To say that Uchis is complicit in “perpetuating a system of oppression” shifts the blame from a broader racist society to the individual. An article “What is Internalized Racial Oppression and Why Don’t We Study It? Acknowledging Racism’s Hidden Injuries” touches on some related concepts. (http://irows.ucr.edu/cd/courses/232/pyke/intracopp.pdf) :
“The failure to study internalized racism is partly due to a concern that the racially subordinated will be held responsible for reinscribing White supremacist thinking, casting it as their shortcoming rather than a problem of White racism. This fear is understandable given the dogged, largely unexamined practice in anti-racist discourse of denouncing those who exhibit some facet of internalized racism, like the Black person who refuses to date anyone darker or the Korean American who has double-eyelid surgery. Pop singer Michael Jackson’s dramatic physical transformation with repeated cosmetic surgeries, including a narrowing of the width of his nose (a form of rhinoplasty that when engaged by Blacks and Asians is commonly interpreted as reflecting a dislike of one’s racialized features; Kaw 1993; Russell et al. 1992), spurred anger and criticism from African Americans who viewed him as “trying to be White” (Clarke 2009) and a “traitor” to his race (Braxton 2009:A10). By focusing on Jackson, this discourse deflects attention from the larger racist society and the way that the imposition of White beauty standards can cause some racial minorities to feel unattractive and to desire more White-like features. ****Blaming the victims serves to mystify and protect White racism****.”
I agree that Uchis handled the backlash inappropriately, and that she is not immune to criticism even as a purported “good ally”. However, are Uchis and Vergara playing into this “fetishization and exotification of Latinxs” — or are they merely victims of it, choosing to act in self preservation?
