By TaRessa Stovall

Newsflash: Racial pride and strong ethnic features may be hazardous to equality.

A recent study said that “whites react more negatively to racial minority individuals who strongly identify with their racial group than to racial minority individuals who weakly identify with their group.”

In other words, the blacks and Latinos in the study who exhibited racial pride were perceived more negatively by whites. “The research … may provide evidence for the claim from some blacks that they personally experience more prejudice than they see others receiving,” reported ScientificBlogging.

Read as: claims of racism are more valid than previously believed. “Distributing Prejudice Unequally: Do Whites Direct Their Prejudice Toward Strongly-Identified Minorities?” is a six-part body of research suggesting that blacks and Latinos who claim to be treated in racist ways may not be “overly-sensitive,” “paranoid,” or “humorless,” as so often portrayed when calling attention to unequal treatment by white people.

The study, which began at Michigan State University in 2005, and continued at the University of Washington through 2008, was conducted “to find out why it is whites react so strongly and negatively to strongly-identified minorities,” said Cheryl R. Kaiser, lead author of the paper and assistant psychology professor at the University of Washington, in a telephone interview with TheDefendersOnline.

Having strong ethnic features also elicited more racist responses. “People with darker skin and more Afrocentric facial features were also perceived more negatively by whites,” Kaiser said.

While this is not news to blacks and Latinos – especially those with strong racial identities and/or features – it does demonstrate how multi-faceted, subtle and insidious racism is at both the personal and political (i.e. institutional) levels.

There is plenty of research to suggest that feeling good about one’s identity is an indicator of mental health. Yet the “Distributing Prejudice Unequally” study points out the very real consequences of such mental health for blacks and Latinos. It also illuminates one aspect of the Catch-22 of striving to thrive while colored in America: you will be punished for feeling good about yourself.

But wait! How does this relate to our new president, whose life choices clearly indicate that he happily and proudly identifies as black (which, by the way, is not exclusive or separate from being happily and proudly biracial.) President Barack Obama is very suave about honoring all of his racial roots, but everything from his choice of a wife to the values with which his children are being reared to the way he carries himself all attest to his affinity with black America. And while he is somewhat light-skinned, his features and hair are unambiguously black.

Strong racial-group identification can be balanced by other qualities, Kaiser explained. President Obama for instance, while exhibiting strong racial identification, has other qualities that may put some whites more at ease. “He certainly would fall into the category of someone who identifies as African American,” Kaiser said. At the same time, “He also seems to endorse a lot of ideologies that make whites comfortable.”

It is also notable that President Obama “uses a lot of collective language, like ‘we’ and ‘us,’ and often talks about inclusion, which gives the impression of a super-ordinate kind of identification, as though we’re all one big group,” Kaiser said.

The study also suggests that white people favor blacks and Latinos who express attitudes similar to those of whites. The Abstract that Kaiser and her team wrote as part of an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology about the study stated that, “Whites’ biases against strongly-identified minorities dissipated when strongly-identified minorities expressed strong endorsement of status-legitimizing worldviews. These studies suggest that whites do not distribute their prejudicial attitudes equally among all members of minority groups.”

While that explains how our new Commander-in-Chief is the exception to the rule demonstrated in the study, why are some whites bothered by how persons of color choose to identify? “A lot of white Americans think of minorities [who strongly identify with their racial groups] as more separatist and having their group’s agenda at heart,” Kaiser explained. “But that’s not the case.”

It’s nice to have confirmation of that fact, but who is going to inform the masses of white people so they can see that the strongly-identified and strongly-featured blacks and Latinos are worthy of equal opportunity and treatment?

A Google search suggests that the news release about this study was not picked up by many media outlets, mainstream or otherwise. Is that because those who decide what is “newsworthy” are so often white, and they either already know this so it isn’t news to them, or they aren’t objective enough to consider the validity of this new information?

Further, what effect would this information have on strongly-identified and strongly-featured blacks and Latinos? I’d hate to think that some might elect to trade pride for self-deprecation just to avoid the sting of racism and perhaps enjoy greater acceptance by whites and therefore a higher level of societal “success.”

All of this just makes me inclined to break out the James Brown classic, “Say It Loud! I’m Black and I’m Proud!,” toast President Obama with some red Kool-Aid, and indulge in some old-school soul food as I continue to ponder the ironies and contradictions of race, racism and identity in our nation and our world.

• Read the news release about the study
• Read the ScientificBlogging story

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline and Web Content Manager for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.