After hearing the same things about your identity over and over again, it becomes hard not to believe it. Racial minorities grow up their whole lives hearing stereotypes about their identity on repeat that they grow tired of trying to deny it. According to Karen D. Pyke, internalized racial oppression is when a minority individual increasingly believes “the racist stereotypes, values, images, and ideologies perpetuated by the White dominant society about one’s racial group, leading to feelings of self-doubt, disgust, and disrespect for one’s race and/or oneself.”
Internalized racism is incredibly damaging for minority individuals. It’s the struggle of feeling less-than and inferior to other people because of their racial identity. This leads to people viewing their own race as undesirable, even at a young age. A prime example of this is the “Doll Test” by doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark where Black children ages five to seven indicated preferences for white dolls over Black dolls. In viewing themselves as undesirable in comparison to white people at such a young age, the feelings of inferiority only grow as minority individuals mature.
Although that test was performed in the 1940s, many of the internalized racial struggles that existed then continue to exist today. While the feelings of racial inferiority certainly decreased, it doesn’t change the fact that many minority children grow up feeling subservient to the white majority.
Internalized racism has the capacity to grow past the individual’s mindset to insulting their own race as an extension of themselves. The ideologies of self-hatred stereotypes directed against themselves expand to having those same feelings against people of their shared identity.
This affects the daily lives of minority individuals. According to Donna K. Bivens, internalized racism promotes victimization, inhibiting individual’s ability to take responsibility for their actions. It also advances notions of wanting to deny their belonging to their race and becoming detached from their culture to opt for following mainstream popular culture instead. This is loosely termed “whitewashing” as minority individuals lose their connection to their culture and language due to feelings of disgust and contempt for their racial identity.
But this is the goal of racism and oppression, no? Repeating the same racist rhetoric over and over again until minorities give up and end up hating themselves too. Force them to always feel inferior and whittle them down to the stereotypes perpetuated by the white majority. It becomes not just racists oppressing the minorities, but the minorities oppressing themselves.
Internalized racism is ultimately the shame and distaste a minority individual directs at themselves and their identity. It is not outwardly expressed, often in fear of offending other people with the same identity or being ostracized from the minority group they belong to. This is especially damaging for minority children who are still learning to navigate their identity and often feel embarrassed of their genetic inability to comply with the majority.
Due to the lack of visible impact on minority communities, there is little research or attention to internalized racism. This has to do with the main victim being the individual themselves.
https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/josi.12350
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