Classmethod equivalent to unittest.TestCase method

def assertEqual(cls, first, second, msg=None):
        """
        Classmethod equivalent to unittest.TestCase method
        """
        asserter = None
        if type(first) is type(second):
            asserter = cls.equality_type_funcs.get(type(first))

            try:              basestring = basestring # Python 2
            except NameError: basestring = str        # Python 3

            if asserter is not None:
                if isinstance(asserter, basestring):
                    asserter = getattr(cls, asserter)

        if asserter is None:
            asserter = cls.simple_equality

        if msg is None:
            asserter(first, second)
        else:
            asserter(first, second, msg=msg)