16 Facts About Internalized racism

Internalized racism as a phenomenon is a direct product of a racial classification system, and is found across different racial groups and regions around the world where race exists as a social construct.

For example, high internalized racism scores have been linked to poor health outcomes among Caribbean black women, higher propensity for violence among African American young males, and increased domestic violence among Native American populations in the US.

An example of opposition to internalized racism is the "Black is beautiful" cultural movement in the US, which sought to "directly attack [the] ideology" that blackness was ugly.

Scholarship addressing internalized racism has existed long before the emergence of the terminology itself.

Additionally, the term "appropriation" indicates that internalized racism is learned from context, and therefore a product of socialization in a racialized society.

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Alternatively, Bianchi, Zea, Belgrave, and Echeverry propose that internalized racism is a "state of racial self-conceptualization", conforming to racial oppression, as opposed to dissonance, resistance or the internalization of a positive racial identity.

Internalized racism has been referred to as indoctrination and mental colonization.

Internalized racism is explored in the Nigrescence model, introduced by William E Cross in 1971.

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.

Internalized racism goes beyond negative attitudes and beliefs about one's own group: one can internalize racism directed towards other races as well.

Furthermore, for many respondents, experiencing Internalized racism went hand in hand with possessing the desire for whiteness.

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.

High scores on internalized racism have been repeatedly correlated with a variety of poor psychological and physical health outcomes among sample populations including African Americans, US-Born Caribbean Blacks, foreign-born Caribbean Blacks, Filipino Americans, non-American Pacific Islanders and multiracial samples of Americans.

The results showed that African-Americans and US-born Caribbean Blacks embodied more internal Internalized racism, and thus experienced poorer mental health than foreign born Caribbean Blacks.

In other words, internalized racism is involved in reinforcing racism, and ensuring that it continues.