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Revision as of 01:37, 10 November 2015 by Kcampos13 (talk | contribs) (added more info)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Anti-Blackness in the United States
Anti-blackness in America has persisted throughout history in various forms. When talking about racism in the U.S. it is painted as a black and white issue without acknowledging that white supremacy ideals are embedded in various cultures and societies. Anti-blackness is perpetuated through different systems such as education, media, social class, and access or lack thereof to different resources. Systemic racism creates the constant impediment of progress by setting up barriers for people of color that otherwise would not be present or evident for those who are white or white passing.
History
Slavery.
Education
In the education system, race and class often labels the Black community as being a lazy and unintelligent race. There is a theory that people of color are inherently “inferior” and therefore don’t have an advance way of thinking.
Policing of black bodies
The idea that Black students in low-income communities that receive public education are the problem of society is attributed to the amount of surveillance there is within the schools themselves. Police officers are roaming the halls of underfunded schools and making arrests on accounts that should be handled by school administrators, not the law directly. In wealthier schools, students are granted the protection of a security officer but not monitored or policed the same way as a predominantly Black and Latino high school. White supremacy has ingrained the idea of Blackness being automatically dangerous and needing to be controlled versus whiteness.
Media
Beauty Standards
Looking at beauty standards of the past and comparing those to images of beauty standards today, we wouldn’t see a drastic change. The criteria for what is considered beautiful in today’s society follows the guidelines of having to be white (or light skinned), slim, ‘appearing’ heterosexual, and having European features. Black women that are ashamed of their outward appearance fall into “The Lily Complex”. These women desire to assimilate into the white supremacy notion of white middle class women being the norm of beauty. Black women go to the extent of straightening their hair and whitening their skin to mimic whiteness yet will not receive citizenship to that community. When it comes to the acceptance of Black bodies, specifically Black women, there are only certain features that are praised. They can be curvy, but not too curvy. They can have full lips but not a large nose because it isn’t considered beautiful or Eurocentric. Black men are given the double edged sword because their bodies are seen as violent and hypersexualized. They are fetishized as being great lovers because they are viewed as having large penises. Although the media has incorporated more diverse images of beauty, it is all “mediated” (Patton). It still perpetuates biases and preferences for the type of Black beauty that is accepted.