“History never repeats itself; man always does.” - Voltaire
Our identities are made up of the stories that we tell ourselves. In the present we are just a sapien, almost identical to the next sapien in the room. But we tell ourselves that we differ a lot from each other, that our race, our cast, our religion, our nationality, our class and n number of other things make us what we are. The things that we are born with or around us in our past, we recall them into the present and use them as a tool to belong. We might not even be affected with any of it, but still it allows us to more easily differentiate ourselves from our own kind and we rely on it. Not on the actions that we have done in life and not from our relationship with the present since that requires more work.
There is an identity of what you are, right here, right now. Its how you act and how you react, yes you might be influenced by the things from your past but you are seldom compelled by it.