Identity Politics: Jim Crow’s Rebrand in Drag

by Tammy Pondsmith

Jim Crow used to be an ugly little man with a bullhorn and a “Whites Only” sign. Now he’s had a makeover, lost some weight, and turned into Identity Politics. Same sneer, new wardrobe. The script hasn’t changed — it’s still “judge people by their skin, not their character” — but now it comes wrapped in hashtags and HR manuals instead of segregation laws.

Identity politics is the art of slicing society into neat demographic categories and telling everyone their slot is their destiny. It’s not about uniting people; it’s about keeping them sorted, labeled, and eternally suspicious of each other. If Jim Crow was the original segregationist, identity politics is his influencer grandkid, live-streaming division while selling merch.

And when you want to institutionalize that mindset? That’s where DEI shows up — the HR-approved franchise model. Forget “Whites Only” water fountains. Today it’s “Résumés Only If They Fit Our Equity Dashboard.” It’s not about who’s best qualified; it’s about who helps the department meet its quota so the CEO can tweet about justice and get back to doing business in countries that still run actual apartheid systems. DEI pretends to fix racism while practicing it in reverse — a perfect ouroboros of hypocrisy.

Politicians adore identity politics because nothing keeps power locked down like turning citizens into feuding tribes. Why fix the economy when you can convince people their neighbor’s pronouns are the real threat? Keep the circus roaring, and the audience never notices that the ringmasters on both sides are dining together in D.C., splitting donor checks like dessert.

Big Tech loves it too. Algorithms now function like digital “Whites Only” signs, except instead of barring you from a lunch counter, they herd you into echo chambers where every scroll fuels your outrage. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok — they’re not platforms, they’re slot machines that pay out in resentment. Jim Crow divided neighborhoods; identity politics divides timelines.

And the corporate world? They’ve figured out how to make identity itself a profit center. Workshops on “unconscious bias” cost more than your car note, and HR departments hand out promotions based on who completes the Oppression Bingo card. It’s segregation in a PowerPoint deck — sterile, smug, and still racist.

Here’s the hard truth: Identity politics isn’t progress. It’s regression dressed up in progressive drag. DEI is just the bureaucratic wing of the same old scam. The names have changed, the fonts are sleeker, but the principle is unchanged: keep people divided, keep the outrage flowing, and keep the power where it’s always been.

Jim Crow didn’t die. He got a corporate job, a LinkedIn badge, and a rainbow logo every June.

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Tammy Pondsmith is a fearless chronicler of humanity’s most avoidable mistakes, specializing in pointing out the obvious with enough wit to make you laugh before you realize you’ve been insulted.

Article 107 of the military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice covers “False Official Statements.” As our name implies, we are a satirical news site, and you shouldn’t think anything we publish is real. You should, however, mercilessly mock anyone who does.