This world isn’t built for politics, let alone respectability politics to work for all parties expected to play.
In a country that is facing perpetual political limbo every four years, Black people find themselves in the same predicament: What is going to happen to us? In the search for an answer, you can see some of us playing faithfully into the old game of respectability politics.
While some will argue that it is a game worth playing and that everyone walks away as a winner, others say this isn’t the case. It’s simply a game to make you think that you are playing to win when, in actuality, no one wins.
Black people have been fighting for fundamental human rights for centuries, so much so that the fight is embedded into our DNA. The constant battle to have the same “American Dream” as our white counterparts, but having to do triple the work. However, why, in fighting for what we want, do we turn around and fight each other for the sake of respectability politics?
The phrase “Respectability Politics” was created by Black elites in an attempt to navigate race relations and avoid the negative stereotypes that have continued to plague the Black community.
According to the National Park Service, “It is the set of guidelines that are supposedly responsible for dictating the socially acceptable behaviors and standards of a community.”
In short, Respectability Politics is a social construct that is supposed to make Black Americans mainstream in American culture. However, it has now become misconstrued to allow Black people to adhere to white standards, in the sad hopes that one day they will finally accept us and give us the respect, power, money, etc. that we deserve. It will never happen.
When the founding fathers were writing the Constitution, they did not have Black people in mind. The Constitution was written to ensure the mass success of White men. The very foundational principles that this country stands on are catered to only white, cis-gendered, heterosexual men.
White people in power have long sought out conniving ways to be discriminatory against Black people. This long-standing practice, though, was introduced in slavery times. Black ancestors fought tirelessly to improve some societal practices, but we can not assume that respectability politics will get us the rest of the way there.
As an enslaved person, they were forced to adhere to standards in the hopes that they would not be punished or whipped to death. A media example is when Kunta Kinte was beaten within an inch of his life during the film series Roots. Defying his master by not adhering to his “white name,” Kunta was nearly beaten to death. These standards have continued throughout the American system for centuries.
For instance, the numerous amount of Jim Crow Laws that were set in place to keep Black people in line. The “segregated but equal” laws separated water fountains, libraries, restaurants, etc. However, the laws were set to make Black people “act white.” Prime examples would include always using proper English when speaking to a white person, using “yes ma’am”, and “yes sir”, or “no ma’am” and “no sir.”
These examples have embedded themselves into Black culture and the Black experience even today. However, the plot has been lost exponentially. Instead of being something we reflect on and try to move away from, it has now become a way for us to attack each other instead of the actual system.
In more specific terms, typically, when a group of Black people do something, there is always one “Elite Negro” who turns their nose up and decides to actively say something, which then turns into three weeks of endless X and Instagram discourse.
Take Clarence Thomas, for example. Clarence Thomas is one of the presiding Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. He was given the opportunity through former President George H.W. Bush after the passing of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall. He has been in his position since 1991.
And, even though Anita Hill went on record to testify against him due to sexual harassment claims, Thomas has seemingly served as a beacon of inspiration for Black Conservative Republicans alike.
With a NAACP nomination, a Yale Law School Education, and a white wife Thomas showed that he is not a stereotypical Negro. He is just an ordinary Black man who went through life without the help of any oppressed Black person before him. He has maintained that because of his work ethic, he achieved his dreams, and not because of his race or the people who worked tirelessly before him. The song and dance for every “Elite Negro” who did not let oppression or racism stifle them or their dreams.
When Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn into the Supreme Court in February 2022 you would have thought that both of these justices would understand the weight that they bear. Two of three justices of color, the only Black ones you would think that they would work together to ensure the safety of all Black Americans through their jobs.
But whatever sliver of hope that Black America was holding on to was quickly snatched once it was revealed that Thomas decided to vote for the complete dissolution of Affirmative Action. It was made very clear that Thomas isn’t a justice for Black people but instead a justice for himself.
During his critiques of Jackson during the publicized Affirmative Action case, Thomas is quoted writing, “Even in the segregated South where I grew up, individuals were not the sum of their skin color.”
He also went on to say, “As she sees things, we are all inexorably trapped in a fundamentally racist society, with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjugation of black Americans still determining our lives today.” Of course, Black people will never be free of how slavery impacted our ancestors because everything has been the consequence of slavery.
However, Thomas is not the only person to have this warped opinion of America as a Black man. There are numerous Black men who all believe that Black people are finally free from the shackles of slavery and are merely too lazy to do the work, which would be agreeable until you recognize that everything in America is set in stone for Black people to fail.
And even if you realize this as a Black American who is a Republican, you also recognize that being Republican can help you specifically, which turns into a myriad of Black misinformed voters who believe that the Republican party is a helpful party for the Black community. Which then convolutes into Amber Rose, Waka Flocka, and much more. Each one insists that the GOP is the party for Black America.
Not only that, but it is in the hopes that they can be accepted in “middle America” or that the white man will finally see them as equals. And even though everyone wants to believe that respectability politics will work, especially Black Conservatives, the sad truth is that it isn’t going to work.
Our only true hope is banding together and sticking together. When we leave and decide to dance for the white man, it leads to a sickly amount of others trailing behind in hopes of the same pathetic glory.
Zahiyah Carter is a Gen Z writer based in Dallas. Her work focuses on topics that matter most to young people, from social issues and pop culture to technology and beyond.
