Why I can be my own worst racist

Seeing internalised racism as a frontier of racial prejudice

(Source: Get Out [2017])

“How sweet it is to be white…”

“Love the skin you’re in” was a popular slogan used by Olay when I was growing up. Hearing this as a kid annoyed me. Why would I love the skin I’m in? What was there to love as a Chinese-Aussie kid growing up in predominantly Anglo-Australian Sydney suburbs where I was the odd one out? I loathed my ethnicity and appearance, and it was common for me even as a child to roll my sleeves up at lunchtime to tan my skin to look like the sun-kissed “real Aussies” of Bondi Rescue.

Interestingly this pervasiveness of self-loathing from POC (People of Colour) isn’t limited to 7-year-old versions of me. It manifests in POC of all ages and is known as “internalised racism”.

In fact I was reminded recently of how common it is when speaking to another guest at a wedding. The brother was Bengali and had a beautiful Sanskrit name that he had shortened to something much more culturally neutral when he introduced himself. Over dinner, he beamed speaking about how “Aussie” he sounded because he and his parents has successfully “assimilated”.

I want to talk about this awkward but nonetheless damaging unconscious behaviour that is “internalised racism”, and my own experiences perpetuating it. Whilst as POC it’s important to recognise and rally against extrinsic “structural racism” it’s interesting to note that sometimes we have internalised our own prejudice. Before we dive in, I recognise that it’s important not to “victim blame” here and distract from institutionalised racism. Rather, I want to talk about how “internalised racism” manifests itself so that we can be cognisant of it, and work to reclaim pride in heritage and identity.

Let’s dive in!

What is “Internalised Racism”?

An American boy taking part in Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s “doll test”. The results were presented in Clark’s 1950 study which ultimately showed the effect of segregation on children (Photo by De Volkskrant)

This isn’t a new concept, and in fact it has been around since the early 1900s when thinkers like William Du Bois, an African American civil rights leader, defined it as when POC “looking at one’s self through the eyes of others”, especially those of a white majority and subliminally enforcing the prejudices that this carries. I personally prefer psychologist Robin Nicole Johnson’s definition of the concept as “conscious and unconscious acceptance of a racial hierarchy” by POC which leads to self-categorisation as a second-class citizen.

The white yardstick

In Australia, much of news and entertainment media is overwhelmingly white. As a result some POC may have implicitly interpreted “whiteness” as a baseline for society. (Image from Seven West Media)

“Internalised racism” often begins with a level of self-affirmation by POC that “whiteness”, Caucasian European culture, values, and lifestyles, are implicitly ranked above their non-White counterparts. When internalising racist beliefs, “whiteness” and white culture doesn’t even need to be seen by POC and Whites as far-and-above everyone else, it can just be seen as a “yardstick for determining what is good, desirable, or necessary”.

This is especially evident when viewing white behaviours and cultures as “normal”. As a child in primary school I remember envying the dinners of Anglo-Australian classmates and complaining that we weren’t eating “real” or “normal” dinner like steak or fish ’n’ chips. Recognising white culture as a baseline of competency is a common way for POC to subliminally both unconsciously accept and promote the ascendancy of whiteness.

Internalising inferiority

The other side of the same coin sometimes sees POC actively denigrating their own heritage or the heritage of other POC in a manner that perpetuates ideas of non-White racial or cultural inferiority. This can take the form of general denigration of all facets and individuals within a certain cultural group, as well as the practice of self-limitation due to one’s own heritage (they are not mutually exclusive).

In the sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”, Eddie’s character facetiously asks his mum to take him to a “white person’s” supermarket so he can eat “white people lunch” over the Chinese lunches he normally has. (Source: Comedy Central)

In studies of Asian Americans, this internalised inferiority can lead to genuine feelings of shame, embarrassment, and disgust about one’s own heritage. In my own experiences growing up, I have at times internalised these thoughts and self-limited my potential due to beliefs that certain roles or privileges were not given to people like me. In highschool, I never auditioned for lead roles in musicals or plays as I accepted as fact that there was no point in applying if I was going to be rejected before I stepped on stage.

Whether there is validity to these thoughts is mute, ultimately the act of self-limitation due to seeing one’s own culture or race as inferior is arguably just as damaging as institutionalised racism.

The “black sheep effect”

Though explored in a farcical way in the movie “Get Out”, the character of “Logan” is a take on POC who disassociate from other POC and adapt their identity to assimilate with white communities.

Internalised racism can also see stereotypes become pervasive between members of the same ethnocultural group to the point that some individuals may disassociate with others of the same group who they believe to acutely fit a particular stereotype. This has been noted in some psychological studies as the “black sheep effect”, and is partially a defensive mechanism for those individuals to protect themselves from being perceived in the same seemingly negative generalisations. By avoiding or reducing association, those individuals project the same racist negative attitudes onto their own kind.

In my experience this “black sheep effect” is perpetuated every time a POC facetiously (or otherwise) laughs about somebody else’s atypical adherence to certain archetypal cultural practice. I often here comments like “that’s so Asian…” or “You’re so curry/brown man it’s embarrassing” when hearing about somebody’s involvement in a Bhangra troupe.

I myself have long struggled with this behaviour, earnestly trying in to avoid socialising with other Asians in my highschool year group or be seen enjoying music that remotely resembled Kpop for fear that I’d be labelled a FOB (fresh off the boat).

Final thoughts

It’s difficult to talk about this topic because it strikes not only at a sense of identity but almost invokes both a level of culpability and sense of helplessness for POC. However, internalised racism is not weakness — it’s not a signifier of being mentally colonised, we all make mistakes and are swayed by our contexts.

It’s important to critically examine each POC’s experience unique with internalised racism. It’s all too easy to call somebody “whitewashed” and it’s important to dig deeper into nuance. Would it not be valid, for example, to see this “internalised racism” as a form of adaptivity, an attempt by some to function within a largely Anglocentric society?

Is the white ”yardstick’ effect not just a by-product of multiculturalism or a recognition that there is still a prevailing Anglo-Saxon culture in Western societies to meander?

I’m interested to hear what other people think regardless of your heritage or race! Feel free to comment below :)

“Kevin’s Dead” is a blog about improvement, connecting with the world, and doing away with passivity. In this blog you’ll find the musings of an Australian-Chinese millennial who is tired of being faceless and being another “Kevin”.

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