Internalized Racism Against Women

By Nusrat Zeba on May 30, 2016

A lot of things I see on the internet really hits a nerve. A lot of the things I see on Instagram are misogynistic and racist.

I don’t stay silent about the racism and misogyny. In fact, I am one of those people you will find on Instagram, Facebook and various social media saying, “Hey, this right here is completely wrong and here’s why:____. Now, let’s do something about this issue by doing ___ and __”.

Recently, I came across this photo, which looked absolutely magnificent, and I am sure many of you have come across this photo, but just in case you haven’t, here it is:

twitter.com

Every single woman of various colors portrayed in that cartoon look like goddesses. I was admiring each shade of skin tone — and then I saw the comments. On Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I see people (particularly minority men) saying some very racist comments about the photo. They turned the photo from a harmless beautiful photo into a controversial topic about racism against women.

These comments range from, “Alright ladies, line up in order from highest GPA to lowest GPA,” to “Alright ladies, line up in order from independent to child supportive.”

Much of what we see are racist comments made by men, and a lot of these men are Hispanics and blacks. I want to get my opinion across on the racist comments that are being made on the photo. No one’s race defines how successful or ‘pretty’ one is. No one should judge anyone’s intelligence or life or decisions based on another’s race.

It is 2016 and we still have not progressed in annihilating this war against black women, and it’s heartbreaking. Much of what we see on social media degrades black women, and this is just one out of a million examples.

One of the problems among minority populations is that minority men put down women from their own race. This is a form of racism called internalized racism (“racist attitudes toward own ethnic group,” as defined by Google), which can be molded into our thoughts through our culture, the people we surround ourselves with, and of course the media. Hate and racist thoughts for your own ethnic group stems from self-hatred for your own ethnic group, your own race.

Though I am no genius who can change people’s thoughts on racism against women, I can try to get my opinion across and hope that I can change at least one person’s racist thoughts against women of their own race. Women of all colors are beautiful, magnificent and exquisite. Goddesses come in all shapes, sizes and colors. A light skin woman isn’t necessarily more intelligent and more successful than a black woman. The goddess within each woman depends on her own personality, not her race; each goddess should be treated with dignity and love.

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