Black-on-black oppression escapes condemnation by being misread as not-racism

Evidence

But Saro-Wiwa never enjoyed the luxury of such long-distance compunctions. He insisted that the Ogoni were joint casualties of a brutal European racism and an equally brutal African ethnocentrism. He never hesitated to make such controversial connections. As he wrote in his prison diary, skin colour is not strong enough to stop the oppression of one group by another. Sometimes it reinforces oppression because it makes it less obvious. White people oppressing blacks in South Africa draws instant condemnation because it is seen to be racism. But black upon black oppression merely makes people shrug and say, “Well, it’s their business, isn’t it?” — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 321

Categorization

• XREF: Refines a definition of racism useful across the whole Islamophobia-reading cluster: how recognizable frames (white-on-black) versus unrecognizable ones determine moral response. — connects to: Coded racial claims let one condemn Black people without the racist label — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1080; Racial reaction mobilized via code words instead of repression alone — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 196; Exposing subtle racism as violating egalitarian norms can trigger repudiation — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2190 (+3 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: the visibility theory of injustice — harms only mobilize when they fit a pre-sanctioned oppression script, which a theory of slow violence must confront.

Broader Connections

• Coded racial claims let one condemn Black people without the racist label #expands (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1080
• Racial reaction mobilized via code words instead of repression alone #corroborates (0.78) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 196
• Exposing subtle racism as violating egalitarian norms can trigger repudiation #qualifies (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2190