The answer to tribalism in America is staring us in the face

I disdain the tribalist. Such a person cares only about his tribe and not others. The tribalist takes pride in the achievements of the individuals who happen to be members of the tribe. But the tribalist himself contributes nothing of pride. Rather, the tribalist uses the immutable characteristics of his tribe as his power, as shallow as it may be. He warns outsiders to stay in their lane and not to culturally appropriate elements from his tribe. And if the outsiders don’t listen, he smears them as racist or with some other derogatory word. 

But this is America. I have always believed in the higher American truth that we are far more than our tribes. We are individuals. And we a better nation when we learn from one another. 

That is why I felt disgust when I heard Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., attempt to take Congressman Clay Higgins, R-La., to the woodshed during a congressional hearing of a bill last month. His crime? As a white man, he crossed racial lines and quoted Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Presseley responded to Higgins with indignation and told him to keep King’s name out of his mouth. "You're a perversion of his words and his mission when his children have asked you to stop invoking his name and perverting his work when he was a proud and unapologetic black man fighting for equality for black Americans and all marginalized people. So you all are entitled to your opinions, but not a denial of the facts."

At this point, most whites would have withered, mumbled an apology, and done anything to avoid being smeared as a racist. Shelby Steele calls this "white guilt," which is not actual guilt but the fear of being stigmatized as a racist. Instead, what Higgins did next impressed me. He planted his feet. He stood his ground. And he fired right back.

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Higgins: "I thank my colleague and I appreciate my Democrat colleague for exemplifying exactly the kind of oppression of freedoms that we're referencing. How about we'll quote whoever we want to quote? How about that's my First Amendment right? That's exactly the kind of baked in oppression. Like how dare a white Republican quote Martin Luther King…And thank you, good lady, for once again, exemplifying the type of oppression that we stand against —"

At this point, Pressley tried to interrupt and assert her tribal authority over him, but Higgins was having none of it. 

"You know, I'm right. You know, I'm right," Higgins said. "And we will quote who we please to quote—"

"You're a disgrace," Pressley interrupted. 

Higgins continued: "And we will continue to speak freely because -- now I'm a veteran. That's the country that I serve. That's a constitution I swore an allegiance to. And that that oath has no expiration date. I will fight for it with my last life's blood for my right to speak freely and yours.

Republican Clay Higgins represents Louisiana's 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. (REUTERS/Edmund D. Fountain)

"Good Lady, you will never hear me saying how dare you quote anybody you please to quote. And that exemplifies, America, precisely the type of institutional oppression that my colleague Mr. [Michael] Cloud's bill, which I'm an original co-sponsor, hopes to push back against."

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What I admired most about Higgins’ response was that he reached for American principles. He said as an American he has the right to quote other Americans. Americans belong to other Americans, not to tribes. Too many people have responded to tribalism with tribalism and that leads only to more factionalism. But Higgins responded to tribalism with American principles and that is why he won the debate hands down.

Tribalism is fundamentally anti-American and the answer to this tribalism will always be the American principle that we are a nation of indivisible individuals.

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