Racial Identity and a Brief Argument for the Capital “B”

This paper was written for an Antiracism Seminar Course.

In, White Fragility, DiAngelo (2018) posits, “Virtually any representation of human is based on white people’s norms and images…” (p. 115) This acknowledgment has a strong link to Tatum (2017) who says, “…the negative messages of the dominant group about the subordinates may be internalized, leading to self-doubt or, in its extreme form, self-hate.” (p. 107) When thinking about Killmonger, from the movie Black Panther, he seemed to fight against self-hatred and self-doubt by taking some version of what Tatum (2017) identified as not learning as a form of rebellion against the status quo (Coogler, 2018). However, Killmonger did learn the way of the world he rejected, but he did so strategically for his own unique gains and not necessarily to climb the societal ladder.

DiAngelo (2018) stated having a sense of belonging that “has settled deep into my consciousness; it shapes my daily thoughts and concerns, what I reach for in life, and what I expect to find.” (p. 107) This sense of belonging and racelessness is a luxury that allows for white individuals to develop a positive sense of self more effortlessly than marginalized individuals who are constantly battling the requirement to morph into some degree of whiteness for survival. It is as Sue (2004) states:

Whiteness is transparent precisely because of its everyday occurrence—its institutionalized normative features in our culture—and because Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, average, and ideal. (p. 257 as cited in Sue et al., 2019)

It is not only that white people view their lives as morally neutral and ideal, but also that, thanks to their privilege, their lives have been made to be neutral and ideal. Access to resources like housing loans is an ideal situation. The prevalence of clean neighborhoods is an ideal situation. The accommodation of academically strong and reputable schools in every predominantly white neighborhood is an ideal situation. For white people, these ideals are the norm, which makes it feel average and allows both whiteness and every overlooked ideal situation seem average.

Wide-eyed exposure to the remarkable nature of these ideal situations, which for many marginalized individuals would be akin to a luxury, can help to form a level of self-awareness in white individuals that does not compromise positive self-regard. Toporek & Worthington (2014) found that white individuals rarely believe that race belongs to them which has to do with the omnipresence of whiteness in our society (as cited in Sue et al., 2019). This is partially why when using the term white to describe a race of a person or group, I do not capitalize the w, but when writing the term Black to describe a race of a person or people I do capitalize the B.

 The reason for this is that Blackness is an identity that has been forced to define a group of people who will never know their full ancestral lineage. Blackness for many African American people is where their ancestral lineage starts and stops. It is not a physical characteristic; it is a young heritage and a badge of honor for those who despite the stereotypes and prejudice embrace it in every way. Blackness is not forgettable in the same way that whiteness is. Blackness is a specific identity for a population of people who do not have a more specific identity to coexist with the identifier of Black. Not in the way that the term white can be substituted for or coexist alongside a white individual’s ancestral home.

Killmonger’s identity seemed strongly rooted in Blackness (Coogler, 2018). He appeared to value the struggle and the triumphs of Black history, which made Blackness an integral part of his life’s goals and of the way he carried himself. Racial identity is unique to everyone because like everything it is influenced by experiences.

References

Coogler, R. (Director). (2018). Black Panther [Motion Picture].

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Boston: Beacon Press.

Sue, D., Sue, D., Neville, H., & Smith, L. (2019). Counseling the Culturally Diverse. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Tatum, B. D. (2017). Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria? New York: Basic Books.