Identity politics is very tribal. It divides a group of people into various “tribes”. It then goes on to argue that tribes should vote in common to maximize their political power. But as they say in physics every action results in an equal and opposite reaction and so I see identity politics leading to greater levels of racism and discrimination. With this in mind, it behooves people to compare and contrast MLK’s vision of America and Malcolm X’s vision of America and decide which is better.
MLK’s goal was the day would come when race (which is a relatively recent sociological distinction arrived at in the 1700s to justify European countries imposing themselves over nations of other “races”) would disappear in the face of more rationale thinking. Keep in mind biologically speaking “race” does not apply to humans for whom the biological differences are so small that they are biologically irrelevant other than as minor mutations to adopt to climate differences which can now be addressed with technology.
Imagine separating poodles by color into different “races”. Kind of dumb. “Race” is important because we have made it important and hopefully the day will come when we make it unimportant. My wife is Asian and my grandchildren range from African American, African Hispanic American, to White (my first wife was white) and when my younger children have children their children will be Asian American plus whatever mix their spouses bring to the child.
Interestingly, my children and grandchildren view the world as “poodles” do, they are not unaware of skin color differences but it impacts them more when it comes to deciding what color clothes and make-up maximize “their look” and less of an impact on their relationships. And so they have embraced MLK’s vision of a world where people are judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Malcolm X was suspicious of whites. He was a segregationist that believed the future lay in “identity politics” where African Americans united together could force equal rights and representation. He was not opposed to violence and often stressed that equal rights needed to be achieved “By any Means Necessary”. Implied in Malcolm X’s vision is that various “racial” groups would “co-exist” and divide power among themselves.
While we celebrate MLK day today, American politics has begun to drift down a path more in common with Malcolm X’s vision. This path is by its very design going to lead to greater frequency of racial violence and discrimination as “tribes” interact, since it encourages “discrimination”. In theory, it uses discrimination to be “fair”. But is discrimination ever fair? Are diversity and gender quotas a balance that treats fairness at the tribal level as more important then fairness at the individual level.
Coalition of tribes will occur to face off against other tribes, but the coalitions will collapse as the interests of the various tribes change. For example, most Asians are less enthusiastic about affirmative action, now that their “tribe” is being discriminated against for college admission. Women are also being discriminated against in order to maintain gender quotas for college. So just as women fight for more representation at executive, Board, and political leadership positions in the countries, universities are having to discriminate against women to preserve gender balance.
Our media is filled with the “various” tribes showing how they are being discriminated against and demanding more equal representation. But is there a pathway from “deliberate” discrimination in the interest of tribal equality to MLK vision of a world without tribes… my sense is no… so have we essentially said good-bye to MLK’s vision for now and embraced the shorter term rewards that identify politics offers?
I continue to embrace MLK’s vision of America, but it is increasingly clear those politicians that embrace identity politics do not.
