Denying racism serves as a prime tool for repressing resistance

Evidence

As a process, the marginalization of ethnic minority students is anchored ideologically through explanations associating them one-sidedly with problems: less intelligent, language deficiency, lack of cultural sophistication, insufficient work ethic or social skills. Some ethnic groups, notably Asians, are accused of an exaggerated work ethic compared to the white norm. The status quo of marginality is maintained through the repression of resistance. A major form of everyday repression concerns the privileging of the definition of reality through the denial of racism. Accusations of oversensitivity about discrimination, continuous ethnic jokes, ridicule in front of others, patronizing, rudeness, and other attempts to humiliate and to intimidate can all have the effect of discouraging action against discrimination. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1482

Categorization

• XREF: Gaslighting-style denial of harm parallels medical dismissal of women’s pain in A Memoir of My Former Self. — connects to: Acceptable minority identity requires denying the racism one faces; Denying that racism occurs functions as a key mechanism of everyday racial repression — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1482
• SEED: A piece on ‘reality-ownership’ as the master move in maintaining marginality — the denial of prejudice as the most effective repression.
• DEEPTHINKING: The insight that the denial of racism itself is a repressive act — control over defining reality — is genuinely counterintuitive and layered.