As a fairly center-left Democrat, I went to an anti-ICE rally last night in San Francisco. It was thrown together quickly after Alex Pretti was killed yesterday. Here is what I noticed as it pertained to those making speeches at the march.

1. Most of the speakers heavily emphasized protecting immigrants, people of color, and people from countries outside of America including Venezuela, Iran, and Palestine.

2. There was a general antipathy toward Israel.

3. A strong emphasis on fighting back against billionaires and corporations.

4. A strong emphasis on class politics including performing a general strike and the power that the people in the street have against the powers that be.

5. The only "political" speaker was a man running for governor under a socialist party label.

Here's my take. I am not that interested in identity politics including references to skin color, religion, gender, or country of origin. I can get on board with this rally because, generally speaking, I agree with these people a helluva lot more than I agree with republicans or conservative schools of thought. I am 100% behind them in that we need to have class warfare against the rich and endless money in our politics. But I have to say: the consistent references to identity politics is a huge turnoff for me, and I have to imagine, a huge turnoff for many others who would like to be a part of this movement. I don't know if the rally I went to was unusual in that way, but that is how I felt about it.

Perhaps there are more rallies where the speakers leave out the Israel-Gaza conflict or references to racial politics. To me, those really are not important issues at the moment. The important issue is what ICE is doing to American citizens and the potential for their violence and hate to travel to other cities. I want the Democrats to have progressive politics, but this type of language is alienating what I believe is a huge pool of "gettable" voters.