‘Identity Politics’ Create Unlevel Playing Field

In sports athletes, coaches and spectators realize their No. 1 desire when competition occurs on a level playing field, but “Identity Politics” attempts to rearrange the stage.

“Identity Politics” showed up all over the radar this spring and as free- thinking Americans we dare not ignore these little blips. No one wants to pay the same price as the guys who brushed off the radar detection showing waves of incoming Japanese aircraft approaching Pearl Harbor the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, but very few voices dare sound an alarm.

According to information released May 23 by the U.S. Air Force Academy operations and analysis office, 33.3% of the Class of 2022 which includes Javan Jowers, who had an outstanding football career at Farmington, represent racial and ethnic minorities. There were 10 Native Americans and 18 Pacific Islanders among various people categories the Air Force lumps cadets into graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 25.

As a Native American, I’m thankful those opportunies exist, but it doesn’t matter to me that 673 cadets couldn’t be labeled as a minority.

What essentially matters is that every one of these men and women uphold their “Oath of Enlistment” to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Major League pitcher Jalen Beeks, Prairie Grove Class of 2011, found himself dealing with “Identity Politics” recently when the Tampa Bay Rays wanted players to wear a patch on their uniforms that conflicts with the sincerely held religious beliefs of Beeks and certain other players who opted out.

Locals might remember bumper- to- bumper lines through the Chik-Fil-A drivethrough on MLK in downtown Fayetteville a few years ago when that organization came under fire from the left. People rallied to support Chik- Fil-A by purchasing their products in overwhelming numbers only to have the fast food chain withdraw $115,000 in annual donations to the Salvation Army and $25,000 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Conservative commentator Lance Wallnau revealed in a 2019 blog the Salvation Army was using the funding to support its “Angel Tree” program to purchase Christmas presents for poor kids, but that went away due to leftist pressure and “Identity Politics” in the name of diversity, equality and social justice.

As a Native American I understand what it means to stand up for one’s rights, but nowhere does the Constitution state that such rights supersede those of others.

That’s the problem with “Identity Politics,” a warped philosophy which encourages certain people groups to think their rights ought to supersede the rights of others.

Democrat president Andrew Jackson put into practice a brazen example enacting this type of public policy in 1830 when he signed the “Forced Removal” Act into law resulting in government redistribution of Cherokee wealth.

Those promoting “Identity Politics” don’t want to peacefully co-exist with the average American, they demand the average American bow down to their agenda — ask any female athlete who’s been forced to compete against a biological male or those who missed out on a scholarship or lost their spot on the team because a man decided he wanted to join the women’s team.

The fascinating thing is there’s an author out there those pushing “Identity Politics” might pretend to represent, who doesn’t agree with some of this stuff that’s being force fed against the conscience of freedom-loving Americans.

According to Douglas Murray, who self identifies as a gay conservative and wrote “The Madness of Crowds” and “The Strange Death of Europe,” the original issues that prompted gay activists to protest against being marginalized and persecuted in the 1960s and 1970s don’t exist anymore, yet identity politics continue to the detriment of society.

This month protesters practicing another form of “Identity Politics” stormed into one of the largest churches in America attempting to disrupt a sermon by Pastor Joel Osteen in Houston, Tex., which ought to tell his critics he must be doing something right.

The way to counter “Identity Politics” is to simply do what Osteen and his congregation did — honor the Constitution by exercising “Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, and Peaceable Assembly, not to mention “Freedom of the Press, Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances and Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” in addition to voting at every opportunity.

The United States of America remains the greatest country in the world, we confound “Identity Politics” by refusing to allow that agenda to divide and conquer us.

If every coach of a women’s team, tired of being victimized by “Identity Politics,” would decide at this very moment to draw up a game plan specifically to defeat this new foe, we’d start seeing results.