Analysis: How ‘Identity Politics’ Became a Racist Dog Whistle

The use of “identity politics” has gone from a term to address racial disparities in class-conscious movements to a racist dog whistle

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

How did “identity politics” become a racist political dog whistle? One only has to look to 2016 to see how it began being weaponized against Democrats after Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in that year’s presidential election. It was almost as immediate as it was after the most recent presidential election, except this time, Democrats have many Republicans among them sharing their unequivocal distaste for Trump, and thus, adopting more conservative views.

Unlike after the election in 2016, this time, many Democratic party leaders have embraced the idea that they should shift away from identity politics, which, in essence, means returning to white-centered politics; to addressing each problem as if the results will be equitable by embracing social discrepancies from a white perspective. But shifting backward to what would seemingly represent a society before the Civil Rights Act is counterproductive.

The United States cannot address issues like police brutality, healthcare, maternal mortality, poverty, and education without addressing the racial disparities in how those and nearly every other issue in the country disproportionately affects myriad nonwhite groups, particularly Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities. Black women face higher maternal mortality rates, and Black men are more likely to be arrested and convicted (or killed) for the same crimes their white counterparts commit and often walk away from.

White communities aren’t occupied by militarized police forces that do more to create crime than they do to prevent it. The targeting of nonwhite communities for various crimes, also seen in white communities with similar regularity, stems from the oppression of those groups. Breaking up families and constant harassment from police can have long-lasting mental health effects on generations of people. The lack of investment in those communities also leads to crimes of desperation, while targeting the education system only exacerbates the problems.

Each of the problems facing Black people can be traced back to the founding of the United States, for Indigenous people, even further. But even in the post-slavery era, the country took constant actions to suppress the nonwhite vote, negatively impacting the Black community more than most others. Gerrymandering by race using spaghetti noodle districts was born in that time, as were Jim Crow Laws that wouldn't be abolished until the Voting Rights Act was passed.

Denying Black people homeownership by locking them out of creating generational wealth through redlining is another issue that was only addressed by identifying the racial disparities, which we today call identity politics. Similarly, the country can’t address the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) power over U.S. citizens without talking about how it's weaponizing its agencies and local cops against Black people and Latinos suspected of being immigrants, criminals, or gang members.

At a time when police are emboldened by Trump’s racism and are backed by federal agencies, which are becoming just as brutal as local cops, we can ill afford to ignore that they are being driven by hate, white nationalist political extremism, and are disproportionately targeting Black people and Latinos. Even as Democratic political leaders and lawmakers ignore these issues at the behest of the consultant class, which represents billionaires first, the party can ill afford to keep ignoring them like it does an obvious genocide being livestreamed in near-real-time.

The consultant class would have you believe that we should be meeting MAGA’s bigotry in the middle. But with a bunch of Republicans in the mix who were still in the party during its dog whistle era before Trump, and suddenly bailed when the racism became overt, it’s quite evident where these ideas are coming from. It’s not a coincidence that Democrats started shifting even further to the right shortly after Never Trumpers joined the fray to pocket liberal dollars.

Essentially, current discourse suggests we drop identity politics at the behest of people who are out of touch with the real world (consultants) because they think they can court conservative voters by doing so; the same conservatives who will never vote for anyone with a ‘D’ by their name. Hardline conservatives and MAGA are single-issue voters, and an ‘R’ by someone’s name is that single issue. Appeasing their bigotry, like Democrats are currently doing with trans people, is not a solution most of the country is looking for, even if you think it’ll win elections.

The last election was clear evidence of what happens when Democrats ignore voters.

Where It Started

The term ‘identity politics’ in the United States came about during the Civil Rights Era and was popularized by Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective, a Black feminist collective named after a military operation at the Combahee River planned and led by Harriet Tubman on June 2, 1863. The group was created out of frustration with feminism being centered on white women and ignoring racial disparities in society, expanding the boundaries of feminist theory.

In 1994, Smith was asked about the importance of the Combahee River Collective.

“Combahee was really so wonderful because it was the first time that I could be all of who I was in the same place,” said Barbara Smith in 1994 when asked about the importance of the Combahee River Collective. “That I didn’t have to leave my feminism outside the door to be accepted as I would in a conservative Black political context. I didn’t have to leave my lesbianism outside. I didn’t have to leave my race outside, as I might in an all-white-women’s context where they didn’t want to know all of that,” Smith continued. “So, it was just really wonderful to be able to be our whole selves and to be accepted in that way.

“In the early 1970s, to be a Black lesbian feminist meant that you were a person of total courage. It was almost frightening,” Smith said. “I spent a lot of time wondering if I would ever be able to come out because I didn’t see any way that I could be Black and a feminist and a lesbian. I wasn’t thinking so much about being a feminist. I was just thinking about how could I add lesbian to being a Black woman. It was just like no place for us,” declared Smith. “That is what Combahee created, a place where we could be ourselves and where we were valued. A place without homophobia, a place without racism, a place without sexism.”

Because of Smith and the collective, the term identity politics began to encompass various issues affecting nonwhite groups. From racist policing practices and immigration to maternal mortality and civil rights, much of what encompasses identity politics can be attributed to the Combahee River Collective. It is that history, and the political awakening about these issues, that the right has demonized this phrase alongside trans people, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and Woke (Black people being aware of the injustices perpetrated against them by the state), among others.

In 2020, the Heritage Foundation published an op-ed targeting identity politics. While trying to demonize the idea, the author instead highlighted precisely what racists have been doing for centuries: being loud about white grievances focused only on white people’s success and to the detriment of every other nonwhite group that participates in U.S. society.

“We have identity politics today because our government has created ethnic and sexual categories whose members have been instilled with resentments against the country and its system and given real financial benefits for nursing their grievances,” writes Mike Gonzalez. “Insisting on group grievances thereby perpetuates the identity groups. If we stop this vicious cycle, we may be able to free ourselves from the grip of identity politics.”

Replace “identity politics” and “identity groups” with racists, and you’ll see it. While Gonzalez spent most of his article promoting his book tracing the origins of identity politics, he omits that the idea was created by Black women and instead places the blame on “leftists.” This tactic is meant to deny that Black women originally coined the phrase, as he claims that the language only bolsters racial injustice in the United States. Had he given Black women their due, he wouldn’t have an argument to make. So goes conservative political ideology.

Highlighting how Black women have historically spoken up for various groups, it comes as no surprise that a movement created by Black feminists would be targeted today. As the country faces bigoted attacks across the board from people with more conservative political ideologies and who have embraced the bigotry of Republican politics, this precarious time requires more solidarity and a more united front than whatever Democrats think they’re doing as a party.

Many individual Democrats are doing the right things, but far too many are either silent about major issues like the latest ICE funding, which is dangerous for U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike. Treating the “trans issue” created by the right as a legitimate issue instead of addressing just how nonsensical and asinine it is, and how it's being used to scapegoat trans people, is what cost Democrats many elections in 2024. So why keep doing what failed?

Identity politics for conservatives is a dog whistle just like DEI and Woke are, and despite its history, they will redefine it just as they have everything else. But that doesn’t mean Democrats should acknowledge the stupidity and treat it as valid. The right approach is to educate and inform and move on. Focus on real issues that affect everyday voters, not a handful of kids who just want to play sports.

Trans people are such a minority in this country that it's likely most people will never meet any. And if they do meet them, so what? They’re people living their lives like anyone else and deserve all the same rights as you and I. The targeting of trans people is coming from people who think they and drag queens are the same. It’s hateful rhetoric highlighted by outright ignorance of LGBTQ issues, just like they are about racial and social issues.

To abandon identity politics is to do so at your peril. It will come at the detriment of nonwhite communities. Meanwhile, one thing is certain: conservatives aren’t dropping their white Christian nationalist identity politics. For Democrats to do so would be not just acquiescing to racists and bigots, but surrendering to them.

In a world where fascism is flooding in, hard pass.

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