Black Inferior

Black people are not dark-skinned white people, says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are a lot more. They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of no way! At this point in history, the idea of black inferiority sh...

Winner, 2020 Body and Embodiment Best Publication Award, given by the American Sociological Association Honorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor black women are particularly stigmatized as “diseased” and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals—where fat bodies were once praised—showing that fat phobia, as it relates to black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of “savagery” and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn’t about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.

A scientific response to the best-selling The Bell Curve which set off a hailstorm of controversy upon its publication in 1994. Much of the public reaction to the book was polemic and failed to analyse the details of the science and validity of the statistical arguments underlying the books conclusion. Here, at last, social scientists and statisticians reply to The Bell Curve and its conclusions about IQ, genetics and social outcomes.

Black ≠ Inferior is a collection of poems divided into 2 parts. The first part is a collection of thematically linked poems exploring Blackness and the myriads of issues it attracts. The second part oscillates themes— talking about consent, a query of death, a celebration of love among others. In his usual stylistic, this collection deals with weighty matters like race and colourism with simple and clear language. In Black ≠ Inferior, we see Tolu’ Akinyemi reacting in response to the world, to issues that affect Black people. Here, we see a poet shedding off his burdens through his poems; hence, the beauty of this collection is in the issues it attempts to address. In this collection, Tolu’ wears a coat of many colours – he is a preacher, a prophet, a doctor and a teacher. We see Tolu’ the preacher in these lines: ‘I wish you can rise through the squalor of poverty and voices that watercolour you as under-represented. I wish you can emblaze your name in gold, and swim against every wave of hate.’ This is a collection of poems fit for the present narrative as any (Black) person who reads this collection should beam with confidence at the end. This is what the poet sets out to achieve with his oeuvre.

" The test score gap between blacks and whites—on vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence--is large enough to have far-reaching social and economic consequences. In their introduction to this book, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips argue that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites. Indeed, they think that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under serious discussion. The book offers a comprehensive look at the factors that contribute to the test score gap and discusses options for substantially reducing it. Although significant attempts have been made over the past three decades to shrink the test score gap, including increased funding for predominantly black schools, desegregation of southern schools, and programs to alleviate poverty, the median black American still scores below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests. The book brings together recent evidence on some of the most controversial and puzzling aspects of the test score debate, including the role of test bias, heredity, and family background. It also looks at how and why the gap has changed over the past generation, reviews the educational, psychological, and cultural explanations for the gap, and analyzes its educational and economic consequences. The authors demonstrate that traditional explanations account for only a small part of the black-white test score gap. They argue that this is partly because traditional explanations have put too much emphasis on racial disparities in economic resources, both in homes and in schools, and on demographic factors like family structure. They say that successful theories will put more emphasis on psychological and cultural factors, such as the way black and white parents teach their children to deal with things they do not know or understand, and the way black and white children respond to the same classroom experiences. Finally, they call for large-scale experiments to determine the effects of schools' racial mix, class size, ability grouping, and other policies. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Claude Steele, Ronald Ferguson, William G. Bowen, Philip Cook, and William Julius Wilson. "

Frances Cress Welsing defined inferiorization as "the conscious, deliberate and systematic process utilized specifically by a racist (white supremacist) social system, as conducted through all of its major and minor institutions...to mold specific peoples within that system (namely, all peoples classified by the racist system as non-white) into 'functional inferiors, ' in spite of their true genetic potential for functioning. Under the white supremacy system, the more melanin pigmentation present in the skin and thus the darker the individual, the greater the 'inferiorization' pressure imposed by the racist system. Thus, amongst all non-white peoples, Blacks are most victimized by this process." The brilliance of inferiorization is that it could make overt racism (White supremacy) obsolete, while simultaneously normalizing White supremacy in America. According to Bakari Kitwana, "Welsing argued that soon white supremacists wouldn't have to worry about making Blacks seem inferior they'd just need to keep providing them with inferior education, housing, health care, child care, and the like, and in a generation or two they would be." It is almost undeniable and most certainly observable that at this point in African-American history, institutionalized inferiorization, not simply racism (White supremacy), is by far our most dangerous enemy, yet it is the least constructively discussed or reacted to. In the 21st century, Black people's main problem is no longer some vaguely understood color line, but rather, according to Steve Biko, an "attitude of inferiority," which can also be defined as internalized racism (White supremacy). Internalized racism is characterized by the stigmatized race's acceptance of negative messages about their abilities and intrinsic worth. As a result, self-devaluation occurs. Suzanne Lipsky claimed that "internalized racism...has made us think of ourselves or each other as stupid, lazy, unimportant, or inferior." Na'im Akbar wrote that once you begin to believe "that you are not as good as other people, your actions follow your mind. The stage is now set for the cycle of a self-fulfilling prophecy: you believe they are superior and that you are inferior, and sure enough you will start acting inferior."

Black Skin, White Masks is a classic, devastating account of the dehumanising effects of colonisation experienced by black subjects living in a white world. First published in English in 1967, this book provides an unsurpassed study of the psychology of racism using scientific analysis and poetic grace.Franz Fanon identifies a devastating pathology at the heart of Western culture, a denial of difference, that persists to this day. A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and black consciousness movements around the world, his writings speak to all who continue the struggle for political and cultural liberation.With an introduction by Paul Gilroy, author of There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack.