What is Racial Gaslighting
“Gaslighting” is defined as a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, memory, or perception of reality.
“Racial Gaslighting” refers to the “political, social, economic, and cultural process that perpetuates and normalizes a white supremacist reality through pathologizing those who resist,” according to the Political, Groups, and Identities Journal.
In short terms, racial gaslighting is manipulating and questioning a person of color’s sense of reality to assert power and superiority.
This form of gaslighting plays a pivotal role in systematic violence because people and systems minimize the pain and trauma experienced by people of color. Racial Gaslighting shields people from taking accountability and allows the harm to continue unaddressed. It also diverts critical conversations about race and silences the voices of people of color that need to be heard.
For example, if someone were to make a racist remark, they would revert to making the other person question their valid-response to the racist response instead of admitting their fault in the comment.
Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu Iyamah, a 26-year-old user experience designer based on the East Coast, posted on her Instagram account explaining what racial gaslighting looks like in a conversation.
A few of the phrases mentioned in the post included:
“Why is it always about race?”
“Just to play devil’s advocate here…”
“It was just a joke, calm down.”
“Racism doesn’t exist anymore.”
This is only a shortlist of the many ways that racial gaslighting takes form in day-to-day interactions and undermines people of color’s experiences.
Tips to Take Action Against Racial Gaslighting:
Pay attention to how family/friends respond to the varied experiences of people of color. If you notice gaslighting based on their comments, share with them the harmful outcome of that approach.
Don’t support companies or organizations that undermine the experiences of people of color.
When looking at two sides of a story, consider the dynamics of the situation regarding race, age, gender, position, etc.
