Section 3. Healing from the Effects of Internalized Oppression

Discrimination and oppression can affect people in many ways. They can restrict access to education, employment, housing, health care, political participation, safety, and other opportunities. They can also shape the messages people receive about their identities, communities, abilities, and place in society.

Repeated exposure to stereotypes or devaluing messages can sometimes affect how people see themselves or other members of their own communities. Researchers and community practitioners use terms such as internalized oppression, internalized stigma, or internalized racism to describe some of these processes.

These effects are not inevitable. People and communities respond to discrimination in many ways, including resistance, cultural pride, mutual support, advocacy, organizing, creativity, and community leadership.

In this section, we’ll examine discrimination, oppression, and internalized oppression and consider how community members and organizations can respond without blaming or pathologizing the people who experience discrimination.

What is discrimination?

In a social context, discrimination refers to unequal or unfair treatment based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, or other identities and circumstances.

Discrimination can occur between individuals, but it can also be built into organizational practices, policies, institutions, or systems.

Examples may include:

• An employer treating equally qualified applicants differently because of race, disability, religion, gender, or another protected characteristic.
• A person being denied housing, services, or access because of identity or disability.
• Harassment or exclusion based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or another characteristic.
• Policies or practices that create barriers for particular groups even when discriminatory intent is not openly stated.
• Unequal access to resources, opportunities, participation, or decision-making.

Laws in many countries prohibit particular forms of discrimination, but legal protections do not necessarily eliminate discriminatory attitudes, practices, or unequal outcomes.

For our purposes, discrimination involves denying people equitable treatment, opportunity, participation, rights, or respect because of who they are or the groups with which they are identified.

What is oppression?

Oppression refers to sustained patterns of power, exclusion, exploitation, discrimination, or violence that disadvantage particular groups and limit their opportunities, rights, safety, or participation.

Oppression can involve individual behavior, but it is broader than individual prejudice. It may operate through laws, institutions, economic arrangements, cultural norms, political systems, or long-standing patterns of unequal power.

Historical examples include slavery and racial segregation in the United States, apartheid in South Africa, the Holocaust, colonial systems, genocide, political repression, and other systems in which particular populations were deliberately denied rights, safety, resources, or political power.

Different forms of oppression vary greatly in severity and historical context. They should not be treated as interchangeable simply because they involve inequality.

Community work with people affected by oppression should begin with listening to how people understand their own circumstances and supporting their ability to identify priorities, make decisions, organize, and act.

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and writer, used the term praxis to describe the relationship between reflection and action. His work emphasized that people affected by oppression should not be treated as passive recipients of help, but as participants capable of analyzing their conditions and acting to change them.

What is internalized oppression?

People who repeatedly encounter stereotypes, stigma, discrimination, or messages that devalue their communities may sometimes absorb or reproduce some of those messages. This process is often called internalized oppression.

Internalized oppression may affect how a person thinks about themselves, how people within the same community treat one another, or what people come to believe is possible for themselves or others.

It is important not to assume that everyone who experiences discrimination will internalize it. People respond in many different ways, and cultural pride, strong relationships, community organizations, family support, historical knowledge, faith, political participation, and many other sources of strength may help people resist harmful messages.

Membership in a community that has experienced discrimination does not tell you how a particular person thinks, feels, or understands themselves. Do not diagnose someone with “internalized oppression” simply because they belong to a marginalized group or because you disagree with their choices.

Internalized oppression may sometimes operate in two broad ways:

• At the individual level. A person may come to believe negative messages about their own identity, abilities, appearance, language, community, or potential.
• Within a community. People may reproduce stereotypes, status hierarchies, stigma, or forms of exclusion that originated in the larger society.

Examples might include:

• A person avoiding an opportunity because repeated discrimination has led them to doubt whether people like them will be welcomed or treated fairly.
• Someone feeling embarrassed about their accent, language, disability, cultural traditions, appearance, or other part of their identity because they have repeatedly been told that it is inferior.
• Members of a community reproducing colorism, classism, sexism, ableism, or other hierarchies that are also present in the broader society.
• People distancing themselves from others in their own community because they have learned that association with the group will result in stigma.
• A young person lowering their expectations for themselves after repeatedly encountering stereotypes about their community's abilities or future opportunities.

These examples describe possible patterns, not characteristics of particular groups. Similar behavior can have many causes, including individual personality, organizational culture, economic stress, family circumstances, trauma, conflict, discrimination, leadership problems, or other factors.

Internalized oppression should therefore be considered carefully and in context.

Why do community builders need to understand internalized oppression?

Community builders need to understand internalized oppression because harmful social messages can affect participation, relationships, leadership, confidence, and collective action.

At the same time, community work should not define people primarily through the harms they have experienced.

Communities that have experienced discrimination also hold knowledge, leadership, cultural traditions, relationships, organizations, creativity, resilience, and histories of resistance. Effective community building recognizes both the barriers people face and the strengths they use to confront them.

Understanding internalized oppression can help community organizations ask better questions:

• Are stereotypes affecting who feels welcome or qualified to participate?
• Are some forms of leadership valued more than others?
• Are people being interrupted, dismissed, or excluded?
• Are negative assumptions about language, disability, income, race, gender, age, or other identities influencing decisions?
• Are organizational practices reinforcing the same hierarchies the organization hopes to change?
• Do people have meaningful opportunities to influence decisions and develop leadership?

These questions focus on the environment and the organization as well as on individual attitudes.

How can people respond to and challenge internalized oppression?

There is no single method for addressing internalized oppression. People and communities may find different approaches useful depending on their experiences, goals, relationships, and circumstances.

Build supportive relationships.

Trusted relationships can provide encouragement, perspective, practical support, and opportunities for people to be seen as whole individuals rather than through stereotypes.

Friends, family members, coworkers, mentors, teachers, community leaders, and others can support one another by listening, taking people's experiences seriously, recognizing strengths, and challenging harmful treatment.

Support should not be based on the assumption that another person is damaged or needs to be rescued. Ask what support would actually be useful.

A young person who experiences discrimination may benefit from adults and peers who consistently communicate high expectations, provide opportunities, listen to concerns, connect them with resources, and support their goals.

The important principle is not that one supportive relationship will erase discrimination, but that reliable relationships can be one source of strength as people navigate difficult environments.

Take pride in and learn about your culture and community.

Cultural identity can be a source of history, connection, meaning, creativity, humor, language, traditions, values, and belonging.

Learning about the achievements, struggles, everyday lives, and contributions of people in one's community can provide a fuller picture than stereotypes or incomplete historical narratives.

Ways of strengthening cultural knowledge and pride may include:

• Reading and learning about the history and experiences of your community.
• Learning from elders, historians, artists, cultural leaders, family members, and community organizations.
• Participating in cultural celebrations, traditions, rituals, arts, music, language, storytelling, foodways, and other forms of cultural expression.
• Preserving oral histories, archives, photographs, documents, and other community records.
• Supporting cultural institutions and community-led educational programs.

Cultural events may also provide opportunities for people from outside the community to learn when organizers choose to make those events public. Outside participation should follow the expectations of the community hosting the event.

Create spaces for peer support and shared reflection.

Some people find it useful to meet with others who share similar identities or experiences of discrimination.

Affinity groups, peer-support groups, community circles, discussion groups, mentoring networks, or other gatherings can provide places to share experiences, recognize common patterns, exchange strategies, and build relationships.

Useful practices may include:

• Clear agreements about confidentiality and respectful communication
• Voluntary participation
• Opportunities for everyone to speak without pressure to disclose personal experiences
• Shared responsibility for the group's environment
• Attention to both challenges and community strengths
• Connections with practical resources, advocacy, leadership development, or other forms of action when participants want them

Some groups may benefit from a trained facilitator or mental health professional, particularly when participants are discussing trauma, violence, or other difficult experiences.

Peer support should not be treated as a substitute for professional mental health care when someone wants or needs clinical support. At the same time, not every emotional response to discrimination is a mental health disorder. Community, cultural, relational, and political forms of support may also be important.

Take action against discrimination and injustice.

Collective action can help people challenge the conditions that produce discrimination rather than treating its effects as solely individual problems.

Action may include:

• Community organizing
• Civic participation
• Advocacy
• Policy change
• Legal action
• Workplace or organizational reform
• Public education
• Cultural organizing
• Leadership development
• Mutual aid and community support

Historical movements for civil rights, disability rights, labor rights, women's rights, Indigenous sovereignty, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, and other causes demonstrate that communities experiencing discrimination have long organized to change laws, institutions, and public attitudes.

Collective action can also strengthen people's sense that they are participants in shaping their communities rather than simply subjects of decisions made by others.

When you notice harmful patterns within a group, examine them carefully.

Conflict, criticism, mistrust, leadership problems, or exclusion within a community should not automatically be labeled internalized oppression.

These patterns may result from:

• Organizational structure
• Unclear roles
• Poor communication
• Competition for limited resources
• Unresolved interpersonal conflict
• Unequal power within the organization
• Burnout or stress
• Discrimination or stigma
• Internalized forms of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, colorism, or other oppression
• Several of these conditions operating together

Before deciding what is happening, talk with the people involved and examine the organization's practices.

Questions might include:

• Are people repeating stereotypes or hierarchies about their own community?
• Does the pattern appear throughout the organization or only in a particular relationship or situation?
• Are certain people consistently interrupted, excluded, or overlooked?
• Do formal or informal leadership structures favor particular identities, communication styles, or social positions?
• Are people receiving enough information, resources, support, and opportunities to participate?
• Are external pressures, discrimination, or resource shortages affecting relationships inside the group?

The goal is to understand the problem accurately rather than fitting every conflict into one explanation.

What can you do when harmful patterns are affecting a group?

• Model respect. Listen carefully, recognize people's contributions, avoid personal attacks, and demonstrate the behavior you want the group to practice.
• Recognize strengths and accomplishments. Groups dealing with difficult issues may benefit from periodically identifying what has gone well and what participants appreciate about one another.
• Address problematic interaction directly without shaming people. Name interruptions, disrespect, exclusion, or other behaviors and establish clearer expectations for participation.
• Discuss internalized oppression when there is evidence that it may be relevant. Explain the concept as one possible influence rather than telling people what they must be experiencing.
• Create opportunities for reflection. Pairs, small groups, facilitated discussion, written reflection, or other formats may help people process conflict and return to the work more constructively.
• Set and enforce respectful group norms. Disagreement is normal, but harassment, personal attacks, discrimination, and repeated disrespect should be addressed.
• Welcome new participants. Make it easier for newcomers to understand how the group works, contribute ideas, and take on meaningful roles.
• Examine the organization itself. Consider whether leadership structures, meeting practices, accessibility, language, decision-making, compensation, or distribution of resources are contributing to the problem.

Ground rules can help establish expectations for respectful participation. Examples include listening without interruption, criticizing ideas rather than people, allowing people to pass, protecting confidentiality when appropriate, sharing airtime, and addressing harmful comments rather than ignoring them.

Support young people in understanding and responding to discrimination.

Children and adolescents may encounter stereotypes, exclusion, discrimination, or devaluing messages before they have language for understanding what is happening.

Adults can help young people make sense of these experiences in age-appropriate ways.

Useful approaches include:

• Teaching accurate history, including the histories and contributions of the communities young people belong to
• Helping children understand that unfair treatment is not evidence that something is wrong with them
• Encouraging cultural pride and a positive sense of identity
• Maintaining high expectations while providing appropriate support
• Taking discrimination seriously when young people report it
• Providing mentors and role models from a range of backgrounds
• Teaching young people how to seek help and advocate for themselves
• Creating schools and programs in which different histories, identities, families, languages, abilities, and cultures are represented respectfully

Schools and youth-serving organizations should also examine their own practices. Supporting young people is not only about teaching them how to cope with discrimination; institutions have a responsibility to prevent and address discrimination themselves.

In Summary

Discrimination and oppression can affect access to opportunities, safety, resources, participation, and power. They can also shape the messages people receive about themselves and their communities.

Internalized oppression describes situations in which some of those harmful messages are absorbed or reproduced by people who have been targeted by them. It is one possible response to discrimination, not an inevitable characteristic of people from marginalized communities.

Community builders should be careful not to use the concept to explain every conflict, personal decision, or difficulty within a community. Organizational structure, economic conditions, interpersonal relationships, leadership, stress, trauma, discrimination, and many other factors may also be involved.

Effective responses build on community strengths. Supportive relationships, cultural pride, peer connection, accurate history, inclusive organizations, leadership opportunities, collective action, and changes to discriminatory policies or practices can all help people and communities challenge harmful messages.

When people need mental health or other professional support, those resources should be available and accessible. Community support and professional care can complement one another.

The goal is not to “fix” people who have experienced oppression. It is to help create conditions in which people can define themselves, participate fully, develop and exercise leadership, support one another, and work together to change the systems and practices that create inequity.