Since then, identity politics have veered away from Combahee’s foundational ideals. We should return to them, not to appease the right wing but to reaffirm the importance of a progressivism that touts liberty and justice for all.
Identity politics become flimsy when they devolve into shallow back-and-forths that conflate lived experience with sound political analysis. A worldview that moves us closer to equality doesn’t stem from living in a certain kind of body. It emerges from pursuing a certain kind of politics.
When identities can be invoked to assert an unquestionable authority, marginalized people can get by making dubious or completely false claims because of their “lived experience”.
