Reddit reviews Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump

It’s absolutely correct that liberal intersectionality is dominate, to the point of being close to mainstream orthodoxy. I think this is because it ultimately doesn’t really challenge power in a serious way, if capital still sees the dollars flowing in then it doesn’t really matter. It’s extremely easy for the Toronto District School Board to phase out using “chief” is office titles ‘out of respect for First Nations people’ but quite difficult to build pluming infrastructure to bring clean water to First Nations communities. And because their is so much effort put into all those little aesthetic things, making everything gender neutral, that they feel like “we’ve already done so much for x group, and they are asking for more!”, and the public grows so tired of what they think are demands successfully being won as their economic position gets worse and worse.

The peak of this is Trudeau changing the lyrics of the national anthem. Find me an actual feminist activist who cares at all about this and sees this as a victory in any way. But it definitely made a lot of people extremely angry and more virulently anti-feminist.



There aren’t really any well known Marxist feminists. The biggest names are Silvia Federici and Lise Vogel, both of whom did the bulk of their work back in the 70s and 80s. It’s really only in the last couple years, in reaction to the ascendancy of a new wave of identify politics that there as been a rediscovery of the this older MarxFem work and new work done on the topic. It’s still relatively small but it’s definitely a growing trend, the explosive growth of the DSA in the United States has really spread this approach contra the identity politics left. Here is an example of new a Marxist approach to anti-racist politics that I’m excited to see when it comes out.

An example of how coming from a materialist/Marxist approach changes combating racism is that increasingly socialists reject ‘cultural appropriation’ or at least are dramatically cutting back on what the term is applied to. Many of us are realizing that the effort to combat cultural appropriation works toward the same goal that white nationalists want; keeping white people and culture “pure” by keeping them separate from non-white people. When it came to be about not just clothes but language (using that slang is appropriation etc) I came to realize that the logical end place of this is enforced separation, drawing sharper boundaries along race lines.

thanks for the honest engagement. and i would say that my original understanding of PP was probably slightly skewed towards more of Proud Boys stuff (they both try hard to fall into radical ring wing "non-racist" groups with similar motives), while PP does seem more like fanatical right wing religious types. That said, I can recall when they showed up at evergreen college and their portland march immediately following the white nationalist murder of those women, and i think it would be hard to argue that "culture war" they are engaging in is in direct opposition to groups looking for racial equality. That is not to say that there are people of whom's ideas of idpol go bizarrely far (like when people claim a movie trailer doesn't show enough women/minorities, when in reality a 30 second clip of an action movie isn't what most minorities care about when they think of representation). I say this to show that i think there is fair criticism of people in movements to promote equality. But providing criticism of a movement and actively trying to oppose the movement as a whole and goals for equality are very different.

By your comments, it sounds like maybe your views of racial inequality is that it is insignificant in america today to validate a cultural movement towards seeking equality, but correct me if i'm wrong there. I would still argue that the evidence showing racial discrimination is still very important in understanding how and why there there are racial disparities in employment, school punishment, and other various economic mobility factors. as far as studies on incarceration rates "ignoring criminal history", that doesn't discount the POC are more likely to be pulled over, more likely to be arrested, etc. than whites. And you have to wonder that if a system which in the past has done so much to curtail the opportunities of POC, if the communities and populations really have a fair shot to make it out of poverty.

One reason i think that many people minimize the impact of racial discrimination is because white people also feel the weight of economic oppression, it's not just a problem that minorities feel. Working class people of all colors are continuing to see stagnant wages while the price for life and opportunity (cost of living, education, raising children) is becoming less attainable. Why should we care about about whether there is minority representation in movies when the real problems that effect me skyrocketing rents, lack of decent jobs, etc.? The wealth and power in America continues to consolidate into fewer and fewer hands. The best case scenario for the executives making $5000/hr is that the person making $25/hr blames their economic troubles on the person making $10/hr for wanting higher pay. Racism is a construct, and a useful tool for dividing the working class. There are some great books on the topic, and some having an interesting take on how current identity politics actually get in the way forming solidarity in the working class struggle.

The point that i am trying to make in all of this is that the "culture war" is a reaction to the very real economic oppression in our society, and one of the tools of the oppressors has long been racism as a means to divide the working class and create hierarchy which ultimately benefits the 1% above all else. The struggle that people of color face is a struggle that disadvantage whites face as well, and should be a rallying cry for solidarity. the fact of the matter is that POC are generally more oppressed, so in an effort to fight overall oppression, we must address the concerns of those who have it worst. If we want to live in a society which provides us equal opportunity, we have to address all of the systematic forms of oppression simultaneously to see lasting progress.

Sorry for the long winded response, it's just difficult for me to not tie in what i feel like is needed context haha.

If you're interested, the author of that piece just came out with a book on identity politics that looks worth reading.

I do think that generally people are waking up to the depth of the problem, though online spaces like this one are going to be a lagging indicator.