The Blackwash
Making cultural & historical commentary on social issues. Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by colour!
The Blackwash
The Unholy Trinity: How Anti-Black Sentiment Passes Through Generations
Shame keeps us weighed down. Shame keeps us stuck. Shame about our hair, our features, our cultural heritage—this is the legacy of what I call "generational internalized racism," and it's time we brought it into the light.
Drawing from personal experiences growing up in Peckham, South East London, this episode explores how anti-Black sentiments like "rubber lips," "picky head," and "you speak white" become normalized within our communities and passed down through generations. These harmful ideas form what I've termed the "unholy trinity" of poor race esteem: colorism/culturicide (rejecting one's culture), texturism (hatred of natural hair), and featurism (disgust toward African features).
Through a fascinating case study of boxing champions Chris Eubank Sr. and Jr., we witness how internalized racism travels through family lines. From Senior's childhood bullying over his "broad African nose" and his father's anti-Jamaican sentiments to Junior's troubling claims about Jamaicans having violence "in our DNA" (despite being born and raised in Brighton), we see how these beliefs perpetuate harmful stereotypes when left unchallenged.
While our communities readily discuss generational wealth and health, we rarely create spaces to confront the generational trauma of internalized racism. This episode offers practical guidance for breaking these cycles through critical thinking, research, and building supportive communities where we can vibrate at higher frequencies of enlightenment and harmony.
Ready to break free from inherited shame and reclaim your full cultural heritage? Listen now and share this message with someone who might benefit from these insights on healing generational wounds.
Hello and welcome to the Black Wash. This episode is about generational internalized racism, what it is and how it manifests. You may have heard of internalized racism. If not, here is a wiki definition. Internalized racism is a form of oppression defined by sociologist Karen D Pike as the internalization of racial oppression. In a study, the Psychology of Racism, robin Nicole Johnson emphasizes that internalized racism involves both conscious and an unconscious acceptance of a racial hierarchy in which a presumed superior race Caucasian are consistently ranked above other races. These definitions encompass a wide range of incidences, including, but not limited to, adaptations to cultural standards and thinking that supports the status quo, ie denying that racism exists and belief in negative stereotypes.
Speaker 1:Drawing on my own experiences as a millennial who grew up in Peckham, south East London, and was educated in a predominantly black all-boys school, here are some of the anti-black sentiments I heard growing up. Chances are like my live audience. Many of these you may have heard or experienced Rubber lips, support in the then status quo that thin lips, typically associated with Caucasians, are preferred and, quote unquote, normal. Oh how things change, eh. The next one picky head, a pejorative towards tightly coiled and kinky hair Pretty for a black girl. This phrase supports a racist quo that black girls are not pretty and if they are deemed to be pretty, it has to be caveated with. For a black girl you speak white. I've had ignorant family members say this to me, equating intelligence and speech to colour, ignoring or blissfully unaware of all the amazing Afro-Caribbean authors, leaders, preachers, scholars, self-educide, a negative reference to being highly melanated, fresh or freshy, alienating and uplifting the love for assimilation. To conclude, the list internalized racism is a phenomena, a direct product of the racial classification system, found across different racial groups and regions around the world where race exists as a social construct. So, although this is my own personal experience, chances are you have your own.
Speaker 1:Earlier, I asked if anyone had heard or experienced any anti-black sentiments. If you have experienced, I want you to know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I want you to know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The next one is said with the chest of Caribbean resistant leaders of Bun Babylon. For those into vibrations, shame is the lowest form of vibration, often positioned on diagrams towards our feet. Shame keeps us weighed down. Shame keeps us stuck. Shame keeps us from progressing. Shame keeps us from moving forward. Shame about our hair. Shame keeps us from moving forward. Shame about our hair, shame about being highly meninated, shame over the pursuit of education, shame for having full, voluptuous lips. Internalised racism is not your portion, however, unfortunately, it may have been handed to you. Once handed to you, did you digest those anti-black comments and did you internalize them?
Speaker 1:John 10 10 says the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I use this scripture to demonstrate what I coined the unholy trinity. To go deeper, let's take the word trinity, tri meaning three, three being a triangle, a complete shape Numerically. If you go any lower, it won't be a complete shape. If you take on three or more anti-black sentiments, you experience entrapment in the extremities of the unholy trinity of poor race esteem, colorism or culturicide, blick freshy, african booboo, texturism, nappy head, picky head and featurism. Rubber lips, big nose, big nose. Colorism slash culture side. So Blick Freshie, african Bubble Is an attempt to steal, to rob you of your culture, to steal your culture, to steal and rob you of your heritage. Texturism, nappy head, picky head Is an attempt to kill your edges With poorly applied wigs, weaves and chemicals. An attempt to kill your edges with poorly applied wigs, weaves and chemicals. An attempt to make your hair your high, vibrational, natural hair which defies gravity, naturally lifts towards the sun, towards the heavens. It's robust and strong. It's an attempt to kill and have you replace it for weak, damaged and dead and low vibrational hair. Now, a caveat, because I know this one's used a lot against our sisters and I'm not in the business of policing people's hair. Our ancestors used a variety of different hairstyles. If you want to switch it up, do you? If you want to try on a red wig, go ahead, jessica Rabbit. However, if you wear wigs and weaves and chemically processed hair for 365 days of the year, you may want to explore if internalized racism is affecting that choice. And lastly, featurism rubber lips, big nose, an attempt to destroy your features, which we have seen a number of black celebrities and influencers do. To summarize, the thief wants to steal your culture, your identity, kill your edges, kill your scalp and destroy your features. But the scripture continues the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy. But I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.
Speaker 1:The highest form of vibrations is enlightenment and harmony. Listening to this is a form of enlightenment. Reading self-help is a form of enlightenment. Religious institutions, working out, going for walks, etc. Next, the word harmony. How do you get harmony? When you think of singing? It's when people gather and they are on one accord. A three-part harmony is complete and oh so sweet. Find your tribe, find your community, your village and fellowship. Journey with each other. This is not a place of arguments, that's low vibrations. This is a place for harmony, understanding and, ultimately, healing.
Speaker 1:To demonstrate how internalized racism manifests, I'm going to use a prolific individual as a case study, somewhat like psychology. Before I mention the name of the individual, I want to make a clear disclaimer. This person is symbolic of generational internalized racism within our community. It's not about him. The issue is larger than him. He is merely being used as a case study due to accessibility to generational source material. The persons are chris eubank and chris eubank jr, his son. Personally, I'm indifferent to the individuals. I don't know them, I've never seen either of them fight and I'm not a fan of the sport. To keep it high vibrational, let's start by giving chris eubank jr his flowers. This information is lifted straight from wikipedia, so if it's wrong, go over there, cuss them and go and edit that information.
Speaker 1:Christopher eubank was born in 1966 and is a british former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the world boxing organization middleweight and super middleweight titles between 1990 and 1995 and is ranked by box rec as the third best best British super middleweight boxer of all time. He reigned as world champion for over five years and was undefeated in his first 10 years as a professional and remained undefeated at middleweight. Eubanks' eccentric personality makes him one of the most recognisable celebrities. But before the success, it was clear to me from reading Chris Senior's 2003 autobiography is that he experienced the unholy trinity of poor race esteem, starting with futurism.
Speaker 1:It reads my primary school education was at Northwold Infant School in Stoke Newington. Other children didn't play with me. I was told this was because I was too rough, but I didn't have a problem with that. I was sometimes bullied because of my broad nose. They used to call me Hoover and shotgun nose. It used to bother me. Now, as a man, I like it. It's a beautiful African nose and the only one I have. He continues. As for my nose, it is actually a superb shape. It has made me a great deal of money. Why? Because when you hit my nose, it simply goes flat rather than breaking. Light it up, light it up. Light it up for the work that Christopher senior was doing, as he said there. Initially it got to him but as he became a man he learned to embrace it.
Speaker 1:The next passage highlights his experiences with texturism. When I was 13 I grew dreadlocks and became raster. I smoked a lot of weed too. I eventually cut the locks off because my father stopped talking to me. He was a j Jamaican who wasn't into the raster lifestyle. However, he loved Bob Marley. Remember the unholy trinity of poor, racist theme is free fold, the last being colorism and culture side. His father said Jamaica is the worst country in the world. England is the best country in the world.
Speaker 1:Firstly, I want to thank the Eubanks black men for documenting their experiences and sharing and being vulnerable it isn't easy. And sharing and being vulnerable it isn't easy. Once again, their experiences are symbiotic of the British Caribbean community and, as I said prior, it's actually bigger than the Eubanks, because chances are you may be able to relate. My Jamaican great aunt, who left Jamaica at the age of 10, 60 years ago, is still holding Jamaica hostage to a Jamaica that she knew and left. It was only last year that she told my sister that she cannot go out in Grenada, but up until that point, my aunt hadn't been to Grenada, but she was, you know, stuck in the past of what she experienced in Jamaica and then was painting the whole of the Caribbean with what she experienced over 60 years ago. Now, that's not to say that her experiences of Jamaica as a child are invalid.
Speaker 1:However, times and things change. For example, I grew up in Peckham, south East London, as a millennial. At that time, youth violence was prevalent. Years later, as an adult, I still live in Peckham, south East London, as a millennial. At that time, youth violence was prevalent. Years later, as an adult, I still live in Peckham and now the area is trendy Because my family and I stayed. We are now reaping the benefits With generational internalised racism. We need to be careful that we're not feeding the next generation indoctrinated breast milk.
Speaker 1:What led me to reading his 2003 autobiography was a similar anti-black, anti-Jamaican comment his son made on Stephen Bartlett's podcast. That's when I was introduced to his son. So, similarly, we're going to start with giving Chris Eubank Jr his flowers. These flowers are courtesy of Wikipedia.
Speaker 1:He was born in 1989 and is a British professional boxer. He held the international boxing organization middleweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the world boxing association interim middle titles twice between 2015 and 2021. He held the super middleweight title twice between 2017 and 2019. Big him up.
Speaker 1:Chris eubank jr was born in hove, which is by brighton in East Sussex, and he is the son of Chris Eubank and Karen Stephan Martin. He was educated in Brighton College and Spring Valley High School in Las Vegas for two years. As you can probably tell, when I'm reading out those middleweight titles super this middle that I have no idea what any of that means. But light it up, light it up, light it up. We love to see a young man excelling and achieving. Now here is the clip from Chris Eubank Jr on the Stephen Bartlett podcast. The whole podcast is one hour and 17 minutes and it's two years old. For the full context, of course, check out the whole podcast. If you are interested, I'm going to be using a certain clip. This clip is what led me down this rabbit hole of trying to understand where this anti-black, anti-jamaican comment came from. The clip is taken from 37 minutes and I'm going to play until 38 minutes and 30 seconds. This clip has not been edited in any way. Have a listen.
Speaker 2:Because I was very boisterous, I was very. I had a lot of energy. You know, I got myself into this gang when I was a kid and you know I was going around, I was fighting, I was, you know, skipping school. Um, the only thing that somewhat kept me in line was knowing that if I got caught or if I went too far, my dad was waiting for me at home.
Speaker 1:Do you really think he would have taken his belt off if you had tried to chat to him about feelings? I'm exaggerating that part.
Speaker 2:But listen, the belt came off many times, but when I stepped out of line as a kid, you know that strictness, that punishment stopped me from going even more overboard than I already did. And I did go overboard, you know.
Speaker 2:You can go onto YouTube right now and see a video of me street fighting at 16 years old in the car park in Brighton and I was doing that every other week. So imagine what I would have been doing if I could just have free reign, if I had nothing stopping me from doing anything. I'd be in jail. 100% we're Jamaicans. We're built differently. There's just something in our DNA which you know, we, we, we have this thing where we, you know we, we like to cause trouble. Man. I don't know why. My father was the same. You know he got into all types of trouble as a kid. You know stealing and getting arrested and fighting. You know, that's just. I don't know we, we, just we come from a bloodline of ruffians. You know, it's just how we are.
Speaker 1:He said we are Jamaicans.
Speaker 1:We are violent. It's in our DNA. We are ruffians. Firstly, there are no studies about Jamaicans having violent or more violent genes and, in general, the genetic basis of aggression is poorly understood. Is poorly understood as aggression is a multi-dimensional concept, including social factors such as poverty, exposure to violence, early childhood trauma, etc. Simply, why is Jamaica or Jamaican DNA being held accountable for a mixed race man having fights in a car park in Brighton at the age of 16? Why is Brighton and or Britain, where he was born, educated and part of his DNA, not being held accountable? By 1913, the British Empire ruled approximately 23% of the world's population at the time. Doesn't Britain have violent DNA? Why is Jamaica being relegated? From my research, I couldn't find any online evidence of Chris Eubank Jr being in Jamaica, similarly to my great aunt, stephen Bartlett and the production team. Why did this comment go unchallenged, as this is a public platform and the video currently sits on over half a million views? Why wasn't the ramifications of Jamaica and its people considered? Tourism is Jamaica's top source of revenue and provides one fourth of jobs, which is not dissimilar to a lot of the Caribbean islands. Yes, jamaica has its own societal issues, but equally so does Brighton. Within the video that's on YouTube, some of the people in the video are white, seemingly from Brighton. What is their reasoning? In order to confront generational internalized racism, we need to be held accountable in love. That's the only way we're going to reach enlightenment and vibrate higher. Why was the conversation not? I'm here because of my dad and a number of other british-born caribbean heritage boxers who, through a combination of nature and nurture, paved a way for me and the next generation. For example, lennox Lewis has Jamaican parents, was born in West Ham in 1965. In school he fought other children growing up and he has a brother. Or Frank Bruno, a Jamaican mother and a father from DR, born in Hammersmith in 1961, labelled as a problem child in school and has five brothers. Or Nigel Benn has Bayesian parents, born in Ilford, east London, in 1964 and at the age of 18 served for four years in the British Army and has six brothers. Or Chris Eubank, jamaican parents, born in Dulwich not Jamaica, mind you in 1966, has multiple brothers and also got into fights at school.
Speaker 1:As I said, I'm not a boxing fan, so by no means is this a deep dive. However, from briefly studying some of the black boxing legends of that era, you start to see some emerging patterns and violent Jamaican DNA not being one of them. Number one their parents came from the caribbean, which is nature. Number two they were all born in the 60s, which is nurture, societal. Number three they were all born in london, which is nurture, societal. Number four they all had brothers, environmental. Number five they all expressed trouble at school, which is nurture and societal.
Speaker 1:I would actually recommend chris eubank jr to use his platform to do a deep dive documentary into that era, looking at those five tenants, interview the greats, hear their first-hand experiences, conduct research and then draw sound and researched conclusions, ones that speak to the genesis of black Britain and how, despite the odds of racism and fascism and educationally subnormal schools, these black men use boxing as their therapy and became. These are the enlightened and higher vibrational narratives we need out in the world. Not we are Jamaicans, we are violent, it's in our DNA. We're ruffians. That is a prime example of internalised racism Thinking that supports the status quo and belief in negative stereotypes. But to go a step further sometimes we can just look at the present and not look at the past. Sometimes we can just look at the present and not look at the past. Internalized racism is one school of thought, but the school of thought that I'm bringing to the table is an extension of it generational internalized racism because we can see how that sentiment was passed down through the generations, that sentiment of mental colonization, passed on from his granddad to his dad and now to him. Similarly, with some of our grandparents the same may have happened.
Speaker 1:The idea that Jamaica, or from wherever you're from, is the worst country in the world and England's the best country in the world. I mean, we have spaces and we talk about generational wealth. We have stocks and buying land and houses and crypto and we have financial advisors. We talk about generational health vegan, ital, alkaline diet, cmos, etc. And we have health gurus and nutritionists pointing and leading the way. But how and when and where are the spaces to confront and talk about generational internalized racism and how that manifests? It manifests in our preferential dating, which I shared in episode one. My theory, if you're unaware, please go and check it out.
Speaker 1:But our communities, our black men, some of them, are choosing white partners due to poor race esteem the unholy trinity of poor race esteem and subsequently they're producing what I've coined as off offspring, those who merely repeat what they've been told. They've been colonially indoctrinated, meaning that they recite, they recall, they repeat what they've been told without moving up the Bloom's taxonomy of education. At the top of the Bloom's taxonomy triangle is critical thinking, analys, analyzing what your parents and your grandparents have said. Does it still apply? Is it still correct? Where are the statistics? Is it a myth? Is it just how they feel? Is it their opinion? Evaluating that, judging that, researching that. That's how we eradicate generational internalized racism. We get educated, we do the work and subsequently we vibrate higher because we are now enlightened. Hopefully, you have found this podcast episode insightful and thought provoking. If you have, please share it with somebody that you think may benefit from hearing this high vibrational message. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Ken Kawasaki and this has been the Black Wash.