Brad Lay

Dr. Leaton

S&S

10/13/19

Identity Politics

Identity Politics is a new phrase to me. I have not been too invested in politics to indulge in learning all the different types of politics and how they affect different people. Until I was a registered voter, I didn’t even follow politics at all because it was never a topic in my house. I have since voted in two local elections. These two elections haven’t had much identity politics in them as they were for school board positions and alderman positions and other smaller positions along those lines. I have voted on issues with legalizing marijuana which is probably the most trivial topic I have voted on yet. I feel that the legalization of marijuana has some identity politics involved because of the incarceration of so many people with charges related to marijuana. With the upcoming 2020 Presidential election looming large, I have tried my hardest to keep up with the main issues and the obvious current issue of impeachment. However, since I have been at college, away from my parents, I have found it harder to keep up with politics. This is because I would have talks with my parents about how they are currently affecting people across the US.

I have been able to be in touch with many people that identity politics truly effect. My cousin, who is on broadway and is a ridiculously good actor and dancer, is gay and had trouble with being comfortable around people that didn’t know, but is now as happy as can be. My best friend is mixed, and my other best friend is black. They face issues everyday with racism from other people. They sometimes don’t feel safe playing games outside after dark because they are afraid of what some people may think they’re doing out late at night in their predominantly white neighborhood. My best friend’s dad, who is black, is perhaps the nicest man I have ever met. He is always smiling and cracking jokes. This doesn’t stop other people from expressing their prejudices towards him. These issues are across the country, but I feel with having seen these experiences first hand, I have a perspective that I feel plenty of other people need to have. It is because of these people and my awareness of their circumstances that I have begun to build my definition of identity politics. Through this exposure, identity politics is when people of minority groups, who experience prejudice that majority groups never experience, build political views based off of said prejudices.

After learning what identity politics is, I realize that identity politics is happening every day. Whether it be issues on LGBTQ+ or race, identity is one of the most talked about topics of today. Now that I have knowledge on the subject of identity politics, I can say that in today’s society, especially if you are a politician, you have to pay attention to these types of politics and make sure that you empathize with these crowds. As a politician, if you want to win an election, you really better pay attention to these issues.

Politicians today are talking about identity politics, whether they realize it or not. Issues of LGBTQ+ and racism have one side or the other, for or against, which is why they are so polarizing. For example, Richard Patterson of the HuffPost said, “How do Democrats beat Donald Trump? Start by facing an unpleasant truth: Trump’s racism helped elect him” (Patterson). As wrong as it may seem, Patterson backs it up by claiming that “Trump understood and decided to exploit” the resentment of racial diversity among “white working-class Americans”. Trump is not the only President, and certainly not the only politician to exploit the racial divide in America to gain votes in order to obtain office. Trump uses identity politics to his benefit, which is targeting the white working class, and it ultimately got him elected as President. The Democratic party is using identity to their benefit for the upcoming 2020 election as well, “Most Democrats considering a run for president in 2020, whether they’re brown, black or white, are talking about race more frequently and frankly than their predecessors” (Khalid). Along with talking more about race, the party itself has become much more diverse over the past 20 years. “In 1996, three-quarters of registered Democratic voters were white, according to the Pew Research Center. By 2017, that number had shrunk to 59 percent” (Khalid). This represents the change of the focus of the party toward more social issues which is what the Democrats are appealing to now. Both parties use identity politics, it just depends on how they use it to appeal to their respective audiences. 

The current landscape of politics is quite fragile and a bit hard to maneuver between topics without crossing the line somewhere. With the Senate and Presidency controlled by Republicans and the House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats there is an obvious split between power. The House was just recently taken back by the Democrats, and by voters of minorities; ““At the end of the day, we know how Democrats took back the House, and it was because of black and brown voters throughout the country and female voters,” said Bakari Sellers, a Democratic political strategist” (Davis). This shows how the Democratic party targeted voters of minority populations using racially driven messages to get their support. However, the Democratic party has racial issues of their own. According to Julie Davis, a former White House Correspondent and current Congressional editor of the New York Times, “Weeks after Democrats assumed control of the House with the most diverse class ever, the leaders of their campaign arm invited more than a dozen top political consultants to lead a discussion on the message for their fragile majority. Every one of the strategists was white” (Davis). This issue is being addressed by people within the Democratic party, “For the Democratic Party to lack diversity in any way in the year 2019 is unacceptable,” he added, “and I’d rather fix it now than have to deal with it later” (Davis). The “he” in this quote is Bakari Sellers, who is a Democratic political Strategist. The fact that the Democrats rely on the vote of minorities and yet have very little diversity within their own party could potentially be disconcerting for many voters that would regularly vote Democrat. 

Identity politics is obviously an issue that deserves much attention from the American public. With the constantly evolving social issues today, one can’t be so blatantly naive to miss their impact on other people that have truly struggled with racial or sexual prejudice, or if they are struggling with who they truly are. These issues will be undoubtedly some of the top issues for the 2020 Presidential election, and the elections that follow.

Works Cited

Davis, Julie Hirschfeld. “Identity Politics Roil Most Diverse House Democratic Caucus Ever.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Aug. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/democrats-identity-politics-diversity.html.

Khalid, Asma. “Democrats Can’t Avoid Identity Politics In 2020.” NPR, NPR, 20 Dec. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/12/20/673937768/democrats-cant-avoid-identity-politics-in-2020.

Patterson, Richard North. “Opinion: How Democrats Can Beat Trump’s White Identity Politics.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 17 May 2018, www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-patterson-identity-politics_n_5a7391a6e4b01ce33eb12c61?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL3RvcGljL2lkZW50aXR5LXBvbGl0aWNz&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK5UzU-o1R8i4YM31fxbFnKGziB2wPj1K6Yr3UOLN6KNZ4XvHCuroh2RyqaSPBuAPcjvoTnnI2A2ARV31s_O8vz6GKhF38P234fV7OE8c5YedJ0qQJ3zf-ncBT6L2MaPKIafKx0L2m6zIXJGRJQqAlCQpklmVQn0ZJTLuBOq2oS1.