This past year, I’ve been a part of the University of Michigan Intergroup Relations program through Intergroup Dialogue courses. I’ve had the privilege of learning how to participate and facilitate a dialogue and put it in action with students at Michigan. The facilitation experience is unlike any other, as a dialogue is unlike any other. This semester, I facilitated a race and ethnicity dialogue with 10 participants along with a co-facilitator.

Though I do not wish to share the confidential stories that we shared, I do want to share some of the important learnings that come about from a productive dialogue. But, first, knowing what exactly a dialogue is can be helpful in grasping why it is such an important skill to learn. Dialogue is defined best by the University of Michigan Intergroup Relations Program (IGR), as a form of communication different from discussion and debate. Dialogue seeks to increase understanding among people and groups who have differing experiences, opinions, and ideas. Dialogue builds listening, personal reflective, and conflict management skills. Here’s a visual representation of how dialogue differs from debate and discussion.

This class holds a special place in my heart because of the insightful discussions we’ve had as a section every week, and the activities that go along with it. Earlier on in the semester, we did a privilege walk, where my co-facilitator and I read aloud statements of privileges, and those who had the certain privilege would step forward. This was intended to show us a wide spectrum of privileges due to the diversity of races in the room. However, for our room, it seemed to divide as all white participants stood at the front of the room and all participants of color stood at the back. We had a deep discussion on what it means to be “othered” in the space, and how whiteness can impact that. Moreover, we also participated in caucus groups the week after this walk, where we once again split into those groups and had intragroup dialogue. During this intragroup dialogue, something came up that really made me think.

Internalized racism.

We talk so much about being othered from white communities that we forget about the othering that happens in our so-called cohesive minority communities. We say we’re strong together, but are we really together in the first place? Why do Indian people make jokes about Black people and Black people make jokes about Chinese people and Chinese people make jokes about Korean people and so on?

What is internalized racism in the first place? Internalized racism is one of the three types of racism that fit into structural racism. It entails an internalization of racist stereotypes perpetuated by a white dominant narrative. Research only recently has began to dig deeper into what internalized racism entails and how it can impact society.

In the South Asian community, internalized racism is incredibly apparent. One of the first examples that always pops up in my mind is Fair & Lovely, a brand selling products that allegedly makes your skin more fair, and in turn, more lovely. The name itself perpetuates the idea that being fair is lovely. I’d love to know what the brand thinks about skin, like mine, that is less fair. Colorism is far too often tolerated within the South Asian community, with even older adults telling children to not go out in the sun because they will tan too much. This is the epitome of internalized racism.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Oppression never stops at one level. Casual racism is another way that internalized racism shows up in our community. I can’t even begin to count the number of friend groups I’ve been in where casual racist jokes have been made at the expense of our own races. It’s easy to laugh at ourselves, isn’t it?

Mindy Kaling represents this internalized racism very well. With her commonly used trope of “Indian loser” in most of her shows, Kaling has received a backlash for her work. In “The Mindy Project,” Kaling’s main character whom she stars as, acts incredibly white and often does not hold any South Asian knowledge or values. Even the fact that the main character is a woman of color is never acknowledged in the show. Kaling’s work is something that I could talk and analyze for hours, but I leave this portion here with the takeaway that even when South Asians are represented in the media, they aren’t represented with the same quality that other races are, and are often stereotyped misrepresentations.

So, what? Who cares about internalized racism? Internalized racism continues to privilege white communities consistently. This form of racism accepts other racism that is perpetuated by white people. The stereotypes that society has formed over the years only get further amplified through internalized racism and normalizes the privilege that white people receive. Without acknowledgement of the privileges that white people hold, we stray further and further away from justice.

In the end, talking about oppression can bring about feelings of hopelessness. It seems like all the world does is create bad things, bad feelings, bad thoughts. Taking action is difficult, and knowing what actions to take is even more difficult. We can start by spreading awareness. Internalized racism is not a form of racism that is talked about much. We don’t think about it or pay much attention to it. Addressing the issue and starting dialogue about it can be more productive than ignoring the issue.

My dialogue class has proven to be insightful, thought-provoking, and transformative in the way I think about oppression in the US. Having a dialogue about internalized racism can help us better understand the various perspectives that are in play with this issue, and ultimately can result in a better action plan of where to go next. Internalized racism won’t magically stop. This issue is something that requires care and attention to be addressed, and the hope is one day, structurally, we can tackle these systemic issues that inhibit our community from growing together.