Internalized Racism

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INTERNALIZED RACISM

“The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”.

-Steven Biko

The following paper analyzes the aspect of internalized racism in African American through the implications of the criminal justice system. Internalized racism can be defined as an acceptance that takes place either in the subconscious or personal consciousness of victims, regarding the dominant societal class, values, views, discernment, and biases of a certain ethnic faction. The notion of internalized racism that in turn makes the victim think, feel, finding fault, self-loathing, stigmatizing, and invalidating one's self and simultaneously approve the values and practices of the dominant culture (Tarrm, 2011). The internalized racism becomes manifold worse when it intertwines with health issues and affects the physical and psychological health of the victim and can lead to even mortality. In this regard, the role of the criminal justice system is also significant because it is explicitly interconnected with the notion of social security, and its absence can trigger exacerbated stress among the victimized faction. For this purpose, the article "Mass Incarceration, Stress, and Black Infant Mortality" that is written by Danyelle Solomon and Connor Maxwell in 2018 is examined in an elaborative manner.

The article highlights the intensively severe issue of mass incarceration of black women that in turn carves an adverse impact on their overall health and psychological conditions and elevates their stress to a vast extent. Moreover, the article underlines the unfair practices of the criminal justice system that ignores the primary human conditions of black women and do not care about the healthcare and other issues regarding black infants in incarceration, that in turn boosts the mortality among this disadvantaged group. The researchers of the study mainly addressed the lawmaking authorities to notice the negative impacts of racism that makes the lives of black imprisoned women a living hell. It is affirmed that globally the United States is encountering the highest rate of infant mortality, and it is a persistent problem that any universal approach is failed to address. The underlying reason behind such augmented stats of infant mortalities is the absences of equality based treatment and fair and just practices in the criminal justice system. Therefore, the research article addresses the lawmakers specifically to take a robust stance against this problematic issue by implementing the equity framework of targeted universalism.

Throughout the article, different scenarios are elaborated that explicitly or implicitly affect the health and psychological condition of black women in the United States. Such discrepancies, in turn, reflect on the health and lives of their children. In this context, the fundamental purpose of the article is to elucidate the adverse situation of black women who are susceptible to the brutal and unfair effects of mass incarceration. Such imprisonment can be experienced personally, or imprisonment of a loved one and contact with an inclined justice system are the critical stressors that demoralize the long-term physical and psychological health of mothers and of course of their children. The research article refers to a severe social and legal issue, and therefore there is no potency to concern personal likes and dislikes in the matter, but it seems that the researchers should have expanded their scope a little wider. The findings should have included some extensive interviews from affected black women as well as the opinions of relevant criminal justice authorities. Well-developed, open-structured discussions with affected and dominant parties could have provided a more precise insight into the dimensions of implications. After reading the article, a typical reader might feel alienated because the report directly aimed to nudge the lawmaking authorities and all the suggestions and adversaries of practices are concerned with legislative racism structure.

The article evokes a few questions that are connected with the readiness of a social criminal justice system to comply with the basic framework of universal equality. The question is that the cause and effect of practicing ill-managed and unfair criminal justice on the bias of race are apparent, yet why the higher authorities and government are not doing anything to address the issue? Has not the government however evaluated the causation of increasing mortality rate in infants? Or it does not want to solve the problem and satisfied with the implied circumstances? Regardless of a relevantly limited scope of the provided factoids, the article proffers a myriad of valuable information that can help estimate the intensity of racial-based stereotyping. The research study asserts that regardless of education, job designation, and other societal backdrops, black women always experience a higher peril of hazards incorporated with mass incarceration. The subject piece of information stresses that it is not the fault of black women the way they are treated under the legal framework and despite their extreme endeavors to comply within social tapestry they never treated legally on equality basis. However, in this context, the study does not highlight the status of celebrity women, that what are the legal inferences for them.

Similar to all research studies the subject article features certain limitations as well that in turn impeded a far-fetched exploration of associated factors and raised the need for further delving in through some other study. For instance, the validity and availability of collected data were not sufficient to derive magnified findings. On the other hand, only nine states of the United States were included in the data collection, and all of the selected states are diverse and demographically and geographically different from each other. And it is surmised that the inclusion of other additional states could have affected the obtained outcomes of the analysis. Throughout the article, it is evident that authors are inclined towards the proposition that supports the claim of black women against the unfair and prejudiced criminal justice system. The underlying ideology of the article believes that inequitable criminal justice system is extremely harmful to the mental health of black women, and therefore their fallen psychological health and reflects on their babies. The stressed black mothers transfer their health-based intricacies into their children, and the severity of the issue can be fatal for them in several cases.

The text is effectual, but a few amendments can be done in the extensiveness and visual presentation of the research. Moreover, there is a repetition of a few facts and figures that can be eliminated and replaced with some historical background of a similar issue. Further, elaboration and addition of visuals can improve the effectiveness and impact of the text and its purpose to a great extent. Phenomenally, the research study does not comprise of any negative aspects, because it alludes to a genuine social matter that should be dealt with accordingly on the national level, promptly. And the decisive point of the article is the suggestions for betterment, the recommendations and conclusion affirm that it is not an incurable curse and with cautious and conscientious efforts of lawmaking authorities, the ill-fated black women can indulge in the righteousness of legalization. Many other articles, books, and movies enwrap the notion of internalized and widespread racism; take the instance of "Black Females are Also Victimized By Nation's Criminal Justice System" By Dr. Elsie Scott (2018), and "Dark Girls" a documentary movie of 2011 and "Shades Of Prejudice Hurt-But Can't Stop-Dark Girls" by Marry C. Curtis (2013). All of these articles and movie feature the similar issue of internalized and general racism specifically from the perspective of the criminal justice system, but what makes the selected article distinguished from others is its focused scope that mainly pivots the black women, their psychological health and effects of racism, that in turn could be lethal for their children. The article avers that the unfair criminal justice system increases the sense of internalized racism that in turn worsens the mental health conditions of black incarcerated women or black women who have a loved one in prison. Consequently, the psychologically disturbed mothers indirectly affect their infants and they can even die in due course.

Work Cited

Curtis, Mary C. “Shades of Prejudice Hurt - but Can't Stop - 'Dark Girls'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 July 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/07/12/shades-of-prejudice-hurt-but-cant-stop-dark-girls/?utm_term=.ebb56235c45b.

Maxwell, Connor, and Danyelle Solomon. “Mass Incarceration, Stress, and Black Infant Mortality.” Center for American Progress, June 2018, www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/06/05/451647/mass-incarceration-stress-black-infant-mortality/.

Scott, Elsie. “Black Females Are Also Victimized By Nation's Criminal Justice System.” NCBCP,2018,www.ncbcp.org/programs/bwr/black_females_victimized_criminal_justice_system/.

“Taking Action Against Racism in the Media.” Untitled Document, 2011, www.div17.org/TAAR/media/topics/internalized-racism.php.