Oh man, where to start on this one. This is hella disappointing coming from a man who wants to serve in Congress. First, this tweet summarizes exactly what's wrong w/ this "let's all be colorblind" mentality. 1/ https://twitter.com/michael_muscato/status/1358295768323350529

Literally all transformative political progress for civil rights we've ever made in this country has been a direct result of "identity politics" that you dislike so much (& not only people of color, but also including the rights of women, people w/ disabilities, LGBTQ, etc.) 2/

But each of those movements required us to actually call out and name not only the groups being discriminated against, but those that hold the power and are doing the discriminating. 3/

If you don't name who's enduring the barriers, you continue to empower those that already have access and you create the false narrative that the rights held by those in power are shared by everyone. 4/

Identifying who has access and who doesn't guides the challenges against injustice especially for those who aren't experiencing it themselves 5/

The reason many don't want to define these hierarchical power structures that expose policies that yield racial inequities in our discourse is because they're comfortable in the current racist social dynamic. And they push back against ANY efforts to fight those structures 6/

Basically any idea or policy proposal that isn't centered on the white experience is challenged. Example: Defining equity programs like affirmative action as "reverse racism"; responding to #BlackLivesMatter w/ #AllLivesMatrer or even worse #BlueLivesMatter 7/

My friend, your effort to erase even the talk about race, racial inequity and the experiences of the human beings who live these injustices every day of their lives allows you to comfortably pretend they don't exist at all while you continue perpetuating the status quo 8/

By denying us the ability to talk openly about our experiences (by criticizing "identity politics") you're basically attempting to keep us in our place. Just be happy (but obedient) Black/Brown people who are lucky to have gotten this far in your white world 9/

So the question really is, why do you NOT want to engage in identity politics? These are the experiences of the people you wish to represent. Do you not value them? Are their experiences not worthy of your time? your effort? the possibility of making yourself uncomfortable? 10/

If not, then what exactly DO you value? Why are you even running? Are you running to fight for my rights and the values of my people too? Or are you running (again) for the prestige of the title? 11/

Your effort to keep US uncomfortable about talking about our lived experiences & the policies that we need to see changed by bullying us into just not talking about it at all won't work. 12/

We are here to make you uncomfortable. So you better get comfortable with it, ESPECIALLY if you intend to serve us in Congress. End/