User:LxkxL/Respectability politics

The Rise of Respectability Politics
Respectability Politics is known as a philosophy coined by Black elites to fulfill the race relations that made the negative traits belonging to black people by correcting them. In America this is another form of Neoliberalism. During the 20th century black elites had to prove to white people they are worthy of citizenship rights. On the other hand, respectability politics is known as a school of thought that utilizes social, political, and legal change. For example, when lawyer Raymond Alexander was a student at Harvard Law School in 1921, the president of the university had decided to “bar Black students from residence in the freshman dormitories.” Alexander argued against this in the journal Opportunity by pointing out how the Black students being excluded were similar to their white counterparts and “exemplified the most traditional of Harvard’s values…[with] fathers [who] were lawyers and doctors.” Because of these parallels in respectability, Black students should also have the right to be housed in the dorms. (Banks 2017)

=== Differences in Respectability Politics and Respectability Narratives = respectability narratives are representations of marginalized individuals meant to depict a group of sharing similar traits, values, and morals. When it comes to respectability, narratives they are an accumulation of different individual ideas about a group or identity.This usually aligns with the dominant group's definition of "respectability." Respectability politics is also a school of thought that really uses narratives that demonstrate respectability for enacting social,political, and legal change. This is prominent throughout U.S. history, activists, and legislators. These figures have pointed out that the similar traits between the dominant and marginalized groups would provide rationale for marginalized groups who sought out equal rights and opportunities.

The Problem with Respectability Narratives
"Respectability narratives do not suggest that the conception of worthiness and eligibility criteria are inappropriate or illegitimate" In some cases respectability narratives are created by a marginalized group with an agenda to seek out support from their group. It sometimes replicates that model minority myth that was crafted by politicians with the ulterior motives. Even though the help for these marginalized groups create "eligibility criteria" for equal treatment that comes from dominant groups pre-existing prejudices and cultural interpretations. There is a quote from the referenced article that connects with this example. Only the dominant group wins when respectability narratives are used to surveil, quantify, and dictate the actions of marginalized groups. When necessary, the dominant group can, and will, maneuver and change respectability to suit their agenda. So in other words marginalized groups distance themselves from problem narratives instead of renouncing racism, prejudice, homophobia, etc.