Assimilationist thinking colors freedom itself as white and requires abandonment of Black identity

Evidence

The countess almost certainly adored Gronniosaw’s assimilationist plot: the more he conformed to slavery, superior European culture, and Christianity, and left behind his heathen, inferior upbringing in West Africa, the happier and holier he became. Since freedom had been colored white, Gronniosaw believed that in order to be truly free, he had to abandon his Nigerian traditions and become White. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 251

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concrete early instance of what Kendi means by assimilationism — freedom defined as becoming White.
• XREF: Echoes The Reluctant Fundamentalist’s assimilation and identity-trade themes; also relates to the reader’s discomfort that well-meaning positions (here, even a celebrated Black writer’s own belief) count as racist in Kendi’s scheme. — connects to: Assimilationist anti-racism both erased black-white difference and homogenized black peoples — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1189; the MOC “The False Compass: How Racial Categories Reorder Bodies, Minds, and the Self”