I   N   T   E   R   N   A   L   I   Z   A   T   I   O   N   S

Racism not only impacts us personally, culturally, and institutionally.
Racism also operates on us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
When racism targets us, we internalize that targeting; when racism benefits us, we internalize that privileging.
​This page investigates how internalized racism operates.

4  foundations  of  racism              

CONSTRUCTED RACIST OPPRESSION
​(affecting People of Color)

• historically constructed and systemic (not just personal or individual)
• penetrates every aspect of our personal, institutional, and cultural life
• includes prejudice against people of color in attitudes, feelings, and behaviors
• includes exclusion, discrimination against, suspicion, fear or hatred of people of color
• sees a person of color only as a member of a group, not as an individual
• includes low expectations by white people for children and adults of color
• people of color have fewer options, choices 

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INTERNALIZED INFERIORITY or RACIST OPPRESSION (affecting People of Color)

• carry internalized negative messages about ourselves and other people of color
• believe there is something wrong with being a person of color
• have lowered self-esteem, sense of inferiority, wrongness
• have lowered expectations, limited sense of potential for self
• have very limited choices: either ‘act in’ (white) or ‘act out’ (disrupt)
• have a sense of limited possibility (limited by oppression and prejudice)
• cycles through generations 

WHITE PRIVILEGE
​(affecting white people)

• “an invisible knapsack of special provisions and blank checks” (Peggy McIntosh)
• the default; “to be white in America is not to have to think about it” (Robert Terry)
• expect to be seen as an individual; what we do never reflects on the white race
• we can choose to avoid the impact of racism without penalty
• we live in a world where our worth and personhood as white people are continually validated
• although hurt by racism, we can live just fine without ever having to deal with it 

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INTERNALIZED WHITE SUPERIORITY 
(affecting white people)

• my world view is the universal world view; our standards and norms are universal
• my achievements have to do with me, not with my membership in the white group
• I have a right to be comfortable and if I am not, then whoever is making me uncomfortable is to blame
• I can feel that I personally earned, through work and merit, any/all of my success
• equating acts of unfairness experienced by white people with systemic racism experienced by People of Color
• I have many choices, as I should; everyone else has those same choices
• I am not responsible for what happened before, nor do I have to know anything about it; I have a right to be ignorant
• I assume race equity benefits only People of Color​

For a more in-depth look at white privilege and internalized white superiority, visit the SURJ Political Education website page on
​White Benefits.

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Internalized Racist Oppression (IRO) is the internalization by People of Color (POC) of the images, stereotypes, prejudices, and myths promoted by the racist system about POC in this country. Our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, people of our own racial group, or other POC are based on the racist messages we receive from the broader system. For many People of Color in our communities, internalized racist oppression manifests itself as: 

• Self-Doubt
• Sense of Inferiority 
• Self-Hate
• Low Self Esteem
• Powerlessness
• Hopelessness
• Apathy
• Addictive Behavior
• Abusive and Violent Relationships
• Conflict Between Racial Groups 
• Mediocrity 

• Violence and the Threat of Violence
• Change in Behavior
• Destruction of Culture
• Division, Separation, Isolation ​

The  Self  System

This information about the
Self-System is adapted and developed by Vivette Jeffries Logan and
Jackie Goodwyn from Four Worlds Development Project &
​Raul Quinones Rosado, Ph.D.

The Self System model illustrates the impact of racism on personal identity. This multi-generational process of dehumanization is known as Internalized Racial Oppression and Internalized Racial Superiority.

The four aspects of self include Mental (Self Concept), Spiritual (Self Esteem), Physical (Self Image), and Emotional (Self Love).

All aspects must be in balance for an individual to be balanced. An imbalance in one aspect results in an imbalance of the entire self. Additionally, there are two dimensions of well-being: personal well-being is the individual dimension and community well-being is the collective dimension. Communities consist of multiple individuals with varied states of well-being. 

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The  Self  system  &
Internalized  racial  oppression

NEGATIVE  MESSAGES

In a racist system, the dominant culture regularly sends People and Communities of Color negative messages about who we are both individually and as a community. The Self System of People and Communities of Color is inevitably shaped by the images, values, norms, standards beliefs, attitudes and feelings that presume dominant group members and their culture are the standard by which all people are to be measured.

The arrows represent the messages, communicated by all institutions, that People of Color hear about ourselves and our communities. There is no insulation or escape from the messages. The messages affect our individual and collective psyche despite the affirmations we may receive at home and/or in our communities.

Some of the messages about who we are include (but are not limited to): Loud, Ignorant, Violent, Underachieving, High Risk, Minority, Extinct, Tokens, Mascots, Unworthy, Broken, Bad mothers, Promiscuous, Lazy, Dead beat dads, Inadequate, Poor, Criminal, Inferior. 

the  impact  of  negative  messages

This graphic represents what happens to the Self System as a result of the internalization of racism. Some manifestations of the internalizations of consistent negative messages are: confusion, tolerance, a sense of owerlessness, anger, apathy, denial, colorism, shame, assimilation, rage, protectionism, invisibility, emotional numbness.

The process of internalization is like a coil that spirals inward into the psyche. The attack is ongoing and repetitive. As a result ...

• Self concept is limited
• Self-esteem is lowered and corrupted
• Self-image is negated
• Self-love is absent

Actions we take individually or collectively because of IRO include:

• Failing to seek support from other POC because we feel isolated in our experience;
• Intra-racial challenges, for example Black-Brown conflict;
• Holding positions of power is tenuous because these positions exist in a white supremacy system and are often challenged;
• Fear and/or avoidance of risk-taking because our taking of risks is interpreted negatively;
• Continued exploitation. For example if we share something about our experience of racism in a racially mixed group, white people benefit by learning about their privilege at the expense of our reliving of our experience of racism.

​The greatest loss is the damage done to the psyche, resulting in an inability to do that which is in our own best interest. 

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Racism's Psychological Toll offers an interview with Monnica Williams on her research into the psychological impact of racism and race-based trauma.

"The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning." by Claudia Rankine.

​the  self  system  &
​internalized  racial   superiority

"positive"  messages

In a racist system, the dominant culture regularly sends white people positive messages about who we are both individually and as a community. The Self System of white people and communities is inevitably shaped by the images, values, norms, standards beliefs, attitudes and feelings that presume dominant group members and their culture are the standard by which all people are to be measured.
​
The arrows represent the positive messages that white people hear about ourselves and our communities; there is no insulation or escape from the messages. The messages affect our individual and collective psyche despite the negative messages we may receive at home and/or in our communities. 

​Some of the messages about who we include (but are not limited to): Better. Moral. Individual. Qualified. Smart. Pretty. The norm. The standard. Leader. Safe. Deserving. Entitled. Objective. Rational. Justified. Innocent.

impact  of  "positive"  messages

The positive messages and privileges received on a daily basis include, for example, assumed credibility, freedom of movement, unquestioned access, etc. These are then internalized, impacting the Self System and leading to an inflated sense of self. 

These internalizations on both individuals and the community level lead to impacts like: assumptions about our ability to lead and/or "fix" POC; resistance to change, conflict avoidance, paternalism and caretaking, ignorance and misinformation (often about history and/or our role in racism), scapegoating, a sense of entitlement, blaming, labeling, self-righteousness, anger, continued oppression, defensiveness, idolizing the individual, assumption of normalcy, right to comfort. 

Another consequence of internalized white superiority is known as white fragility, which Robin DiAngelo notes is a result of our socialization into a whiteness that "renders us racially illiterate." For more on white fragility, read here.

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​​One of the manifestations of internalizations is understood as implicit bias. To find out more about implicit bias, visit the Kirwan Institute website and/or take the Implicit Bias test developed at Harvard.

Also see A Hard Look At How We See Race, which reviews Jennifer Eberhardt's research on subconscious connections we make between Black faces and crime.