SJW Identity Politics Are "The Mirror Image Of White Supremacy"
One of a handful of texts that's moved me enormously and acts as a guiding principle for my thinking is Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

In fact, my love for that text puts it close to the Constitution in my reverence lineup. (I think the Constitution is probably at the top, and the Declaration of Independence is up there, too.)

That's one reason I am continually shocked by what feminists and the SJW crowd call for -- basically, they are screeching that blacks (and others "of color") and women are lesser people and should be judged and privileged in those ways. Not by "the content of their character." Not on their merits.

Telling people they are victims creates victims. And it seems to me to be not only damaging (because of its self-fulfillingness) but most insulting to tell people that they can't get by without a handout not available to others. Not needed by others.

David French at NRO:

Progressives don't like to admit this, but identity politics work as the mirror image of white supremacy -- compressing the extraordinarily rich and complex histories of nations, continents, and cultures into one characteristic: skin color. For the white supremacist, white people are natural-born victors. For the identity-politics leftist, white people are natural-born predators.

But actual history belies the stereotypes. To take just one hot-button example, the history of slavery since the colonial era is not just a history of Europeans and white Americans enslaving Africans. It's of Africans enslaving Africans, of Africans enslaving Europeans, and of Arabs enslaving Africans (and that's just a partial summary). Yes, brown people enslaved white people by the millions: Should Americans of North African or Turkish descent check their privilege and believe their wealth was built on plunder?

When identity politics rule, racism and polarization thrive. It is no coincidence that we are seeing a resurgence in outright white nationalism -- embodied in the so-called alt-right -- at the same time that America's leftist cultural elite are decisively rejecting Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that Americans be judged by the "content of their character" and not the color of their skin. When one side decides that skin color is a virtue, then -- as sure as the sun rises in the east -- the other side will eagerly agree.

Indeed, race obsession obscures the far more important discussion of culture. If you think, for example, that there's a single monolithic "black" culture, talk to a recent Nigerian immigrant who's experiencing his own culture clash -- even while surrounded by black Americans. If there is one "white" culture, why are there such enduring and profound differences between Germans and Greeks? There is nothing wrong with being white. There is nothing right with being white. And there is something bizarre about being proud of past accomplishments (or repentant of past failures) based merely on sharing a skin tone with unrelated prior generations.

It is far more enriching -- and humbling -- to learn of our own individual histories. When you learn more about the past, you realize how much we all stand on the shoulders of giants, but also how just a single lifetime of decadence and irresponsibility can sweep away the work of generations. I prefer to speak in terms not of pride, but of gratitude. How can I be "proud" that my relatives came over on the Mayflower and stood with Washington at Valley Forge? I had nothing to do with those achievements and would be hard-pressed to demonstrate the same courage. Instead, I'm grateful -- deeply grateful. And I'm grateful also for the history of my nation and culture -- a nation that through great effort and enormous sacrifice cultivated and preserved principles of individual liberty and human freedom that have benefited billions of human souls.

We are divided enough naturally -- by our "us/them" psychology that protected us as early humans.

After a young lifetime of reading, and being my mother's daughter (my mother who talks to everyone and treats a busboy with the same respect as her temple's rabbi), I have always been interested in people. I hated growing up in a white suburb, where everyone was largely the same, and couldn't wait to get out and experience the world.

I love living in California and specifically, Venice, California, because so many people here are from all over the world and all sorts of backgrounds.

I'm going to continue being my mother's daughter -- talking to everyone and treating everyone as humans -- and not take on what the progressive view amounts to, that some people are lesser.

This doesn't mean some aren't in need of our help. But they need our help because they are poor or old or mentally ill, not because they have darker skin. That's insulting and infantilizing.

Also, it helps us ignore one of the big reasons for black kids doing poorly in school -- being the children of impoverished single mothers. That brings no glory for the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world -- our celebrity race hucksters -- to discuss, because there's no evil whitey to blame. There's just telling black women -- as I tell the inner city kids I speak to a couple of times a year at a local school -- that they need to put their careers and lives together first, and then meet somebody and start a family. With someone. An intact family. Because that's the best shot anybody has at raising emotionally healthy children who can do things in this world. Maybe even become somebody and make a difference.

A black man, Paul Beatty, just won the Man Booker Prize for literature. The first American ever. Should we feel sorry for him because he's black -- or excited for him because he did something great?

And by the way, his novel, The Sellout, seems to be a satire about racial politics and racist discrimination. That's what we need to see more of -- shows of how sick and absurd racism is -- not calls to treat people like they're less because of their race. If we do that, how are we any better than the white supremacists?

via @SteveStuWill