she moved to North Carolina she begins to get talked down to by a Spanish female who didn’t want to sit where William was sitting in, until then her friend realized that she can speak spanish. When violence broke out in middle school, there was a person who ask which side she was on because of her race and ethnicity. This is part of gender identity, again gender identity is a tendency for people of a particular region, race, or social background, to form exclusive politics. Most of the time especially today, there have not been people who have been with the same people of the same race and not a different race to make them feel proud, to make this sentence less confusing, an example is when being Afro-Latina people will ask which side you’re on when you can be proud of being Latina and African American. People would want their own kind to be representative in the world and not have other people of the same nationality but the different race join their kind. When she uses a powerful statement, “I’m Latina. I’m black. Also, I’m human. No one can take that from me.” This statement means that no matter where my family is from or who I am, I am just like everyone else; human.

Throughout the chapter, “The Power of Identity Politics” from Alicia Garza’s 2020 book goes into detail regarding the explanation of identity politics, how it was created, and why it is present throughout society. After reading the chapter, I’ve learned that identity politics is both simple and complex due to identity politics being demonized by American conservatives. The term “identity politics” comes from the last period of the civil rights and is used as a way to describe the experiences of people who are not white, heterosexual, cisgender men. Identity politics is a way of describing what it means to live outside exactly as what has been defined as the “norm” in the United States. As we know, throughout the United States, whiteness and white culture has been the main domain of America, meaning that white culture is the control and the norm which everything else is compared to. In the chapter Garza states, “Identity politics was developed by Black feminists who refused to be defined personally or politically by a set of standards that were not their own.” This describes who created identity politics; Black feminists created this because they wanted to focus on their own oppression which is embodied in the concept of identity polticis. Black feminists want to be identified by their own identities not based off the norm identity of America which is predominantly white. Black feminists wanted to seperate their racial identity and depict their worldview based on their experiences and history that promotes their own specific interests and concerns without regard to the interest or concerns of a larger political group.

Throughout the reading, “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina” by Alechia Williams goes into depth about Williams’ own experience as a Latina and Black woman with a darker complexion. Williams describes her experiences throughout school to be uncomfortable, biased, and stereotypical as people judged her based off her dark skin, unknowingly aware that she is also mixed with Spanish. Williams states, “I’m learning to embrace every aspect of my identity and not let small minds put me in a box that just doesn’t fit. I’m Latina. I’m Black. Also, I’m human. No one can take that from me.” This powerful statement by Williams single-handedly depicts how she does not see herself as one type of identity but as multiple; therefore, the ideology that people have to put others in a box based off their skin tone, race, or background is improper and just simply incorrect. I learned throughout this reading that in the end Williams would rather be seen as just a human being rather than being put in a box that others labeled her as. I think this goes back to identity politics because in the end the people who are not a part of the control group; the people who are not white and do not come from white culture do not want to be intertwined with white culture but want to be seen, heard, and grouped as they are. 

A specific topic I would like to examine more throughout the remainder of the semester in class is the stories of women of color and how they have navigated their lives and identities throughout society. (If that makes sense).