In our quest to find an identity and to join a collective, we see traits among our community that unite us but also reveal our protective nature. By belonging to this community we confide in our upbringing and our understanding that sometimes our culture or ethnicity is not mutually inclusive and that there is a racial element to certain things we do. Of course, this is a perception of the culture we grew up in and how people protect their ideals. In that protection, you may see belittlement or an excluding nature. Protecting one's culture, a culture that they perceive as having a racial attachment can lead to racial-cultural exclusivity.
What is Racial-Cultural Exclusivity?
Racial-cultural exclusivity arises from protectionism. By being a part of a community, such as the black American community, there is a racial element attached to their culture. They view their culture as a part of their race, thus a part of their blackness (as understood in the United States). By having aspects of their culture a part of their race, they assert that certain actions are black actions; certain behaviors are black behaviors, and certain sociological traits or practices are black sociological traits or practices.
Examples:
“A white girl cannot wear box braids because it’s a black hairstyle.”
“Hip-hop is a black-only music genre.”
“Stop worrying about black people, stay in your community.”
Racial-cultural exclusivity, in these examples, focuses on the black fragility and the black American experience and it shows how racial-cultural exclusivity works in practice. These sentences or racially exclusionary content are typically experienced by those outside the black American experience or culture.
Define Racial-Cultural Exclusivity
Racial-cultural exclusivity can be defined as a phenomenon where or a belief that racial groups create environments and communities that support their culture and preserve it from others, even if those “others” are other minority groups. They maintain that people, culture, and ethnicity must be separated for them to be preserved. Excluding others can include physically removing them from a community, ignoring them, or outright exclaiming to them that they do not belong to a community due to their race.
As we’ve discussed, racial-cultural exclusivity can be expressed by any race. It manifests as a response to something someone may perceive as being racial-culturally exclusive. As we understand more about racial-cultural exclusivity, it’s important to know that it is a natural feeling, however, as more isolated communities racially mix, these concerns diminish.
