An excellent response. I have no problem with MLK or the Birmingham Letter. My issue here isn’t with co-ordinated anti-racism that has a clear agenda, I think MLK has valid points about just and unjust laws.

My issue is with both the performative actions of white people and the lack of cohesion that identity politics brings to the conversation. Rather than pushing a broadly socialist agenda which by its nature would include anti-racism, the conversation repeatedly stalls.

In short, I can see a clear way the simple and powerful message of equality and fairness becomes subsumed and mired in power games. The US may need to have a race war as MLK warned, because I’m convinced the identity politics endless circle of oppression is a non starter.

To clear up the confusion…. I never mean that anti-racism was only done by white people. What I meant was… any act of anti-racism can be done by white people (day for example creating a safe space for BIPOC at work); but any such act can be invalidated by any BIPOC who subjectively infers that it isn’t anti-racist.

It is the lack of objectivity around what constitutes racism which means that even when two BIPOC disagree about whether the action was racist, nobody has the final objective say. Post-structural thought allows the subjective feeling of racism to supersede any objective stance. This can then be reinforced or denied by others. The lack of clarity is the problem – this is why anti-racism won’t work, not that an attempt to create a better society is inherently flawed.

I have an article entitled ‘what society loses when we play identity politics’ which goes into my views in a lot more detail. Thanks for your comment – all such comments are gratefully received.