DNJ Column 2/3/19 We’re all familiar with various rivalries, feuds and gangs in history. The Hatfields and McCoys, famous in Kentucky and West Virginia, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, from medieval Italy and Austria (now called), Alabama and Clemson, Liverpool and Manchester United. There are a lot of ways we sort ourselves into “teams.” Though not always, many such partisans have visible identifiers. The Bloods and the Crips, LA street gangs, often identify themselves by color, red and blue respectively. In the movie “Gangs of New York,” about 19th century gangs, the Dead Rabbits (mainly Irish-Catholic immigrants) ranged themselves against the “Bowery Boys” (mainly native-born Protestants). The Dead Rabbits carried a yes, dead rabbit on a pike when marching through the streets of their NYC Five Points neighborhood. The Bowery Boys were anti-immigration in their politics and supportive of the nascent “Know-Nothing” political party, which was also anti-immigrant. The Know-Nothings had nominated former president Millard Fillmore in 1856 for their candidate, who came in 3rd behind winner Democrat James Buchanan and Republican John Fremont. The American Civil War left us with a rivalry between the Blues and the Grays, as long as ex-soldiers continued to wear their old uniform jackets. There was a much older rivalry of the Blues and the Greens which dates back to the Roman Empire. It too, was born of sports, if chariot racing fits that description. There had been political rivalries, even semi-parties, in the earlier days of the Roman Republic, long before Julius Caesar was assassinated and the rule reverted to a mostly monarchical form with the emperors who followed him. The Optimates and the Populares were rival groups of wealthy Romans of the Senatorial class. The Optimates controlled the Senate and the Populares attempted various end runs by appealing to the less wealthy citizens, who could still vote for various Tribunes, who had near dictatorial power in some cases re: some issues. The Tribunes acted as a check on the power of the Senate and their appointed magistrates. They had the power of unappealable veto over certain legislation. There were thus two poles of power, the Senate and the People, who relied on the Tribunes and some Senatorial allies. Thus, the SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus) of their republican military standards. The Blues and the Greens started out as favorite colors of the four racing teams of horse drawn chariots of Rome, later Constantinople. The reds and the whites had faded in popularity and later vanished, and by the time of Emperor Justinian, (6th century), the Blues and the Greens were becoming dangerously divided and politically identified, which led to riots in 532 at the Hippodrome. Justinian’s army put down the riots brutally, contemporary accounts estimating perhaps 30,000 were slain inside the Hippodrome, whose exits had been sealed. Humans tend to organize based upon identity. It’s seemingly hardwired, as we in our early history lived in small groups and learned the hard way not to trust strange groups from over the mountain or across the river. Thus developed the search for identifying marks when confronted by possibly dangerous strangers. In the Bible, Judges 12, in an inter-tribal battle, the winning Gileadites stopped the losing Ephraimites from crossing back into their territory by requiring them to say the word “shibboleth,” which was notoriously hard for the Ephraimites to pronounce correctly, since they couldn’t get the “sh” right, and it came out like “sibboleth.” Surface identifiers are the heart of identity politics. When skin color, native origin, sex, and other easily identifiable markers are elevated, the importance of the role of citizen and accompanying unifying factors lose their power. Some Catholic school boys were accused of all kinds of things based on the kind of hat they wore to a political march in Washington a couple of weeks ago. In terms of opportunity for dialogue, argument, discourse and conversation do you think it’s a good idea for modern day political patrons to identify by means of recognizable garments, hats or colors? Steve Odom has a black hat and a white hat and preaches at Central Christian Church on East Main St in Murfreesboro. Email him at steven.odom@gmail.com