Abstract
This paper is written to shed light on racism in general and internalized racism in particular. The application of the study of internalized racism on Mrs. Turner in Hurston’s novel illuminates a very significant fact about the Black females now and then. Under racism which is the white imperialism and superiority, the back women have been programmed to believe in White standards of beauty and this latter is called internalized racism. Hurston so skillfully characterizes Mrs.Turner who is psychologically oppressed under this system of internalized racism. Her esteem of white skin and straight hair while she is black with kinky hair oppresses her because of her being a colored woman. Thus Race and gender converge on this issue of evaluating beauty and this purports to the belief of Black feminists that women are oppressed not only because they are women but also because they are black women.
Highlights
According to Hooks (1981), in the case of black and white people, the term racism is the discrimination or prejudice against black people by white people
Tyson (2006) includes that the systematic practice of racial discrimination can occur only when racism has become institutionalized. As he defines, Institutionalized racism refers to the incorporation of racist policies and practices in the institutions by which a society operates such as education, federal, state, local governments, the law both in terms of what is written on the books and how it is implemented by the courts and police officials, health care and etc
He contends that many African-Americans suffered from internalized racism and despite the success of black-pride advocates, many people of color continue to suffer from it today
Summary
According to Hooks (1981), in the case of black and white people, the term racism is the discrimination or prejudice against black people by white people. Hooks in her landmark work, Feminist Theory: From margin to Center argues that racism is fundamentally a feminist issue because it is so interconnected with sexist oppression (as cited in Castle, 2007) What all of these black feminists share is the desire to overcome a two-fold domination because women are oppressed because of their gender and because of their race (Castle, 2007). She only accepts the white version of both the skin color and hair and defies her own skin and hair type She is strongly victimized under internalized racism and since her race and gender intersect in bringing about this victimization, her oppression purports to the Black feminist reading of the novel
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