Justice is not special treatment

Greetings all on Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

     Today seems an excellent day to discuss what is termed Identity Politics.  I hate the term and hope to not use it again in this piece or in any other postings.  It is like Social Justice Warrior or Snowflake, and attempt to take the virtue of demanding justice or caring for the wellbeing of others and making it a vice.  This term attempts to invert the reality around us and place those who are demanding equal treatment of our fellow humans on the defensive.  

     The latest definition of this term, meant to be derogatory, was this:  "Choosing who wins based upon who they are."  

     This attempt to discredit either the Black Lives Matter or other social justice movements shows a shocking lack of awareness while hilighting the unjust situation activists work to overturn.  

     I assert that American politics has always been identity based.  The winners were chosen by accidents of birth and those prejudices codified into the Constitution and state law.  This group was set up to win every legal, moral and social contest at the expense of anyone not in their group.  Of course I refer here to White Men.

     White Men's dominance was so great that they were able to own others not of their elite club.  This included black people via chattel slavery and women via marriage and paternal control.  Their privileges were so ingrained that churches without shame trotted out the Gospels to reinforce that White Men were ordained by God to rule over all things.  I would say the struggle to bring real justice to fruition was and remains, wresting power from the hands of White Men.  

      My fellow club mates, have never been able to see this easily.  Our entire social and political structure was built to make recognition of this reality difficult.  And it is a cruel irony of privilege that if you have it and then conditions change toward equity, you register it as a loss or an affront to yourself.  Therefore it should come as no surprise that as we push for justice and equal treatment for those who are not White Men that they feel aggrieved.    

     This would be funny if not for the violent reaction this inverted perception has brought about.  To change how one sees things is difficult, and those struggling to change I will do all I can to help.  However right now we are facing a reactionary backlash and that requires us to stand firm and push back, especially against attempts to invert the reality and label those striving for justice as the oppressors.  

     I commit therefore, to pushing back explicitly and directly whenever someone laments how this or that marginalized or persecuted group is receiving special treatment.  We have to not allow them to pervert the language of justice to reinstate, injustice.  

     Peace to you on this MLK Day.  May his dream become our reality and soon.  

     Ad Astra Per Aspera,

     Kevin