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 goal of inferiorization is to induce perceived powerlessness and an inferiority complex. 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.”
