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"Racism is a part of who he is. It is a part of his strategy," Lightfoot said Monday.

But everyone also should avoid being distracted by the race question from "what people actually care about and what they need," she said. "What they need is leadership."

Indeed, actions speak louder than labels. Office-seekers in our democracy have a choice. They can try to win by dividing people along lines of race and other differences or they can act to bring people together by emphasizing what we share in common.

Trump made his choice quite clear when he first announced his 2016 presidential campaign by attacking Mexican immigrants as "bringing drugs," "bringing crime, "they're rapists," as well as some who "I assume are good people."

More recently he has made public enemies out of "the squad," a quartet of freshmen House Democrats and women of color whom Trump has told on Twitter to "go back" to where they came from instead of criticizing his administration. All four of the women -- Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota -- are U.S. citizens, and only Omar was born outside the U.S.

Trump's telling Cummings to go take care of his district and stop investigating his affairs strikes the ear much like the "Send her back!" chant that Trump's last rally crowd, in Greenville, N.C., employed. Both are just another version of the old and shameful message that too many members of minority groups still hear, "Go back where you came from."

Can Trump's version of white identity politics win in 2020? That's up to us voters.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)

(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.