The data in this section shows that race and racism is still an important factor in the daily lives of black people in the United States. However, scant research explicitly addresses the way racial identity and racism is gendered in the black experience. Black girls may interact with non- black people in school and on the playground. However, they did not see themselves as being any different than their associates until they compared hair and experiences surrounding their
hair. This bodily characteristic is usually the first racial identifier for a black woman. Contrarily for black men, contact with the police is typically the first time they are introduced to the
importance of race or their racial difference. Interactions with law enforcement is often a key step in a black man knowing his race, racial identity and the difference between him and the rest of the world.
Another way gender influences race is through regional identity. While location does not appear to be significant to the black man’s experience in the South, black women see living in the south as empowering, as well as challenging. Society reminds black women that they inhabit a social status that is not as high as their white counterparts, and that can be stressful to them. They must obtain white allies to speak to other whites for them as a strategy for securing the resources needed to do their jobs. Although being a black woman in the south can be taxing, it is also a reminder of how strong and resilient the black woman is. The love that they feel from black men in the South reinforces the confidence needed to navigate the larger society, which can be both sexist and racist.
Although racism and racist experiences differ between class and gender, many of the racialized interactions fit into one of three categories: explicit racism, microagressions, and internalized racism. Racist experiences existed in the workplace, as both men and women dealt with inequality on their job. The second location where racism seemed to be prevalent was in the classroom. Teachers, counselors and authority figures often view black boys and men as disruptive, incompetent and unworthy.
In the next chapter, I discuss the third category internalized racism. Blacks across class and gender categories felt good about being black and being part of the black community. However, most of the participants also spoke on some of the challenges that exist in the black
community. Because racism is so hegemonic in the life of blacks in the United States, many of them have internalized racist and stereotypical ideas about their racial group and can reinforce it in their intraracial interaction. I assess various aspects of internalized racism among blacks and introduce new themes that scholars can discuss when analyzing racial interaction.
5. INTERNALIZED RACISM
“People say black people hold each other back like crabs in a barrel, conveniently neglecting the crab’s natural habitat is not a barrel. Who Built The Barrel?” –Unknown- When discussing race-based inequality, scholars typically utilize systemic or colorblind racial theories to explain the way people reinforce racism in the larger society as well as in interpersonal behavior (Bonilla-Silva 2003; Feagin 2006). The majority/minority dynamic or the relationship between a person of color and the dominant race is the general context in which scholars discuss race and racism. However, few scholars take note of the way U.S. American culture, systems and powers embed racist ideologies and behaviors into the minds and actions of minorities and it is reinforced through interpersonal interactions with other people of color (Bivens 1995; Jones 2000; Pyke 2010; Speight 2007). Negative feelings or betrayal towards one’s own racial group has been commonly known as “self-hatred “(Grantham and Ford 2003; Jones Cross and Defour 2007). However, scholars prefer to use the term internalized racism to describe these interactions, arguing that “racial self-hatred” is a “narrower and more politically volatile term” (Pyke 2010). The term internalized racism is more appropriate because it explains the way racism has structurally and historically, forced people of color to separate themselves from members of their own group. It examines the racist ideas initiated by a dominant white population and hegemonically forced into the cultural norms, behaviors and institutions of U.S. American society. Blacks were socially conditioned to adopt these norms, beliefs and behaviors that shaped every aspect of their social life, and thus reinforced many of those same
indoctrinations. In addition, certain segments of the minority group have been given privileges and benefits that have been over other members, which has caused division and internal friction within the racial group. Roots of internalized racism exist in the historical and hegemonic nature of anti-black racism in the U.S. It is important that scholars analyze it as an extended form of
systemic racism, or in Speight (2008) words “one more piece of the puzzle”. One characteristic of internalized racism is blacks who accept negative messages about people within their own race. They lack confidence in the abilities and worth of their own people and accept that there are limitations to the goals that their racial group can achieve (Jones 2000: 1213). Limiting a person or people’s full humanity (goals, self-determination, and allowance of self-expression), embracing whiteness, self-devaluation, rejection of ancestral culture, and some actions of helplessness and hopelessness can be the manifestation of internalized racism (Jones 2000).
Internalized racism not only affects a person’s cultural outlook and psychological well- being, but also a person’s mental and physical health. Research shows that African-Caribbean women with high levels of internalized racism are at an increased risk of obesity and glucose intolerance (Tull, Tyng-Sheu, Butler and Cornelious 2005). Internalized racism may contribute todepression, substance abuse and mental health problems (Williams 1999). In addition to health, There are connections between higher levels of internalized racism and lower levels of marital satisfaction in both husbands and wives (Taylor 1990).
Exploring internalized racism devoid of its structural and historical roots causes
scholarship to place racial liability on the victims of oppression. Therefore, we reinforce racism by blaming the victims of oppression without going a step further to analyze America’s racist past. Our country’s racist foundation forces these racist ideologies on the culture, thoughts, systems and actions of white and non-white communities. If people of color are not careful, they can subconsciously perpetuate these same racist ideas among their own group. At times,
minority groups propagate these ideas without the presence of whites, which makes internalized racism even more unique. When nonwhites reinforce racist ideas and stereotypes in an all- minority environment, then victims and perpetrators of internalized racism began to look at each
other as the enemies while the creators of racism appear nonexistent. It appears that the oppression lingers in the hands of other minorities. Internalized racism can then become more harmful than other forms of racism because, unlike other aspects of racial inequality, whites can benefit from racism without blame. With systemic and colorblind racism being present in white/white and white/non-white interactions, internalized racism is present in non-white/non- white interactions, which leaves no place left in human relationships where people of color can be safe from the hegemony of racism.
In this section, I explore the positive and negative feelings that people of color, specifically black people, have about members of their own race. In addition, I assess these feelings and ideas within older conceptual frameworks like colorism and employ other frames like defensive othering and Bivens’ (1995) four frames of internalized racism. Later, I discuss why Atlanta as a testing site for race and class makes it necessary to create new ways of understanding the way blacks can reinforce white racist ideas and division in their own group.