Understanding “Identity Politics”

I often say, “People who don’t understand identity politics shouldn’t try to play identity politics.”

The other day someone asked me to help them understand.

Here goes —

Identity politics is not about the candidate’s identity, it’s about your own.

It doesn’t mean voting for someone who looks like you or shares your identity.

It means voting in the best interest of people who look like you or share your identity.

So, women voting for Bill Clinton = Identity politics

Women voting for Sarah Palin = NOT identity politics.

Black people voting for Joe Biden = Identity politics

Black people voting for Tim Scott — NOT identity politics

and thus…

Trying to run Keith Ellison for DNC Chair — didn’t work

Sending Nina Turner to South Carolina — didn’t work

Putting Sarah Palin on the GOP ticket — didn’t work

In conclusion, people who don’t understand identity politics shouldn’t try to play identity politics.

*I didn’t want to use poor Herman Cain as an example, god rest his soul. He did everything they ask of Black Republicans. But it didn’t matter. He paid the ultimate price at the hands of people who didn’t understand identity politics trying to use him to play identity politics.