Essays on The Threat of Multiculturalism: The US Battle By Chris Knight

     It is hard to keep up with all the literature, so I hope readers appreciate the sacrifice my eyes are making to the “cause’! Just joking of course. But to begin … A series of insightful and though-provoking essays have been published at the very interesting American Mind.org site, basically saying the same sort of stuff we say here about the threat of multiculturalism and runaway identity politics. The core paper, with the others being commentaries is by David Azerrad, and it argues that identity politics is in essence the politics of victimology;
  https://americanmind.org/essays/the-promises-and-perils-of-identity-politics/

“Identity politics thus combines a focus on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and any other number of identitarian categories with a politics of victimization. The key to understanding identity politics is to realize that it is primarily a politics of oppression and victimization rather than identity. This is apparent in the first document to use the term, the 1977 Combahee River Collective Statement. As the black lesbian feminists who drafted it explain: “This focusing upon our own oppression is embodied in the concept of identity politics.” The cornerstone of the identitarian worldview is the claim that America, contrary to its egalitarian professions of faith, is at its core a supremacist regime that oppresses certain groups. The oppressed groups vary according to the different identitarian movements—black people, women, Hispanics, homosexuals, transsexuals, etc.—although most recognize the oppression of other groups and proclaim solidarity with them. This struggle between the oppressors and those whom they oppress on the basis of their identity is the most fundamental dimension of reality. Oppression of women and minorities, in this view, does not mark a departure from American republican ideals. Rather, it reveals the repressive nature of the regime.

In this sense, Malcolm X represents the beginnings of identity politics in America.  In his fiery speeches and interviews, the world is divided between evil whites and their nonwhite victims. Malcolm X denounces white people—who “are born devils by nature”—for “having oppressed and exploited and enslaved our people here in America.” “Any white man,” he insists, “is against blacks.” By contrast, he sees a natural affinity and solidarity between all nonwhites: “the red, the brown and the yellow are indeed all part of the black nation. Which means that black, brown, red, yellow, all are brothers, all are one family. The white one is a stranger. He’s the odd fellow.” And he uses his hold on power to keep the others down: “That’s what America means: prison.”

     The rest of the papers elaborate on various aspects of this theme. Overall, nothing excitingly new, but it is still good to see others putting one’s point of view. For your reference:
  https://americanmind.org/essays/defend-america-defeat-multiculturalism/
  https://americanmind.org/features/justice-that-aint-it-chief/the-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-identity-politics/
  https://americanmind.org/features/justice-that-aint-it-chief/
  https://americanmind.org/features/justice-that-aint-it-chief/the-moral-basis-of-identity-politics/
  https://americanmind.org/features/justice-that-aint-it-chief/their-sin-your-penance/

Authorised by K. W. Grundy
13 Carsten Court, Happy Valley, SA.

 

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Friday, 19 April 2024

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