05/11/25:

the Draft of my new infographic

Reperations in Action: a 5 pillar commitment to black america.

is now located on the resources page.

Im working on a list of

'Tenets of Dehumanization of Black Americans'

Updated 05/04/25

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🔹 1. Animalization

Depicting Black people as wild, primitive, or beast-like — through language, media, and pseudoscience — to deny full humanity and justify control or violence.

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🔹 2. Criminalization

Framing Blackness as inherently dangerous or unlawful — fueling mass incarceration, over-policing, and “guilty until proven innocent” treatment in the legal system.

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🔹 3. Infantilization

Treating Black adults as if they’re mentally or emotionally immature — incapable of self-governance, needing white oversight, “not ready” for leadership and need saving. It’s not care. It’s control. And it’s rooted in the same racist logic that says Black people need saving, not self-determination.

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🔹 4. Commodification

Turning Black bodies and culture into products for white profit — from slavery to unpaid labor, music, sports, fashion, and social media content — while stripping away ownership and agency.

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🔹 5. Silencing and Erasure

Dismissing Black voices, rewriting history, or excluding Black stories from education, media, and public discourse works to maintain a white-centered narrative. This erasure distorts collective memory, marginalizes Black contributions, and reinforces systemic inequity across generations.

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🔹 6. Medical Disregard

The false belief that Black people feel less pain or need less care stems from slavery-era medicine and persists in modern healthcare. This bias drives disparities in treatment, including pain management. Its impact is seen in the disproportionately high rates of Black maternal and infant mortality.

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🔹 7. Exploiting Black Pain

from lynching postcards to viral videos of police killings—turns Black suffering into a spectacle, often met with shock but little sustained action or empathy. Images circulate widely, not to liberate, but to desensitize, and reinforce the idea that Black pain is expected, and even necessary for societal “awareness.”

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🔹 8. Cultural Theft + Mockery

From Blackface minstrel shows to TikTok trends, Black art, language, and culture are ridiculed at the source and praised once whitewashed. AAVE is “ghetto” until it’s viral. It’s not appreciation—it’s erasure. The same culture that gets stolen is the same culture they refuse to center, credit, or pay.

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🔹 9. Demonizing Blackness

Framing Black identity, culture, and emotion as threatening, unruly, or corrupt — treating Blackness not just as different, but dangerous.

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🔹 10. Demonizing Black Morality

Portraying Black people — especially women, femmes, and LGBTQ+ folks — as hypersexual, deviant, or morally corrupt. This includes fetishizing Black bodies while condemning Black sexuality, reducing people to objects of desire and then punishing them for it.

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🔹 11. Economy of Black Excellence

Forcing Black individuals to overachieve as the status quo. The expectation is excellence under oppression—no mistakes allowed. Success becomes a requirement for basic legitimacy; anything less is seen as proof of inferiority, reinforcing the idea that Black worth must be constantly earned.

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🔹 12. Environmental Abandonment

Black communities are left in polluted, neglected, and under-resourced environments — often shaped by white flight, redlining, and disinvestment. Food deserts, medical deserts, and decaying infrastructure signal that Black lives are disposable.

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🔹 13. Whiteness as Default Humanity

Whiteness is treated as the unspoken norm — in beauty, behavior, professionalism, and intelligence. Everything else is seen as deviant or in need of correction. Black people often have to translate their speech, appearance, or emotions to be accepted. For example, some feel pressured to “whiten” their names on résumés, and natural Black hairstyles are still labeled “unprofessional.”

I’ve removed Woke Racism from the reading list. Here’s why: (updated 05/03/25)

John McWhorter’s Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America is a critique from within the Black community—not a tool of white supremacy. A Black liberal, linguist, and Columbia professor, McWhorter argues that a certain kind of antiracism has become rigid and performative, more focused on signaling than real change. He calls this “Electism,” likening it to a religion that discourages debate and prioritizes appearances over impact.

He warns this performative style can harm Black communities by emphasizing symbolism instead of addressing material issues like education and poverty. He supports acknowledging systemic racism but urges pragmatic, results-driven solutions.

However, critics—many of them Black scholars—say McWhorter overstates the problem, downplays systemic forces, and frames antiracism in ways that conservative voices now use to attack the broader movement. His metaphors, especially comparing white privilege to “original sin,” are seen as minimizing the urgency of dismantling systemic racism.

In short, while the book critiques white liberals’ performative allyship, it has been embraced by those hostile to racial justice, muddying its usefulness for people new to this work.

Short version:

He’s not Ops—he’s calling out another way white people cause harm even when they think they’re helping. But his critique has been co-opted by white conservatives as ammo against antiracism.

This book offers valuable insight into how well-meaning white people can still cause harm—but it’s not for beginners. Without a strong foundation in antiracist thinking, readers may misuse or misread its message. Woke Racism is best reserved for those further along in their journey. Tread lightly.

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