Internalized racism

Scholarship addressing internalized racism has existed long before the emergence of the terminology itself. In 1903, African American civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the existence of "double-consciousness", or "this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity," to explain American racial minorities' self-perception as heavily influenced by the white majority's perception of them. Sociologists Karen and Tran Dang wrote: "Due to the discomfort, confusion, and embarrassment the subject raises, an intellectual taboo surrounds the study of internalized racism. A major concern is that because internalized racism reveals dynamics by which oppression is reproduced, it will lead to blaming the victims and move attention away from the racist institutions and practices that privilege whites at the expense of people of color. Internalized racism also causes discomfort because it suggests that the effects of racism are deeper and broader than many would like to admit. As a result, it remains one of the least explained features of racism." Although some definitions of internalized racism only include when racial stereotypes are internalized by the racial marginalized groups, internalized racism has been used to discuss much more than this. The creators of the Appropriated Racial Oppression Scale (AROS) note that perhaps a more accurate phrase would be "appropriated racial oppression", because this distances the usage away from potentially "victim blaming" implications that the internalization of racist ideals and attitudes is due to some failure of the oppressed. This conviction can be corrected when black individuals self-determine their identities apart from the influence of their white counterparts. Dimensions Scholars have picked different dimensions to categorize internalized racism. Psychologists David and Okazaki proposed that examples of internalized racism could be divided into the following: "internalized inferiority, feelings of shame and embarrassment, physical characteristics, within-group discrimination, and minimization or acceptance of oppression." Alternatively, Campón and Carter use this list: "appropriations of negative stereotypes, thinking that maintains status quo (denying racism), adaptation to white cultural standards, devaluation of own group, and emotional reactions." These categories influence how scholars organize their measurements of internalized racism. Scholar Monica M. Trieu situates internalized racism within histories of European and U.S. colonial expansion, arguing that colonial domination produced a colonial mentality in which white supremacy became normalized and is “transnational; in [which it] can and does travel with migrants and transcend nation-state borders” (Trieu, 2019, p. 4). This can be applied to South Asians, who under British colonialism (1633–1947), never emerged as belonging to white structure (Trieu, 2019, p.4). Trieu further elaborates that these hierarchies persist through racialization processes that frame Asian diasporic communities as “perpetual foreigners,” reinforcing barriers to land ownership, labour market discrimination, educational inequalities, and negative media representation (Trieu, 2019, p. 5). Under these structural conditions, South Asians may adopt strategies such as “disidentification” and “defensive othering,” distancing themselves from stigmatized identities in order to deflect assumptions of foreignness” (Trieu, 2019, p. 7). Measures Academics have attempted to create reliable measures of internalized racism, in order to test its correlation to health outcomes and other variables of interest. Some examples of existing scales are the Nadanolitization (NAD) and Internalized Racial Oppression Scales (used for African Americans), the Colonial Mentality scale (used for Filipinos), and the Mochichua Tepehuani Scale (used for Chicano/Latino populations). The Appropriated Racial Oppression Scale (AROS) is designed as measure for all racial minorities. In the AROS, Campón and Carter use items such as "There have been times when I have been embarrassed to be a member of my race", "I would like for my children to have light skin", and "People take racial jokes too seriously" to assess an individual's level of internalized racism. == Manifestations ==

To explore the dimensions of internalized racism mentioned above, here are some of the ways in which scholars have observed the effects of internalized racism. Self-image/beauty standards An empirical example of internalized racism is Kenneth and Mamie Clark's doll experiment, which was done in America in 1939 and 1940 at a time when black and white children were segregated. It involved an African-American child being presented with two dolls that were identical apart from skin and hair color, one doll being white with yellow hair and the other being brown with black hair. The child was asked which doll they would prefer to play with and why. All children in the study expressed a clear preference for the white doll. In 2006 Kiri Davis recreated the experiment with 21 African-American preschool children for her documentary A Girl Like Me. Davis found that 15 of the children chose white dolls over black dolls, giving similar reasons as the original study subjects that associated white with "pretty" or "good" and black with "ugly" or "bad". There is also an industry behind skin whitening products, which can be found from India to China to the United States. Because lighter skin is associated with desirable characteristics, people purchase such products in order to become lighter skinned. A similar industry exists behind hair straightening products such as chemical relaxers, hair irons and hot combs. This is because straight hair is considered by some who accept Western standards of beauty to be better than coiled, curly or kinky hair textures. Stereotype threat Stereotype threat is a phenomenon studied in psychology in which members of a stigmatized group risk conforming to negative stereotypes through internalization of their validity. In a 2018 study from Taylor, Garcia, Shelton and Yantis, note that both stereotype threat and a "black sheep effect" are products of internalized racism. Through being reminded of negative stereotypes associated with their race, participants responded with increased uncertainty, lower performance on tasks, and emotional reactions of anger and shame. They also sought to distance themselves from ingroup, stereotype confirming members, so as to avoid being targeted with negative generalizations. Because a teacher's expectations for a student's success can have empirical impacts on their educational outcomes, this puts students of color at an increased risk for impaired educational development. Intra/Interracial discrimination Internalized racism manifests itself in both intraracial and interracial discrimination. As an example of the intraracial case, Karen Pyke uses the term "defensive othering" to describe an individual or collective act of distancing oneself from members within one's own race that have a closer proximity to negative stereotypes. Thus, through assimilation, Asian Americans can separate themselves from stereotypes and stigma associated with being Asian, distancing themselves from members of their shared race. In terms of interracial discrimination among the non-dominant racial groups, Robert E. Washington discusses "brown racism", his term for prejudice among non-black people of color towards black people, worldwide. With examples from Egypt, China, India and other regions, Washington notes that, through internalized racism, non-black people of color are reproducing white desirability and a devaluation of blackness. Internalized racism goes beyond negative attitudes and beliefs about one's own group: one can internalize racism directed towards other races as well. According to Heberle et al. (2020), being critically conscious is a developmental asset that promotes empowerment and fosters thriving in individuals or adolescents who are marginalized. When students from a minority group are placed in a school where the teachers and/or peers are majority white, the lack of diverse representation can produce feelings of inferiority. The perception of the majority group as superior can compel minority students to take on the cultural norms of that group in order to prevent alienation. Furthermore, the predominately white curriculum incorporated into the education system can give minority students the impression that only Eurocentric history is important. This further makes underrepresented students internalize that the history of their origins are insignificant. == Examples by region ==

Although much of the literature that has been produced on internalized racism has been confined to the African American experience in the United States, internalized racism is characteristic of systemic racism. Lisa Poupart adds to these assertions, saying that Native Americans are forced into a "double consciousness", of being simultaneously deprived of past traditions and constantly reminded that those traditions were taken from them. Although she does not seek to use internalized racism to dismiss blame in cases of alcoholism, family violence, and sexual assault, she describes how the combination of stereotypes about the stoic and savage native, the introduction of physical violence to native communities through requiring children to go to boarding schools, and the adoption of white notions of patriarchy combined to create these types of violence and abuses in American Indian communities, where they had been virtually nonexistent before European contact. The study also found that, "in attempting to gain acceptance among whites, some Asian American students avoided and expressed disgust toward coethnics, to whom they applied the negative stereotypes." These behaviors are performed "in an effort to 'get on the good side of their white peers' and to appear less threatening." Scholars have also noted that internalized racial frameworks can cross beyond individual identity to mold and build relationships between different Asian American groups. In addition to distancing themselves from others Asian Americans, some Asian immigrants historically adopted distinctions that positioned their own national or cultural background as more assimilable or "civilized" relative to other Asian groups. For example, in the early twentieth century, Japanese immigrants often emphasized their cultural differences to distinguish themselves from Chinese immigrants, displaying both global political dynamics and internalized racial hierarchies of the time. More recent research suggests that these dynamics persist in contemporary contexts; studies during the COVID-19 pandemic found that increased anti-Asian discrimination was associated with heightened identity tension and behavioral responses such as physical and social distancing among Asian Americans, especially towards Chinese Americans. As such, these patterns suggest that internalized racism operates through both self-perception and the breeding of hierarchical distinctions within Asian American communities. promoting the usage of pejorative slurs (such as shina or locust), or displaying hatred toward Chinese language, people, and culture. The "self-hating" racism is intended to subvert patriotism message of the Chinese government. The case of China is of interest because some have argued that racism and race itself do not exist in China. Dutch Historian Frank Dikötter argued the 1988 Nanjing anti-African protests show that race is recognized in China. 55 minority ethnic groups are recognized by the government, giving the government the power to dictate different groups as legitimate (and therefore eligible for less taxes, more subsidies and less restrictions) or illegitimate. One author argued that the policing of rural migrant workers in some cities was affected by their status as recognized or unrecognized minority groups. Nonetheless, race, as a social construct, has a unique conceptualization in Brazil. As opposed to the "one-drop" rule employed in the US (i.e. "one-drop" of black blood constitutes a person's blackness), Brazilians recognize a spectrum of race and color-based identities. The first major instance of internalized racism in Brazil comes out of this spectrum. A 1976 national survey found that there were over 100 colloquial terms in use to describe race-related phenotypes. The use of various terms for color and race often serves as evidence of the following notions, among others: whiteness is beauty, whiteness is clean, whiteness is successful and blackness is dirty. This conflates economic success with whiteness and poverty with blackness, as well as incentivizing the idea of "whitening", whether through "money whiteness" or interracial mixture. A major motivating factor for this study was the fact that internalized racism has largely gone unstudied in the African continent. The study found that, despite the scholars' hypothesis that Zimbabwe would have more internalized racism, there was no significant difference in internalized racism incidence between the countries. They believe that this is due to the widespread nature of racism systems, which still came into contact with Eswatini through trade relations. They also found increased education had a significant negative correlation with internalized racism. == Implications ==

This section discusses the implications of internalized racism, and why the topic is significant. Examples of psychological harm related to internalized racism are not given in attempt to describe internalized racism as product of the psyche of the oppressed. Internalized racism is not defined as a weakness in the minds of the oppressed. The same study goes on to describe the methods therapists can take to mitigate the anxiety in black individuals caused by internalized racism, such as rationalizing negative thoughts. Asian Americans are also subject to internalized racism, and the Internalized Racism in Asian Americans Scale (IRAAS) was created by researchers to determine the extent in which Asian Americans accepted the negative stereotypes about themselves. This results revealed that there is a correlation between mental health and the degree in which Asian Americans subscribe to the adverse racial stereotypes. These effects include lower self esteem, symptoms of depression, and general psychological distress. For more examples of studies that show significant relations of internalized racism to increased incidence of anxiety and depression, low individual and collective self-esteem, low sense of ethnic identity, lower levels of life satisfaction, higher body fat measures and other measures of psychological distress. These studies imply that internalized racism subjects the racially oppressed to a wide range of adverse mental and physical health outcomes. In other words, internalized racism is involved in reinforcing racism, and ensuring that it continues. It creates a justification for continued mistreatment of the racially subjugated. == Responses ==

, the youth organisation of the two conservative German political parties, CDU and CSU, whose party colour is black (1974).Many have offered approaches to address internalized racism. Ron Chisom, the co-founder and executive director of The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans, suggests a six-point approach for those who experience internalized racism: Marc Weinblatt and Cheryl Harrison emphasize that one must acknowledge that race is a social category with real implications while at the same time reject the falsehoods behind racist attitudes. Because finding this balance can be difficult, it is often helpful to have separate spaces for those who experience internalized oppression and those who experience internalized privilege. Additionally, Weinblatt makes it clear that there is a need for those with privilege to risk it in order to seek the end of racism. An example of a movement that considers some of the above considerations is the "Black is Beautiful" movement. These efforts began during the Black Power movement in the 1960s in the United States. In order to contest the narratives that blackness was something ugly, inferior and less valuable, members of the Black community began fighting back with advertising and other media campaigns. == Potential healing for African Americans ==

Dr. Watts-Jones indicates in her study that there is a possible method in which African Americans can overcome their internalized racism. By finding sanctuary within the African American community, members are able to achieve mental and physical security from their racist environment. Watts-Jones states that the collective experience of pain in African Americans work in tandem to heal together. However, the process of healing can be extended outside the African American community, by allowing other racial groups to perceive African Americans' internalized racism as well. In doing so, White people can be utilized as an ally rather than another force of oppression. ==See also==