Self-Perception Under Scrutiny: Anti-Blackness and the Myth of the Model Minority
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CW: Racial Slurs
The excerpt from Fanon and the listening by Mumu Fresh both grapple with the undesirability of blackness. Fanon puts it most bluntly, perhaps, when he says
“the Frenchman does not like the Jew, who does not like the Arab, who does not like the Negro. . . . The Arab is told: “If you are poor, it is because the Jew has bled you and taken everything from you.” The Jew is told: “You are not of the same class as the Arab because you are really white and because you have Einstein and Bergson.” The Negro is told: “You are the best soldiers in the French Empire; the Arabs think they are better than you, but they are wrong.” But that is not true; the Negro is told nothing because no one has anything to tell him, the Senegalese trooper is a trooper, the-good-soldier-under-command, the brave fellow- who-only-knows-how-to-obey” (Fanon 77).
Fanon and Mumu Fresh use their lived experiences and anecdotes to highlight the anti-blackness that is found across communities and how it places blackness at the bottom of constructed racial hierarchy. They both talk about how their perception of themselves is shaped heavily by how they are perceived by others. Fanon mentions that while other disenfranchised groups have to be “tracked down,” his identity is something that is not so easily hidden and is the primary “dialectic” (83) that synthesises how he interacts with the world. Similarly, Mumu Fresh tells us she feels that she experienced the kind of 'deni*ration'—mentioned by Fanon (83)—at the hands of her own grandmother. Overall, we see that they both struggle with navigating identities that are constantly scrutinised and defined by external perceptions, grappling with the weight of societal anti-Blackness within both public and private spheres. Their narratives reveal the profound impact of external judgment on self-identity, illustrating how deeply ingrained biases can shape personal and communal experiences
However, it raises the question: nappy hair as opposed to what? A round nose compared to what? Big feet compared to whom? Kendrick Lamar raps about eschewing the kind of respectability politics surrounding the desire to avoid the kinds of stereotypes that Fanon also details (84, 88). Rather, we see Lamar embrace and reclaim these stereotypes as symbols of pride and identity. He is asking even if I was these things, so what?
Sivanandan and Bald highlight the opposite of such an approach, and perhaps its futility. We see J. J Singh flounder in his efforts to promote the “model minority” myth in congress. Though, when congress finally granted immigration opportunities to denizens of the subcontinent–perhaps inspired by the UK Voucher system (Sivandan 353)–it was setup to promote the myth of the model minority by prioritising the migration of skilled labour. The ultimate triumph of the type of approach to immigration that prioritises the economic needs of the host country lends credence to the thesis that Sivanandan puts forth about the demise of racism at the hands of capital.