Healing Internalized Racism: The Role of a Within‐Group Sanctuary Among People of African Descent

Abstract

This article addresses the role of a "within-group" sanctuary for healing internalized racism among people of African descent. Internalized racism is distinguished from racism, juxtaposing the different experience of those who are oppressed and those who are privileged by racism. It is suggested that a context consisting exclusively of persons of African descent can provide an optimally safe space for initial stages of healing from internalized racism. The anxiety that a collective of African descendants can generate among whites, and subsequently among those of African descent, is examined by raising questions as to its possible meanings. Whites are encouraged to use their privilege to support such self-determined sanctuaries, rather than to obstruct them. People of African descent are encouraged to tolerate the anxiety that can be generated without "changing back," and to examine whether internalized racism is also implicated.

Internalized Racism: A Systematic Review of the Psychological Literature on Racism's Most Insidious Consequence

“…Frame, Williams, and Green () also worked with African‐American women who reported internalized oppression and described specific interventions that promote self‐love, self‐compassion, and identity exploration. Similarly, Watts‐Jones () emphasized the importance of promoting and engaging in a safe community in which healing of internalized oppression can thrive, while Kaufka () endorsed the use of a composition‐based narrative therapy process that addresses internalized oppression by externalizing the problem, reclaiming personal stories, and providing an outlet for emotion exploration dialogical interaction between conflicted aspects of the self.…”

Public Support for Punishment and Progressive Criminal Justice Policy Preferences: The Role of Symbolic Racism and Negative Racial Stereotype

“…An emerging body of work suggests that racist and stereotypical attitudes toward African-Americans are held by some segments of the African-American population (Unnever and Cullen 2007;Watts-Jones 2002). Watts-Jones (2002) referred to these beliefs of some African-Americans as "internalized racism" and describes the development of the concept as emerging "as a way of distinguishing our (African American) experience of taking in and subscribing to the anti-Black or people of color 'racism.'" (p. 592).…”

Internalized Racism

“…Possibly, it is the feeling one has of not being quite as good as, as worthy as, or as smart as others that he or she already felt prior to the distress caused by a particular racial incident. According to Watts-Jones (2002), the wound caused by internalized racism is shame: "The shame associated with our African-ness, as a result of slavery and racism, and the shame of being shamed" (p. 593). Perhaps the original injury was the lack of critical consciousness preventing one from seeing the destructive social context and accept the dominant group's exploitation as simply "the way things are" (Freire, 1999).…”