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Americans' opinion of identity politics changes with the seasons

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on

SAN DIEGO -- October must be a confusing month for critics of so-called identity politics. It has to be difficult to separate those things that promote "tribalism" from harmless celebrations of culture and heritage.

As Hispanic Heritage Month was being ushered out -- having run from mid-September to mid-October -- here came Columbus Day on Oct. 14. The national holiday was proclaimed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937, largely to appease Italian-Americans after five decades of discrimination and violence.

Suddenly, folks are reassessing how they feel about cultural festivals, ethnic holidays and having certain dates on the calendar set aside to honor the contributions of a specific group of Americans.

For the last few weeks, I heard the usual griping and sniping from fellow Americans who were angry that Hispanics -- a group that numbers nearly 60 million with an annual GDP of $2.3 trillion -- merited a whole month to acknowledge their achievements.

Blame demographics. Hispanics account for 18% of the U.S. population and are on pace to make up a quarter by 2030. Mexicans and Mexican Americans alone account for 10% of the population. Many white people feel culturally displaced, and they don't appreciate a yearly reminder. They rail against "identity politics" and insist the country is being destroyed as people retreat into tribes instead of just being "Americans."

Responding to a column on President Trump's private war against Hispanics, a reader lamented: "The first chance we get, we run to our respective racial and ethnic corners. ... Congratulations, you are now one of the groups who think that racial and ethnic identity is more important than the one that actually should unify us: being human."

 

That's a nice sentiment, but it's also dishonest. Identity politics date back to the founding of this country, and the concept was invented by white men. All these years later, as white identity politics is trumpeted by conservative talk radio, the GOP, Fox News and Trump himself, the rest of us are just trying to catch up.

Americans' take on identity politics varies based on whose "identity" is at issue. If it's mine, no worries. If it's yours, we have a problem.

For decades, Columbus Day didn't need defending. Because, for the most part, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus wasn't being attacked. As more information has come to light about the atrocities committed against indigenous people by Columbus and his men -- who sailed under the Spanish flag and brought white Christianity to the Americas -- public outrage grew. And Columbus became a target.

In San Francisco, someone threw red paint on a statue of the explorer just days before the holiday. The culprit also crawled the message: "Destroy all monuments to genocide and kill all colonizers." Never mind that the city already marks Columbus Day as "Indigenous Peoples' Day."

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