That man who said "white power," in the video that Trump circulated? He got me to thinking (again) about "identity politics."

Obviously, not all expressions of identity politics are equal. When I was young, the slogan "black power" was in the air. Black Americans had been severely disadvantaged for a long time. They were sick of being powerless.

There was also the slogan "Black is beautiful." There was no commensurate "White is beautiful," as there was no need for it.

When I was in high school, I heard a kid from the Detroit suburbs -- a white kid -- say something jarring: "Black is beautiful, but white is right." What the hell was that? How could a skin color be right or wrong?

I knew good white people and lousy white people. Good black people and lousy black people. I knew people.

I belonged to a "colorblind" school of thought, or approach to life: a school that was soon to be attacked, mocked, and routed. It's not that we were naive. Far from it. It's that we held a view of man that did not allow race as defining.

I actually use the word "man." See what a dinosaur I am?

The "colorblind" view was related to a political outlook, yes. We loved the American motto, "E pluribus unum." But I think it was mainly rooted in religion: a religious, or spiritual, view of man (miles above physical characteristics).

That man is tribal, I find increasingly hard to deny. I can hear my old anthro profs say, "What took you so long!" (I was an anthro major.)

Those who escape a tribal mentality are mainly able to do so through a religious or spiritual outlook, I think. But the "default," I suspect, is tribal. It seems to be baked way in.

Of course, some individuals and some groups have tribalism forced on them, to a degree, by the tribalism of others. If Smiths say continually, "I hate Joneses," people named "Jones" will feel increasingly like a Jones.

That said, I don't think people should stop striving for one America. For the goal, or ideal, of "E pluribus unum."

There is also the old concept of a "family of man," which makes many eyes roll. I'm talking about a condition "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ..." (Told you about the eye rolling.)

I find the identity politics of the Left and the identity politics of the Right distasteful, when not repulsive, but I don't get a vote. Or rather, I get only one vote. And we see identity politics of many stripes on the rise.

I also think that identity politics begets identity politics. ("Well, THEY'RE doin' it!")

This morning, I witnessed something extraordinary -- a pitched racial battle in Riverside Park, NYC. Verbal battle, I mean. I had never seen anything like it, in 20-plus years of living here.

On one side were two black women; on the other, one white woman. I'm not sure what started the argument. I came on the scene mid-fight. I was walking, and I tried to linger a bit -- my reportorial instincts kicked in! -- but I could not hear much.

One of the black women was saying to the white woman, "We have gifted you this moment to channel the energy inside you in a different direction." I also heard a "been black all my life." All three women were very, very unhappy, and heated.

This is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, mind you.

Was the battle a good thing or a bad thing? A "long-overdue conversation" or a sorry episode of racial antagonism? You know, I'm not really sure. I'm sorry I can't supply more detail. But I must stress how UNUSUAL the episode was, in this neck of the woods.

One thing I have learned in recent years is that leadership matters, more than I ever thought it did. We are supposed to be a bottom-up society, not a top-down one! We're not supposed to take our cues from leaders! Ah, but people do -- that is clear.

And leaders can summon better angels and worse ones.

I think the veneer of civilization is very thin. The Balkans were doing just fine, all things considered. There was a lot of intermarriage. But bad leaders awoke the old tribal resentments. They flicked scabs off wounds (a Nixon phrase). Then there was blood ...

I think the liberal spirit -- the pluralistic spirit -- is very rare. Almost eccentric. I think it should be encouraged, at every turn.

In the early 1990s, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote a little book called "The Disuniting of America." Honestly, I can't remember whether I read it, though I certainly read reviews (my pattern). I think I may order it ...