The Talented Tenth believed media suasion could cure racism

Evidence

Many Black elites agonized every time they saw “negative” Black portrayals in the media, convinced that these portrayals were reinforcing stereotypes and constituted the lifeblood of racist ideas. They religiously believed that if only Whites saw more “positive” Black portrayals, ones that were chaste, educated, refined, moral, and law-abiding, then racist ideas would wither away and die. And although Black elites did not want Whites to view the negative media portrayals of Black commoners as representative of Black elites like them, they themselves often viewed such portrayals as representative of Black commoners. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 848

Categorization

• DEFINE: Examples the assimilationist position: elites trying to reform racist ideas through ‘positive’ self-presentation rather than attacking the policies that produce inequality.
• XREF: connects to: The Talented Tenth simultaneously attacked caste and disciplined the black masses — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 209