Is respectability politics... still respectable?
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Undefeatable
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Thought you all might find this interesting. It's a long read. Here is the beginning as well as a few key passages.
Lifting as We Climb
A progressive defense of respectability politics
By Randall Kennedy
My parents inculcated in me and my two siblings a particular sense of racial kinship: in our dealings with the white world, we were encouraged to think of ourselves as ambassadors of blackness. Our achievements would advance the race, and our failures would hinder it. The fulfillment of our racial obligations required that we speak well, dress suitably, and mind our manners. In our household we felt tremendous pride in the attainments of blacks, and we took personally their disgrace. My father and mother loved to regale us with stories about the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson and Wilma Rudolph, Thurgood Marshall and Charles Drew, Paul Robeson and Mary McLeod Bethune. At the same time, when scandal ensnared a prominent black person, we all felt ashamed, diminished. We were also embarrassed when blacks with poor diction and sloppy comportment appeared on television. We were taught to look down on such people as “bad Negroes” whose antics further burdened “good Negroes” like us, and we suspected that whites in the news and entertainment industries preferred to publicize the former and ignore the latter.
My parents sternly ordered their children to be dignified in the presence of white people so that there would be no opportunity to put us in racist, stereotypical categories. “Don’t act like a ? ,” they told us bluntly. “Don’t act like a ? .” They also told us that racism made us more vulnerable than our white counterparts to certain risks, and that we would be judged by less forgiving standards. In competition for advancement, I would have to clearly outdistance my white peers. “Tie-tie, you lose,” my father said repeatedly — meaning that as a black person I would always be deprived of the benefit of the doubt. Throughout my years at a predominantly white private high school, my parents warned me against attending boisterous parties; if something happened that called for the intervention of police, the blacks in attendance would be the ones singled out for punishment.
They never suggested that these circumstances were just; to the contrary, they resented them and abhorred the prejudice and discrimination that littered with dangerous ? traps the pathways trod by their beloved children. They believed, however, that one had to face reality with clear eyes in order to fashion responses with any hope of success. They were under no illusion that strict adherence to their protocols would immunize us completely against the ravages of negrophobia; they knew that racism targeted “good” blacks too. But they reasoned that their strictures would at least improve our chances of surviving and thriving.
Is it wrong for black parents to deliver to their children the sort of talks that my parents gave to me? The demand that young blacks pursue certain actions and avoid others in response to racism is sometimes understood to implicitly fault those young blacks who decline (or fail) to follow such recommendations. Just as complaining about the “suggestive” attire or demeanor of women who are ? is blaming the victim, many believe it is blaming the victim to complain about the “menacing” (or merely “too black”) attire or demeanor of African-American men who are harassed, assaulted, or killed. The clothing a woman wears is irrelevant to the culpability of a ? , and so, too, should the appearance of a young black man in a hoodie be irrelevant to the culpability of anyone who inflicts violence upon him.
This is true as far as it goes, but it misses the point. My parents’ goal was not to apportion blame; it was to keep their children clear of danger — even as they recognized that the need to expend energy to avoid that danger was itself an unfair product of racism. The “parents’ talk” is a prudential plea to take reasonable precautions. Following its advice is no guarantee, but it improves the odds. That so many black families feel the need to have such a talk illustrates their realistic belief that, even in a context of racial injustice in which African Americans are hemmed in by severely limited alternatives, there is still something that they can do to better the prospects for themselves and their communities.
The parents’ talk has a larger social analogue within the black community: the politics of respectability. Its proponents advocate taking care in presenting oneself publicly and desire strongly to avoid saying or doing anything that will reflect badly on blacks, reinforce negative racial stereotypes, or needlessly alienate potential allies. They urge their activist colleagues to select as standard-bearers those who are free of seriously discrediting records. When choosing a focal point for the burgeoning movement against police brutality, for example, they counsel caution before embracing the cause of someone involved in a violent encounter in which an officer makes a plausible claim of self-defense. They preferred to rally attention around Tamir Rice, the black twelve-year-old who was playing with a toy gun in a park when he was precipitously shot dead by a policeman in Cleveland, rather than a figure like Michael Brown. Aggrieved as they were by Brown’s death at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, they were concerned that Brown’s participation in a robbery before the shooting and the ambiguous circumstances surrounding his encounter with police would muddy the issue. Practitioners of the politics of respectability suggest focusing more on those whose victimization is clearest and likeliest to elicit the greatest sympathy from the general public.
...
But these misapplications of respectability politics should not obscure an essential fact: any marginalized group should be attentive to how it is perceived. The politics of respectability is a tactic of public relations that is, per se, neither necessarily good nor necessarily bad. A sound assessment of its deployment in a given instance depends on its goals, the manner in which it is practiced, and the context within which a given struggle is being waged. Its association with esteemed figures and episodes in African-American history suggests that the politics of respectability warrants a more respectful hearing than it has recently received.
....
Lifting as We Climb
A progressive defense of respectability politics
By Randall Kennedy
My parents inculcated in me and my two siblings a particular sense of racial kinship: in our dealings with the white world, we were encouraged to think of ourselves as ambassadors of blackness. Our achievements would advance the race, and our failures would hinder it. The fulfillment of our racial obligations required that we speak well, dress suitably, and mind our manners. In our household we felt tremendous pride in the attainments of blacks, and we took personally their disgrace. My father and mother loved to regale us with stories about the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson and Wilma Rudolph, Thurgood Marshall and Charles Drew, Paul Robeson and Mary McLeod Bethune. At the same time, when scandal ensnared a prominent black person, we all felt ashamed, diminished. We were also embarrassed when blacks with poor diction and sloppy comportment appeared on television. We were taught to look down on such people as “bad Negroes” whose antics further burdened “good Negroes” like us, and we suspected that whites in the news and entertainment industries preferred to publicize the former and ignore the latter.
My parents sternly ordered their children to be dignified in the presence of white people so that there would be no opportunity to put us in racist, stereotypical categories. “Don’t act like a ? ,” they told us bluntly. “Don’t act like a ? .” They also told us that racism made us more vulnerable than our white counterparts to certain risks, and that we would be judged by less forgiving standards. In competition for advancement, I would have to clearly outdistance my white peers. “Tie-tie, you lose,” my father said repeatedly — meaning that as a black person I would always be deprived of the benefit of the doubt. Throughout my years at a predominantly white private high school, my parents warned me against attending boisterous parties; if something happened that called for the intervention of police, the blacks in attendance would be the ones singled out for punishment.
They never suggested that these circumstances were just; to the contrary, they resented them and abhorred the prejudice and discrimination that littered with dangerous ? traps the pathways trod by their beloved children. They believed, however, that one had to face reality with clear eyes in order to fashion responses with any hope of success. They were under no illusion that strict adherence to their protocols would immunize us completely against the ravages of negrophobia; they knew that racism targeted “good” blacks too. But they reasoned that their strictures would at least improve our chances of surviving and thriving.
Is it wrong for black parents to deliver to their children the sort of talks that my parents gave to me? The demand that young blacks pursue certain actions and avoid others in response to racism is sometimes understood to implicitly fault those young blacks who decline (or fail) to follow such recommendations. Just as complaining about the “suggestive” attire or demeanor of women who are ? is blaming the victim, many believe it is blaming the victim to complain about the “menacing” (or merely “too black”) attire or demeanor of African-American men who are harassed, assaulted, or killed. The clothing a woman wears is irrelevant to the culpability of a ? , and so, too, should the appearance of a young black man in a hoodie be irrelevant to the culpability of anyone who inflicts violence upon him.
This is true as far as it goes, but it misses the point. My parents’ goal was not to apportion blame; it was to keep their children clear of danger — even as they recognized that the need to expend energy to avoid that danger was itself an unfair product of racism. The “parents’ talk” is a prudential plea to take reasonable precautions. Following its advice is no guarantee, but it improves the odds. That so many black families feel the need to have such a talk illustrates their realistic belief that, even in a context of racial injustice in which African Americans are hemmed in by severely limited alternatives, there is still something that they can do to better the prospects for themselves and their communities.
The parents’ talk has a larger social analogue within the black community: the politics of respectability. Its proponents advocate taking care in presenting oneself publicly and desire strongly to avoid saying or doing anything that will reflect badly on blacks, reinforce negative racial stereotypes, or needlessly alienate potential allies. They urge their activist colleagues to select as standard-bearers those who are free of seriously discrediting records. When choosing a focal point for the burgeoning movement against police brutality, for example, they counsel caution before embracing the cause of someone involved in a violent encounter in which an officer makes a plausible claim of self-defense. They preferred to rally attention around Tamir Rice, the black twelve-year-old who was playing with a toy gun in a park when he was precipitously shot dead by a policeman in Cleveland, rather than a figure like Michael Brown. Aggrieved as they were by Brown’s death at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, they were concerned that Brown’s participation in a robbery before the shooting and the ambiguous circumstances surrounding his encounter with police would muddy the issue. Practitioners of the politics of respectability suggest focusing more on those whose victimization is clearest and likeliest to elicit the greatest sympathy from the general public.
...
But these misapplications of respectability politics should not obscure an essential fact: any marginalized group should be attentive to how it is perceived. The politics of respectability is a tactic of public relations that is, per se, neither necessarily good nor necessarily bad. A sound assessment of its deployment in a given instance depends on its goals, the manner in which it is practiced, and the context within which a given struggle is being waged. Its association with esteemed figures and episodes in African-American history suggests that the politics of respectability warrants a more respectful hearing than it has recently received.
....
Comments
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I am not contending that a given strategy must be correct merely because it is propounded by esteemed figures. Great leaders make mistakes, too. Nor is a given strategy sound for all time. Many things that would have been imprudent to say in Mississippi in 1950 were, thank goodness, no longer so in 1970. One must be aware, moreover, that from the vantage of those in charge, virtually any effective protest is disreputable. Beyond that, one must be sensitive to the conditional virtues of outrageousness. In some circumstances it is effective and praiseworthy to scandalize the arbiters of established opinion, to give the finger to the powers that be. No movement in American history practiced a more honorable politics than the abolitionists, even though they often luxuriated in incivility. I am not defending observance of conventional propriety as a timeless principle. I am simply saying that there are occasions when deploying respectability can be useful and ought to be done.
Opponents of respectability politics often talk as though it has never been an effective tool for black activists. “Black folks have already tested out . . . respectability,” Brittney Cooper, a professor at Rutgers, wrote recently. “We’ve been trying to save our lives by dressing right, talking right and never, ever ? up since about 1877. That ? has not worked."
One wonders what Cooper has in mind. If she is complaining that blacks still confront racism, even after having ardently practiced respectability politics, then I fully concur. But if she is saying that the precautions undertaken and the cultivation of image pursued by countless blacks have not mattered, then I must object. By dint of intelligent, brave, persistent collective action, African Americans have helped tremendously to transform the United States in ways that offer grounds for encouragement and hope. Indeed, the tone of indignant futility struck by some opponents of black respectability politics is worrying. The politics of black respectability has not banished antiblack racism, but it has improved the racial situation dramatically and has kept alive some black people who might otherwise be dead.
...
An underlying optimism animates respectability politics, a belief that even in the teeth of recalcitrant bigotry and cruel indifference, blacks can still wrest from this society more liberty and equality. Keenly aware of how far blacks have come over the past half-century, proponents of respectability politics have faith that shrewd, disciplined, and forceful action can help blacks, individually and collectively, continue to advance. The detractors of respectability politics, on the other hand, tend to eschew talk of progress and to dwell on the huge disadvantages that continue to burden African Americans.
Randall Kennedy is the Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School. His review “Old Poison, New Battles” appeared in the August 2015 issue of Harper’s Magazine.
http://harpers.org/archive/2015/10/lifting-as-we-climb/?single=1 -
It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
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Now not to say that perhaps there aren't people that you can influence to see us in a positive life but in playing a role would you want to. If everyday a white man saw you in a suit nice haircut overall clean appearance and accepted you and another he ran into you while you were leaving the gym tanktop shorts sweating and thought you were intimidating or he was scared of you then did you really change his mind. Respectable can only get you so far when you have to hide your whole character and put on an act
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The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US? -
The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact -
The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
Jamaica. -
Undefeatable wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
Jamaica.
Jamaica and most Caribbean islands still fall understand the same idea of the American colonies. Even though they weren't formaily brought in they were still under control of the British. They even ended slavery before the us -
The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
Arab slavery of Black Africans was the first based on race. Happened long before American slavery though -
ThaNubianGod wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
Arab slavery of Black Africans was the first based on race. Happened long before American slavery though
That doesn't even make sense since the Arabs were active in western Asia, North Africa, and Europe particularly Italy in Sicily. Why else do you think that people say Italians are black. Because of the Arab and black moors -
Teaching your children to strive for more, practice and use good grammar and diction, and to be wary of situations that can turn sour if things go bad All children, regardless of background, should be taught these ideas.
Where it fails is teaching them that it makes a difference to racists. I was raised that way and taught the hard way. -
I refuse to engage in respectability politics
I just don't feel it should be my job to convince anyone that I'm one of the "good" negroes
Than it's a lost cause
No matter if I put on on my best face, i'd still be black and i'd still be the exception to the rule
The rule being blks/ blk culture is inferior
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The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
So you must not know that North America actually got less slaves than Latin America and the West Indies? -
The_Jackal wrote: »The_Jackal wrote: »It's respectful in the sense that as the professor states it will only get you do far. Think about it in a sense like American slavery (which was the first kind of system to be based around race) your oppressiers are going to automatically see you as unequal. Of course we are not in the 1800s anymore but plenty of whites particular southerns still hold that mentality. Now if a man/women hates you because they see you as inferior then no matter how you speak, dress act, it won't change their opinion. Only in America has slavery been so rooted in our culture and this nation that you can still feel it's effect.
You sure you've ever set foot outside the US?
Name one other country or culture in the history of the world where slavery was based specific and only one race. This isn't ancient Rome or Greece where anyone could be a slave. Africans were actively brought, captured and sold because whites ultimately thought they were suprior to blacks in the American colonies. That's a fact
So you must not know that North America actually got less slaves than Latin America and the West Indies?
But more were breed instate after importing was banned. Even white president thought that eventually another president woukd outlaw it amd just let it continue. And again it all falls under British territory should have been more specific -
Yes
Being a conscious black man is an exhausting experience. Sometimes, I wish I could turn that part of my brain off but fortunately or unfortunately i can't.
I'm disappointed with Negroes - murders (I don't care if it's going down, it's still too damn high), disparity in education, income, wealth and most of all values - as in love thy black self. AND I'm forever disappointed by the system that perpetuates these inequities - municipalities using the poor as a cash advance, cops murder unarmed and/or mentally unstable black men and women, restrict the right to vote, drug war, and the prison industrial complex.
I feel like sometimes I'm the only one that sees this
/rant over -
Nothing is really wrong with respectability politics because the higher income levels people achieve the more they engage in it.
A solidly middle class or better white kid is going to watch what he says and does as to not give off a negative perception about his upbringing or character. This doesn't mean they are not flawed but they don't wear them as badges of honor either.
Its the "public face vs private face" thing.
I think Jay- Z & 50 Cent are examples of people who wanted to "keep it real" and found that it doesn't work when you trying to get sponsorships and trying to reach up the ladder. The last thing those dudes needed was to be seen as a stereotypical "thug" and to some degree it worked for them but some people will forever see them as rappers and people who played that role but for the most part they changed perception about themselves to make themselves more respected in their circle.
Ain't nothing you can do to stop being black, even bleaching your skin can't change it but being Black doesn't have to mean you are a stereotype either. You can love cornbread and watermelon without coming across like a ? , you can love smoking weed and the NBA without coming across like a ? . ALL the ? Black folks enjoy other people do too, its just when people see ghetto names, obnoxious weaves, sagging, etc it gives off negative vibes.
