ABSTRACT This Article explores a non-traditional form of discrimination based on color. In the Un... more ABSTRACT This Article explores a non-traditional form of discrimination based on color. In the United States we are accustomed to hearing about discrimination in the context of historic injustices the black community has faced for no other reason but that they were born black or African-American. This Article deals with another form of discrimination against black people based on skin color: discrimination based on not being black enough. Blacks who do not fit a particular expectation about what it means to be black are often marginalized or even ostracized from their communities. They are vilified as Sells-Outs, Oreos and Uncle Toms. This Article discusses the practice and asks who is really black and who gets to judge.
Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either p... more Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either participating in class and/or turning in homework, take “AP” classes, and who perform well on tests are, not uncommonly, accused of “acting white.” This happened to me as a child, it has happened to my children and it has happened to black youth I have interviewed throughout the country. This Article explores the practice within the black community of blacks who attack — verbally and sometimes physically — other blacks simply because the latter perform well in school. The Article explores the ironies of this attack given the history of slaves in America who were mutilated and/or murdered for trying to learn how to read and write; the incredibly high drop-out statistics illiteracy rates among black youth in public schools; and the connection between the uneducated and incarceration rates. It calls on civil rights organizations to put education at the front of its civil rights agenda. Other...
ABSTRACT This Article explores a non-traditional form of discrimination based on color. In the Un... more ABSTRACT This Article explores a non-traditional form of discrimination based on color. In the United States we are accustomed to hearing about discrimination in the context of historic injustices the black community has faced for no other reason but that they were born black or African-American. This Article deals with another form of discrimination against black people based on skin color: discrimination based on not being black enough. Blacks who do not fit a particular expectation about what it means to be black are often marginalized or even ostracized from their communities. They are vilified as Sells-Outs, Oreos and Uncle Toms. This Article discusses the practice and asks who is really black and who gets to judge.
Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either p... more Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either participating in class and/or turning in homework, take “AP” classes, and who perform well on tests are, not uncommonly, accused of “acting white.” This happened to me as a child, it has happened to my children and it has happened to black youth I have interviewed throughout the country. This Article explores the practice within the black community of blacks who attack — verbally and sometimes physically — other blacks simply because the latter perform well in school. The Article explores the ironies of this attack given the history of slaves in America who were mutilated and/or murdered for trying to learn how to read and write; the incredibly high drop-out statistics illiteracy rates among black youth in public schools; and the connection between the uneducated and incarceration rates. It calls on civil rights organizations to put education at the front of its civil rights agenda. Other...
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