who was a member of the Nation of Islam, the Black Muslims. And he began correspondence with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam” (p. 124).
In the internalization stage, a person integrates Black consciousness into his daily life with an inner strength and intelligence. No longer does he feel compelled to prove his Blackness and judge the Blackness of others based on surface-level manifestations (clothing, speech, etc.). His definition of Blackness is more multidimensional and rooted in knowledge of history and cultures. At this stage, an individual is able to determine when an outcome is the result of institutional racism or irresponsible behavior (White & Cones, 1999). More secure in their Blackness, a person at this stage exercises more discretion rejecting and struggling against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression, rather than rejecting all Whites.
In the internalization-commitment stage, a person becomes committed to the long-term struggle for liberation and to help others. White and Cones (1999) explain that in his internalization-commitment phase, Malcolm X took on a leadership position in the Nation of Islam, spoke nationally, and ultimately became a global Pan Africanist open to organizing with others geared toward challenging oppression. However, people can recycle through or go back to stages due to new crises and challenges that trigger a refocusing of values. Reaching the internalization stage can help resolve racism-related challenges.
Phinney (1990) developed a stage-wise model of ethnic identity development. Stage one, diffusion, is when one’s racial identity has yet to be explored (unexamined). In stage two, the foreclosed stage, one is dependent upon the positive or negative views of others about their ethnic identities. Stage three, ←47 | 48→moratorium, is when the person begins to become aware of their ethnic identity and explore it. The fourth stage, the achieved stage, is characterized by a person being secure and comfortable in their ethnic identity.
Phinney and Chavira (1995) formulated a typology of three main ethnic minority responses to racial discrimination. Active responses are those that involve challenging racism in an assertive and non-hostile manner. Aggressive responses are those that involve hostile responses to perpetrators of racism. Passive responses do not address racism. Instead, they represent acceptance. Wakefield and Hudley (2005) studied the relationship between African American adolescent males’ ethnic identity and their outcomes and responses to racial discrimination. They found that African American adolescent males who were in the diffusion stage (unexamined) of exploration more strongly endorsed passive responses to racism, while those who were in the achieved stage engaged in more active responses. Achieved identity is likely to develop as a result of parental racial socialization.
The Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) is a non-stage-wise (non-sequential, non-linear, or non-chronological) model that conceptualizes racial identity as multidimensional with four dimensions. The first dimension, salience, refers to how important race is in a person’s overall self-concept. The second dimension, centrality, refers to how central race is to a person’s self-concept. The third dimension, ideology, refers to attitudes about how African Americans should act in relation to society. There are four different ideologies in the third stage: nationalist (being distinctively African American), being a minority (seeing African American oppression as linked to other people’s oppression), assimilationist (emphasizing how African Americans are like other Americans), and humanism (emphasizing the shared qualities among all humans). The last dimension is regard, divided into two segments. Private regard refers to the extent to which an individual feels positively about other African Americans and about being African American. Public regard refers to the extent to which an individual feels that others view African Americans positively or negatively (Wester, Vogel, Wei, & McLain, 2006).
Racial Identity as a Protective Factor
Caldwell, Kohn-Wood, Schmeelk-Cone, Chavous, and Zimmerman (2004) investigated racial identity as a protective factor against violence among African American adults. They found that, for men, the safeguarding effects of racial identity were more salient than for women. The more central race was to their identity, the less violent behaviors Black men engaged in. Males with lower race centrality engaged in more violent behaviors. Barnes, Burton, Best, and Bynum (2008) conducted an investigation to test how effective racial identity is in reducing the effects of the internalization of racist experiences on African American males. They found that racist experiences did indeed predict feelings of anxiety. However, African American males with higher private regard (feeling positive about being African American) reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety (Barnes et al., 2008). This means that African American males who felt positively about being Black are protected by their private regard and are less likely to experience psychological distress. When these males encounter racism, they are able to access positive attitudes about being Black, which serves as a psychological buffer against anxiety. Conversely, African Americans with low private regard experienced more depressive symptoms. Clinicians are in positions to facilitate activities that enhance and boost Black males’ private regard.
Evidence demonstrates that racial identity can serve as a buffer against the harmful psychological effects of racism (Belgrave & Brevard, 2015; Franklin, 2004; White & Cones, 1999). Positive racial identity prevents Black youth from internalizing the negative messages that experiences with racism produce (White & Cones, 1999). They explain that a strong sense of racial identity prevents the need to “rely on supermacho behavior, womanizing, drug use, or other forms of maladaptive coping to deal with the frustrations of institutional racism” (p. 125). When Black males do attach pride to their ethnic identity, they are likely to have more self-confidence because they are defining themselves beyond ←48 | 49→Eurocentric definitions about them. On college campuses, Black male identity development improves when Black males have more opportunities for positive interactions with one another (Palmer & Strayhorn, 2008). On campuses with small numbers of Black males, college staff and student leaders should create programs that allow Black males to come together through organizations and activities—opportunities for learning about one another and forming relationships (Johnson & Cuyjet, 2009).
Black religious/spiritual institutions tend to support positive racial identity. For example, Black people who attend church are more likely to think positively of themselves as African Americans and African Americans as a group (Mattis & Watson, 2009). This is in large part due to how Black religious leaders read and interpret scriptures, focusing on themes of liberation and overcoming oppression. Moreover, Black religious leaders often identify the presence of Black people in scripture and relate the historic and present struggles of African Americans (S. Floyd-Thomas et al., 2007). Placing Black people at the center of religious interpretation may be supportive of healthy racial identity (S. Floyd-Thomas et al., 2007).
Racial Socialization
It is important for Black communities to engage in early racial socialization with Black males (Leary, 2005). Most research shows that African American adolescents score higher on measures of self-esteem than other racial/ethnic groups (Birndorf, Ryan, Auinger, & Aten, 2005; Belgrave & Brevard, 2015; Sullivan & Evans, 2006) and have high self-esteem generally (Freeman, 1994). But how do African American parents ensure high self-esteem among their children in racially hostile environments? They must also find ways to give their children knowledge and skills that will allow them to be successful in a hostile environment.
Dottolo and Stewart’s (2008) research on race and racial identity noted that many Black people think frequently about their ethnic identity because of frequent experiences with racism. Racial socialization allows parents to provide their children with racial/ethnic pride and prepare them for racism, providing a positive sense of self and a foundation for success in a social context where being an African American and male is viewed negatively in distinct ways. Without racial socialization, a racist mainstream society will direct the evolution of Black children’s identities. Most African American parents engage in racial socialization (Coles, 2009), but there are differences in the strategies undertaken. McHale et al. (2006) found that older African American fathers were more likely to convey racial socialization messages about potential racial barriers than
