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At some point, identity politics returned to the forefront of the political culture wars, faster than a whip, after the Democratic Party announced Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy for president of the United States. Identity politics never went away; it was always there, the grease in America’s racist political machine. But this time, it returned with a ferocity and a level of absurdity that bored me somewhat.
I hate identity politics with a passion because it has never done anything for the people in my community on the South Side of Chicago. All it does is emphasize our blackness while leaving many of us too backward to compete in today’s economy. It has left us with the stigma of inferiority, that we are a violent people, that we need to be pitied or saved. I know this because when I travel around America and tell people where I’m from, I get a certain reaction that I know someone from Poughkeepsie doesn’t get.
I also hate the idea that the color of my skin is supposed to determine who I vote for. Which is why when I saw the hashtag #BlackWomenForBiden trending on X right after Harris’ announcement, I was disappointed. Harris has not been the best public servant for black men and women and should be judged on her public record. Yet, under the theory of identity politics, are black women supposed to ignore her actual actions and vote for her because they share a similar skin color? My city, Chicago, is run by a black mayor, a black district attorney, and countless other black officials, and yet violence and corruption persist. Don’t even get me started on Baltimore and other black-run cities.
Black Pennsylvania Voters Say Kamala Harris Is Not Black in Video That Went Viral on CNN: 'For Me, No'
By contrast, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is black, but you wouldn’t know it. That’s because he governs as a mayor, not as a black mayor. He governs in reality, not in black politics. He governs for everyone, and that’s how it should be in America today.
Then I saw “White Women for Kamala Harris” trending and wondered, are white women really that sad? Shannon Watts, one of the leaders of this movement, preached that it was the responsibility of white women to elect a black woman. She railed against white women, telling them to check their white privilege, do “the work,” and not speak up or oppose any black person. She didn’t say anything about Harris’s qualifications. It was just white and this and black and that and nothing but good old racism. We need to start calling these white women out for the racists they are, and shame any black person who feeds on their nobility.
I think you know who’s next in my speech. Yes, “White Men for Harris.” What an amazing thing. I didn’t watch it but I heard it was a pathetic fest about how men need to check their toxic masculinity and do the right thing. All I have to say here is where were you in the 60s when it mattered? When Black people really needed help to be part of America? The 70s? The 80s? Even today out loud. We can always use volunteers in our community to expose our people to new ideas, paths, and opportunities. I never saw them around me — because they were on a Zoom call preaching their goodness about voting for a Black woman. White men for a Black woman — that’s all I have to say about that.
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It’s not just Democrats who are practicing hard-line identity politics. Last week, I was browsing X when I came across a post by DailyWire’s Matt Walsh that said, “Almost everyone is afraid to tell the honest truth about the crime epidemic.”
I knew right away who he was talking about: black people. Then he went on to describe how politicians and activists blame gas stations and cars for the violence instead of directly blaming the criminals.
All I want to say is that I've been saying this for a long time before Walsh. He acts like a brave soul willing to tell the truth, while we've been telling the truth all along – we're not afraid to speak frankly and honestly about the root causes of the problems in our society.
But Walsh would never know that, he never came here.
The furthest he’s gotten is his podcast studio, playing identity politics and stigmatizing entire races on cheap pretexts. If he thinks this is just a “black” problem, he needs to get out more. I’ve been to “white” cities that have been decimated by lack of jobs, drugs, violence, and yes, increasing fatherlessness. It’s time for Walsh and other Republicans to stop scapegoating black people. But white identity politics doesn’t sell as well as black identity politics.
What I hate about identity politics is that it focuses on racial tribalism rather than our greater humanity. That’s why I made sure to look beyond race to the harsh realities that plague my neighborhood.
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I can only begin to formulate answers to the problems by seeing reality in all its complexity. And none of those answers are based on race. They all boil down to developing oneself to the best of one’s ability, expanding access to opportunity, and inculcating the unerring American principles of merit, responsibility, and accountability.
Shame on all those on the left and right who lack this discipline and exploit identity politics to get votes and clicks. They are our number one problem today and America will never get better as long as we continue to give power to these racist idiots.
Click here to read more from Pastor Corey Brooks.
