Ayanna Pressley is the newest member of “the squad,” the rag-tag group of far-left congresswomen feuding with Democratic Party leaders and President Trump. She’s also a representative of my home state, Massachusetts. She hasn’t exactly represented us well: Pressley has made a name for herself with her bombastic rhetoric, like when she refers to Trump as “the occupant” of the White House, rather than the president.
But Pressley has officially gone too far. Speaking at the left-wing Netroots Nation conference this weekend, Pressley spoke about minority representation in politics, in light of the flare up between her “squad” and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Here’s what the freshman congresswoman had to say:
Of course, Pressley’s “squad” cohorts and House colleagues Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib sat alongside her and nodded approvingly throughout this tirade, in which the very ability of people of minority races, religions, and sexual orientations to think for themselves was essentially denied.
The squad’s acquiescence to Pressley’s blatant racism and homophobia is bizarre and disturbing, but revealing: It shows the toxic nature of identity politics and how it can make bigots out of those who claim to be “progressive.”
Think about the implication here: If you are not the right kind of black person, Pressley does not want you in politics. In fact, if you don’t represent blackness in the way she approves, you are not even really black, just a “black face” but not a “black voice.”
Think about what this means for someone such as Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, or Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas. They’re both African American and also strong believers in free-market capitalism, the Constitution, and other conservative principles. In Pressley’s eyes, these beliefs make them not black enough, not the “right” kind of black person, or a true “black voice.” There’s no other word for that than racist.
Well by being black, my voice is automatically a black voice. That’s how it works. What she ACTUALLY means is we don’t need minorities who don’t want to be a progressive voice. And that, my friend, is the true definition of discrimination. https://t.co/EwaBJUUyL6
— Jon Miller (@MillerStream) July 16, 2019
If I am “queer” (if that’s an acceptable word for “gay” in Pressley’s eyes) but refuse to define myself as a “queer voice,” or to cower behind a line of acceptable principles that Pressley approves of gays holding, then Pressley presumes to stand in judgment of whether I’m queer enough. The implication is that because I lean conservative or don’t define myself by my sexuality that I am not a true “queer voice.” And that’s both homophobic and ignorant.
None of this is surprising. Identity politics is toxic and shatters the very idea that its adherents are “progressive” in any meaningful sense of the word.
