INTERNALIZED RACISM and RESPECTABILITY POLITICS

I used to think "internalized racism" and "respectability politics" were the same thing. But now I'm thinking one is a thought process or a belief process while the other is a behavior. 


In the act of internalizing racism, a black person takes in a criticism of black people and black culture from white supremacy sans any critical analysis because that person is already ashamed of those-black-people-over-there not performing up to their own standards (ala Bill Cosby's Pound Cake Speech and a fair percentage of what comes out of Don Lemon's mouth)

Next, believing that they are "taking responsibility" for the badness in blackness by screaming about "black-on-black crime" louder and in an uglier fashion than any given white racist, that same black person pats themselves on the back for unique/smarter thinking that's contrary to what most other black people think 

They do so:

- without taking the time to think about where their beliefs about the black community are coming from.

-  without realizing white on white crime happens at the very same rates. (FBI UCR data shows that 84 to 85% of murder and other violent crimes are intrarracial every, single, year.  Why? Because people kill and commit crimes against people they live near. And the United States is still fairly defacto segregated. If Chinese people mostly live in Chinese neighborhoods then Chinese-on-Chines crime is probably upwards of 84% as well.  

- without realizing that the absolute number of black crimes are higher because black poverty rates and population densities where blacks live are higher. The sociologists that wrote "The Bell Curve" are infamous for mistaking racist mistake of assuming black skin was a cause of or linked to criminality. Once the statistics were examined and corrected, it became clear that all "The Bell Curve" actually proved was something that was already known: poverty and population density are linked to crime.  White people have the same problems with murder and violent crime when poverty and population density are at the same levels.

In other words, black people are not innately inferior to white people in any way. When circumstances are different, outcomes are different. And when a white researcher actually believes in racial equality, things like poverty and population density being a precursor to higher crime rates will be obvious in the data because that researcher will be willing to look at their own racial history for the answers.

But  all the internalized racism sufferer 'understands' is that white (racist) people are right, however they consider themselves to be superior to most black people or consider themselves as belonging to a certain class of superior black people.




Thinking that the black community can "behave" its way out (negative) blackness rather believe in the natural effects of poverty, this black person spews the very same anti-black racist crap that the white racist does but in milder "taking responsibility" tones.  They execute this "respectability politics" by saying things like 'Yeah, pale person x was bad for doing y but the black person shouldn't have been wearing a hoodie. And what about black on black crime? We need to clean our own stuff up before we complain about white people.'*

I don't know what we should do about some of these internal racism suffering, respectability practicing folk.  Detox is clearly the answer. You would have to stop them from watching and reading anything Fox News might approve of.  But you can't force a person into racial rehab.  So what comes before white supremacy detox?

"I remember when I first caught wind of CNN anchor Don Lemon’s antics. I was living with my mother and younger brother. My mom and I were getting ready for work and talking current events. She brought to my attention Don’s five suggestions to help fix the black and brown community: pull your pants up, stop calling each other "nigga," don’t litter, finish school, and stop having babies."

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/06/stop-listening-to-don-lemon

Calling them in rather than calling them out seems like the more dignified approach. But, from where I sit, the black person who considers themselves the superior black person doesn't hear too well.  A little less love and a little more beating about the head may be called for. Black people perpetuating the non-existent "black on black crime" phrase is a pet peeve of mine. 

So please do read more: http://fusion.net/story/143613/a-guide-to-debunking-black-on-black-crime-and-all-of-its-rhetorical-cousins/





(*-If you're still unclear on the execution of respectability politics, find and read Bill Cosby's 'Pound Cake Speech.' If you have time listen to it first, then read it. Without the funny delivery, Cosby's speech reads very differently than it sounds. You could also look up the things Don Lemon said about Trayvon Martin's hoodie)