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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 20, 2024

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I don't object of course to "reasonable" black identity politics, although American society tends to allow too much, since excessive black identity politics will be harmful towards non blacks. Black people are one of the most ethnocentric demographics who rate other races more negatively. So, I do think that zero identity politics allowed would be unfair for them, and is an oppressive demand, but they should be pressured to consider the rights of others more and to compromise more in that direction, at least when it comes to blaming for example white people for black overepresentation in various negative statistics. But I don't think it is wrong for them to have a sense of black people being their ethnic community and care for its well being. In a multiethnic country the historical demographics need to both have identity politics and some level of compromise.

If a reasonable amount of black identity politics are fine because the alternative is them not having a place and genocide, and there isn't a case of black people being protected by a system that doesn't allow a reasonable amount of identity politics for them, then this implies that a reasonable amount of white identity politics has to exist as well. And if that isn't the case, we end up with the same progressive stack and double standards.

In any case, the expectation that the right doesn't do identity politics is simply false. Much of the American establishment right promotes identity politics in its appeal for non white groups, including ones that came mainly in late 19th and 20th and 21st century, while not doing the same for white Americans. For some politician there is an implicit but not open advocacy, to an extend such as Trump who also tried to appeal to black Americans with legislation. Others, go further than that in the progressive direction. Obviously much of the American right promotes Jewish identity politics pretty strongly. Others including people of more moderate perspective and of more edgy ones, are willing to promote white identity politics.

Black Americans have been here longer than the ancestors of most white Americans(who are mostly Ellis Islanders)

Really? Aren't most white Americans made up of non Ellis Islanders still? Such as both Anglos, but also 19th century migrants including a decent share of Germans and others.

A lot of the Germans are Ellis islanders, and AADOS were here before the 48ers anyways, or the potato famine refugees. Slave imports fell off a cliff in 1809 and very few whites outside of pure southerners lack post 1809 immigrant ancestry.

It’s completely reasonable for non-black groups to engage in identity politics. Historically- including pretty recently- you saw this mostly on religious lines. It’s in se reasonable for white groups to do so on explicitly racial lines the same as blacks do, but I would caveat that white Americans are much less of a coherent ethnic group than African Americans. Instead I think white southerners should engage in ethnic identity politics that grow to encompass the broader red tribe, and let the damn Yankees get eaten alive.

Slave imports fell off a cliff in 1809

1808, surely? Or was there a year or two of significant smuggling in between the de jure and the de facto end of the slave imports?