By Aisha Bailey

Maureen Dowd’s shrewd yet misguided critique of identity politics (“Democrats and the Case of Mistaken Identity Politics”) reveals a glaring lack of self-awareness. To proclaim that “Woke is broke,” with the cadence of a mean-spirited Dr. Seuss rhyme, trivializes the weighty realities of identity. Such dismissiveness is not just reductive; it borders on cruelty.

I am my identity. This is my life. For Ms. Dowd to liken our existence to a mere trinket—collected, craved, and discarded when the shine fades—is not only frivolous but offensive. It echoes a broader GOP tendency to flatten the complex histories and lived experiences of marginalized groups into catchphrases, box them up, and stomp them into oblivion. But we are not a trend to be “tried on” or tossed aside.

Identity is not a novelty; it is a woven cloak of blood and spiritual history, crafted by ancestors who lived and endured long before America was conceived. Those cloaks carry the stories of people who inhabited this land before its inception,  before it became a stage for the entitlement of those who arrived more recently, yet perch themselves atop podiums as though their claim is absolute.

The GOP, and now Ms. Dowd, sit atop these podiums with water still pooling at their feet from their ancestors’ arrival, weaponizing entitlement to mute those who have been here since the beginning. It is a karmic relationship, one woven into the fabric of this country. Ignoring it is to erase it. Erasure, after all, has been their tactic for centuries.

This is not a political game. It is not a culture war won by clever turns of phrase or feigned perplexity. While some Democrats bemoan the shattered remains of their strategies like children crying over ruined Christmas gifts, they too fail to grasp that this is not about rhetoric. It is about lives—our lives.

Ms. Dowd, I urge you to look more deeply and reconsider. Identity is not a fleeting fad; it is the cornerstone of our shared humanity. To dismiss it is not only shortsighted but a betrayal of the very essence of who we are. Do better.