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PDFFrom alternet:
So much of the existential, psychic, and emotional violence afflicted on people of color in this society is prefaced on a basic idea: there are those who “naturally” belong to a political community and others who are perpetual “guests,” “outsiders,” or “anti-citizens.”
The Black Freedom Struggle was many things: primarily, it was about a fight for civic inclusion, equality, and dignity. The Black Freedom Struggle was also centered on a politics of respectability which keenly understood that white supremacy was dependent on a basic premise: the lowest white person is automatically elevated in social stature, respect, and accomplishment over the most accomplished, brilliant, intelligent, and graceful black person.
Of course, these norms have been massaged and “evolved” to fit the “colorblind” post Civil Rights era. They still exist however, and are as ugly, pernicious (and at times) violent as ever.
“Stop and frisk,” “driving while black,” housing segregation, being harassed and racially profiled while shopping, and the conservative Right wing vitriol which suggests that President Obama is “uppity” or “arrogant,” are all examples of how racism is a cognitive map. The white gaze orders bodies and peoples. Racism puts individuals in the “right” place and reacts with hostility to those who dare to step outside of it.
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