Black on Black Prejudice Keeps Racism Alive & Thriving.

by Staff October 31, 2015 4 Comments News Opinion Relationships Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) Black folks don’t value education. Black kids are always in trouble. Black people don’t value family. All black men think they’re gangsters and rappers. Black women live off of welfare. All the good black men are gay or in prison. These are just a few stereotypes about black people which are commonly believed and spread by other black people. Camara Phyllis Jones who is the Research Director on Social Determinants for the CDC here in Atlanta defines internalized racism as “the acceptance of stereotypes regarding one’s own race in terms of their abilities and worth” in her article Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale. In basic terms, internalized racism is when you begin to buy into the negative stereotypes about people who look like you and accept these stereotypes as truth. Today I will discuss how Black on Black Prejudices keeps racism alive in the American society by blaming black victims and through the process of self-devaluation.

While many people confuse racism and prejudice, racism is defined as an institutional system put in place to preserve the white or ruling class status in America per Professor Mitchell who is the Sociology chairperson at Atlanta Technical College. Prejudice, on the other hand, occurs when one makes assumptions about the abilities, motives and intentions of others based on race.

Black on black prejudice is in effect each time you see a young black male with baggy pants and assumes he’s uneducated and involved in some type of criminal activities as well as when you see a young black woman with more than one child and assume she’s living on welfare or has multiple baby daddies. When we accept these black on black prejudices we make it easier to mentally process the murders of black males who are shown in images with baggy pants in the media. Such beliefs makes it easier to ignore the needs of children who are raised in single parent homes while knowing it takes a village whether both parents are in the home or not.

Black on black prejudices also causes us to enter a state of self-devaluation. We fail to see the value in ourselves as black Americans when we are unable to see the value in our brothers and sisters who look like us. Author Napoleon Hill often says “Thoughts become things”, meaning our thoughts become our beliefs and hence our actions. When we think of our black brothers and sisters as lazy, violent or worthless, we create a state of tolerance that allows us to sit quietly when we don’t receive callbacks after job interviews, are rejected at the bank for home and business loans or get passed up for a well deserved job promotion. We begin to settle for lower work wages, lower statuses in society and the least powerful positions available because mentally we lack to see value in black people as a whole.

In closing, black on black prejudice works to keep racism alive and thriving within the American society when we blame black victims and buy into negative stereotypes which serve to devalue us as a people. Stand against the oppression of black Americans by looking for and expecting the best from your people. Support black owned businesses, mentor black children, take a split second to smile at and acknowledge your people as they pass you in the streets. Remember you cannot be free, if I am oppressed.

Staff Writer; Dina Tuff

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4 Comments

DCARTER910 says:

November 6, 2015 at 4:15 pm

@Dina Tuff,

For your response to Marque Anthony…YES! He epitomizes the far-right side of trying to be a successful black person in America. We have some of our own people who are always trying to pull us out of the “white-way” of thinking and at the same time stuff us into (most of the time) a smaller more restricted way of thinking that is no more productive or beneficial than were we started but only serves to stroke their (wanna be black leaders) own egos and since of self importance and grandeur (a la Trumps).

Keep killing them softly!

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Dina Tuff says:

October 31, 2015 at 6:30 pm

Marque Anthony were those born on the continent of Africa called Africans prior to it being colonized by European males? You do realize the ancestors were more tribal based as were their names so your attempt to replace one defined term ‘black’ with two seemingly wrong ones ‘African’ and ‘American’ is an epic fail. Waking up has nothing to do with race, it is a call to consciousness which refers to expansion and ascension. Black is not negative, black represents power, strength, seriousness, self control and discipline amongst many other meanings. We chose blackness hence the black pride movements, I haven’t seen the African American movement, is it coming soon?. I do admire how you, like Trump, utilize rhetoric in each post to cause confusion while attempting to shift the conversation to a level at which you can better understand and distort. Trump like to throw his accolades into the conversation as well when he’s making no sense, trust that we all know you’re a counselor as mentioned in every comment you make. Can we get a few articles detailing your success stories regarding those you deprogrammed and obviously reprogrammed in a fashion better suiting to you? One last question, will you be unveiling ThyAfricanAmericanman.com in the near future? I’m sure those Black’s turned African American will need à place to learn about their new identity and programming.

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CD Smith says:

October 31, 2015 at 3:56 pm

Marque Anthony

Proverbs 22:1 – “You should want a good name more than you want great riches. To be highly respected is better than having silver or gold. ”

What does the name Marque Anthony represent?
What does the label African American represent?
Are you defined by a label or who and what you are as a person?

It’s not the name or color that matters. What matters is what it represents. That cannot be done as a collective.

Each man and woman must stand in relation to their “character”.

What you are arguing for is another trap. Why should I accept your label African American?

Color and label matters to people that view themselves as part of a collective instead of as individuals. All you are doing is arguing for is substituting one label for another label.

Once again, if I am a child of God, liberated and free , why should place value on what white people think about me?

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Marque Anthony says:

October 31, 2015 at 1:08 am

What’s sad is that we African Americans are still calling ourselves BLACK because Caucasian oppressors called us that to contrast their color and to assign to us all the negative things BLACK is equated with in the dictionary. The fact is, like it or not and believe it or not, YOU ARE BROWN and your car tires are black. You can say black is a culture but when they deal with you, they deal with you based on it’s definition – dismal, gloomy, dark, diabolical, treacherous, devoid of light.

WAKE UP AFRICAN AMERICANS. We do not call the Asian yellow man because he would not stand for it. We do not call the Native American a red man because he would not stand for it. We do not call the Hispanic man a brown man because he would not stand for it. And many Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans do not accept being called a color they know they are NOT.
Ironically, African Americans are the only ethnic group/race on the planet which allows ourselves to be called a color we are not, allowing ourselves to be defined by color, by someone else and to allow ourselves to be attached to a color we are not – a color they filled with negative denotations. Then we fight to help keep the lie in place. Is it any wonder that cops treat us as BLACK people by the definition of dismal, gloomy, treacherous, evil etc?

We will never rise and overcome as a people if we allow other groups to define us, to define us with a lie and we are sadly willing to help them. AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES MATTER PEOPLE. Black is the color of my car tires, not my skin. I am a family and relationship counselor who specializes in deprogramming African Americans from slavery mindsets.

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