Whitening pressure breeds envy and resentment among blacks across class divides

Evidence

In any case, as Peter Wade points out in the case of Colombia in his characteristically nuanced way, the push to lighten up prompts envious resentments across their class divide between those variously marked as black. One could add, by those refusing or failing at euro-mimetic enlightening as by those fueled by it. But also by the latter, who are constantly having to prove themselves, envious and resentful of those at ease with the fact of their blackness, at one with their class and community. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1208 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

I attributed the absence of works written by or about black women to the professor having been conditioned as a white person in a racist society to ignore the existence of black women, not to her having been born female. During that time I expressed to white feminists my concern that so few black women were willing to support feminism. They responded by saying that they could understand the black woman’s refusal to involve herself in feminist struggle because she was already involved in the struggle to end racism. As I encouraged black women to become active feminists, I was told that we should not become “women’s libbers” because racism was the oppressive force in our life—not sexism. To both groups I voiced my conviction that the struggle to end racism and the struggle to end sexism were naturally intertwined, that to make them separate was to deny a basic truth of our existence, that race and sex are both immutable facets of human identity. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 46 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Whitening ideology generates envy on both sides of the black class divide — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1208; White-imposed dehumanization drives the black subject to seek whiteness; Black women faced pressure from both whites and blacks to separate racism from sexism — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 46 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Whitening ideology generates envy on both sides of the black class divide #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1208
• Black women faced pressure from both whites and blacks to separate racism from sexism #complicates (0.72) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 46