In the Gonzales Debate, Identity Politics Meets the Right Wing

[poppet]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/112904F.shtml

Excerpt
Right-wing identity politics has been an effective tool used by some Republicans to move this country to the right, and as a method, it is about to accomplish a tremendous victory in the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General and the support for Gonzales by mainstream Latino organizations. Sadly, the confirmation of the first Latino to hold such a high office will not be a triumph, but a major defeat for people of color in this country and throughout the world.

Right-wing identity politics seeks to take advantage of racial and ethnic identity to further extreme views that, in most cases, are detrimental to a majority of people of color. It is practiced at the Republican National Convention where Latinos and African Americans are more likely to be on stage than in the audience of delegates, but the agenda is clearly one that supports corporate and property interests, while most people of color in the U.S. struggle against those interests.