anti-Black male racism-induced sense of un-deservingness. He explains that racism fed his own feelings of un-deservingness of his accomplishments:
As I’ve said, many would argue I’ve led a life in which a long series of good luck and accomplishments has been strung together. In my mind, however, there was one thread running through all the good things in my life: I didn’t deserve them. I thought of myself as a phony, an imposter who was certain to be found out in the end. Any praise directed at me was a generous lie. I was destined for spectacular failure, but mere fate for some reason kept preventing it from happening. I believed in my heart that eventually I would fall and get what I really deserved. (p. 8)
Cultural Misorientation
One aspect of racism’s impact on Black men, and Black people in general, is its pressure to adopt Western values like materialism and individualism at extreme levels (Wilson, 1991). Kambon (2006) also argues that there are cultural consequences to racism. Cultural misorientation is a psychological condition that develops due to African people’s experience with Eurocentric cultural oppression (Kambon, 2006). From a prolonged and intense exposure, many Black people internalize and promote a Eurocentric consciousness. According to Kambon (2006), European cultural imposition has not been completely successful; therefore, Black people are affected by cultural imposition in varying degrees, some severely, most moderately, and few minimally. When internalized, Black communities themselves may engage in socialization practices that promote cultural ideals that are harmful to them. Leary (2005) calls this racist socialization, or the adoption of racist standards and the enslaver’s value system, i.e., all things associated with Whiteness are superior and all things associated with Blackness are inferior. Cultural imposition can prevent Black males from envisioning a world outside of the one the people in power have created based on their own values and beliefs.
Self-Blame and Perfectionism
While some argue that racism results in system-blaming among African Americans (Landrum-Brown, 1990), others argue that self-blame in the collective and individual sense is more common. According to Wilson (1991), the internalization of racist miseducation and misinformation causes some Black people to mistakenly conclude that their suffering is caused by their Blackness or personal inadequacies, instead of the psychopathology of their oppressors. Having internalized stereotypes about themselves, and an attraction to their oppressor’s way of life, some Blacks become instigators of disunity ←43 | 44→among Black society. Research on African American males also shows that some engage in harmful levels of self-blame. Experiences with racism, without a protecting shield of self-worth, can produce a sense of unworthiness hidden behind a seeming nonchalance. This is true for Black boys as well as adult males. For example, nonchalance about racism actually undermines Black boys’ abilities to effectively cope with racism, as they often redirect their anger toward themselves. Contrary to the notion that African American males blame the system, Spielberg’s (2014a) research shows that many African American males blame themselves for any lack of success in school or life. Through his interviews with young makes, Spielberg also found that the shame created by racism can also lead to a damaging sense of perfectionism among Black males:
Many young African American males we interviewed reported numerous examples of microaggression. Jamal, a 25-year-old stockbroker, works in a large office building. Even though he dresses well and looks the part of a young professional, he is frequently followed by security officers when he enters boutique stores in the mall of his office complex. When he rides the elevators, he can “feel the fear in most Whites.” Although he claims to have become “used to it,” later in our interview he expressed awareness of “being angry,” and that he has often wished he had “given them something to make them afraid.” The cumulative effect upon Jamal of the many microaggressions he has experienced is “hard to know.” However, one can argue that the toll has been enormous, as it is possible to trace much of his perfectionism and shame about mistakes to an underlying fear that he indeed might be “dangerous and untrustworthy.” (p. 52)
Racism can certainly produce an unhealthy perfectionism in Black males, leading to depression. Lambert, Robinson, and Ialongo (2014) conducted a longitudinal investigation into the relationship between racial discrimination, socially prescribed perfectionism, and depression among African American adolescents. Maladaptive perfectionism refers to holding excessively high standards, being extraordinarily self-critical. This kind of perfectionism has been linked to depression. There are other types of perfectionism, one of which is socially prescribed perfectionism. Socially prescribed perfectionism is different from self-prescribed perfectionism because it comes from other people’s unrealistic expectations imposed on a person. Some social scientists believe that this kind of perfectionism is worse because it is understood to be less. The notion of a “good Black man” assumes that this is a rare, exceptional condition. Yet the slightest misstep can land a Black man in the category of “no good” like all the rest, because this is the only other option which is implied in the popular anti-Black male phrasing “Black men ain’t shit.” Lambert et al. (2014) sampled 492 African American adolescents at grades 7, 8, and 9. At each grade the youth explained: (1) how often they experienced racial discrimination; (2) the extent to which they had socially prescribed perfectionist beliefs, and; (3) the extent to which they had experienced anxiety and depressive symptoms. The research suggests that the experience of racism in the seventh grade led to socially prescribed perfectionist beliefs in the eighth grade, which led to depressive symptoms in the 9thgrade. Implicit in Black men’s experiences with racism is the assumption that they have not lived up to the social standards or expectations of them. Externally imposed standards cause Black men to negatively evaluate themselves based on racist standards beyond their control—often leading to depressive symptoms.
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse can be a symptom of the invisibility syndrome associated with racism, according to Franklin (2004). The experience of racism is associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in cigarette smoking (Landrine & Klonoff, 1999). Hammond, Agyemang et al. (2014) explain that racism is related to risk behaviors like cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and other drug use, especially among adolescents.
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Consumer Orientedness
Due to being reduced to the statuses of wage earners and consumers, many Blacks adopt a consumer-mindedness, seeking status symbols to compensate for feelings of inadequacy. This only compounds the problems of unemployment, underemployment, poverty, and the poor quality of received social services.
Restricted and Conflicting Affectionate Relations
Internalized negative racist perceptions of themselves cause Blacks to be vulnerable to certain conflicts and fear in their affectionate relationships with one another (Wilson, 1991). While some Black males respond to racism by engaging in violence, substance abuse, and other risk behaviors, other Black males may respond by suppressing their emotions, hampering the ability to form strong friendships and partnerships (Evans et al., 2016).
Physical Illness
The experience of racism has been linked to increased aging and physical illness in Black men (Chae et al., 2014). Many hypertension-related illnesses (i.e., heart attack, strokes, kidney damage) are related to the experiences of racism (Hall, 2007).
Resistance Confusion
According to Pierce (1988), the chronic experience of racist microaggressions can lead to confusion about when, where, and how to resist oppression versus when, where, whether and how to accommodate it (p. 27). The old proverb of picking one’s battles can easily turn into never entering battle at all.
Liberatory Responses to Racism/White Supremacy
Franklin (2004) explains the solution to invisibility
