Black racial phenotypicality: Implications for the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

Abstract

Black individuals with phenotypically African features tend to experience heightened discrimination and mistreatment. The current research examined how racial phenotypicality and prototypicality effect hate crime reporting metrics and beliefs about who evaluators are represented #BlackLivesMatter. Across five studies (N = 876), results indicate that, compared to low racially phenotypic Black targets, high phenotypic targets were seen as more represented by #BlackLivesMatter (Study 1). When depicted as being the victim of a hate crime, high phenotypic targets were deemed more credible and that it was more appropriate for them to report their victimization on the #BlackLivesMatter website compared to their low phenotypic counterparts by White (Study 2a and 2c) and Black participants (Study 2b and 2c). Black (Study 2b and 2c) and White (Study 3) participants showed differences in perceptions of harm following hate crime victimization. Study 3 extended these findings to a separate manipulation of prototypicality and used a more ecologically valid context. These findings provide support for the problematic exclusivity of narrow prototypes by demonstrating their effect on beliefs about who social justice movements represent, and how they influence beliefs about victim reporting metrics.