Prometheus 6   

The whole issue of "identity politics" (and no, I don't believe it's a pejorative) seems to be like the whole issue of "union politics" or some other large scale "special interest" politics. In a perfect, politically color blind world, the idea of "identity politics" would still exist and still be a meaningful term. People have distinct racial identities which give them a unique perspective on the world that I certainly don't share - at a basic level. And that perspective colors everything they care about, everything they do. Because humans are all 99.9% identical genetically, the variation provided by this racial viewpoint is necessarily small. The viewpoint colored by "identity" (which I assume to be race here) is not going to be all that different from the rest of the viewpoints of everyone claiming the Human Genome as their genetic heritage1. "Cultural identity politics" would perhaps be a better term. Maybe "Social Identity Politics".

Having said that....

From my point of view, the question "what does it mean to be white?" really needs to be seen in its proper context. What makes the "white" experience statistically different from other ethnic experiences in the US is that our racial group pretty much dominates our country. Politically and economically. Oh, and our country pretty much dominates the planet.

But that aside, as bad as the US is about so many other things, our economy has an amazing amount of economic mobility. There just isn't another country like ours on the planet where people can - potentially - move so freely between economic classes. Well, as long as you're white, that is.

And that's a pretty unique perspective on this earth. When I was working as a student assistant in college, I remember talking with the Chinese scientists who worked in the center where I slaved for them writing analysis programs. They came to the United States because in their culture - i.e. China - it is (their words, not mine) very hard to change economic and social classes. So what they did was come over here to the US, make a name for themselves, and then go back to China.

And because I'm white, I get to potentially participate in this kind of upward social mobility. That makes my whole experience very White.

I'm somewhat perplexed, though sympathetic, with the way bloggers tend to want to hide their political affiliations. The vast majority, though they can be roughly divided along the political spectrum, seem to want to be thought of as "independent." Certainly, none of us wants to be pigeon-holed and would prefer to think of themselves as free thinking individuals who approach each issue rationally. Fine.

But our system of democracy depends upon partisanship and defining the boundaries of left and right. To an extent, the same can be said about race. (And here, I'm straying into an area where I don't have a lot of depth.) Certainly, we are each defined by our racial (and ethnic, religious, etc.) backgrounds, though the effects are differing and complex. Colorblindness, like the presumption of innocence, is a useful legal fiction and a laudable ideal, but it's not really a way of life.

I believe that recognizing distinctions, both political and racial, ought to be a constructive part of political and social dialogue. Instead "race" and "partisanship" are often presented as derogatory concepts that ought to be shunned. And I think that's a shame.