I think this is a practical discussion. I will address this in a way I feel relevant to the context of this sub.

I'm not well-read on theories about being a victim, because all that stuff is political noise to me I never bought into. But I have always been strongly averse to the idea that people blame their circumstances to exempt themselves from personal responsibility. Passivity is culpable, and I have personally always held Asian women who claim to care about AA issues as responsible. I think they have the strongest voice. I myself am weary of my own emotions because if I claim to care about AA's, then I can't focus too much on my own personal benefits. Every issue I attack or engage in has to be practical and account for everyone I claim to want to help. And for every passive Asian woman looking out for herself, there is an Asian guy with myopic focus on something like dating, and it's fine if for the first time he finally feels like he can talk without being dismissed and derailed, and he just wants to get that shit off his chest, but I think eventually it's going to show whether or not you are just in it for yourself, and even whether or not you care about the deeper implications on how Asian emasculation is destructive (and other AA issues) versus just maximizing your sexual opportunities.

Neither the Asian guy who says "fuck everything, I'm gonna lift and get mine, and slootz gna sloot" nor the passive Asian women are helping the AA cause, not directly anyway. They're both in it for themselves, the only difference is one doesn't have anyone to support him, and the other is riding off of the backs of a movement that happens to prioritize her in certain respects.

But to be honest, to talk strictly about morals, I respect the guy more on a moral level because he has chosen to place the weight of all personal responsibility on himself (assuming that became his moral philosophy). I'll also respect the Asian woman more who doesn't get involved with AA issues and simply looks out for herself. You want to date white guys and move up in society? Go ahead! I'd rather befriend her, shit I think I'd rather date her, because I see her as someone with individual agency who holds herself accountable for her life rather than adopting a narrative that justifies everything for her (assuming she holds herself accountable and thinks for herself the way the Asian brah does). To me, that's a higher level of morality. This point was strictly about what I think is moral in isolation of all else.

Now of course, in the context of being pro-AA, I am implying that yes, internalized racism is not an excuse. But I think the real issue with blaming internalized racism is that we use it to justify our actions by deflecting responsibility to something else. I don't have very strong opinions about what's right or wrong. But I recognize that people who blame their circumstances will use it to justify their actions, and either lets them off the hook or reduces their ability to act for themselves.

Collective/tribal morality is a funny thing. It's a known problem in the social sciences the way we deflect responsibility.

One of the failures of the current state of AA politics is that their social signaling blatantly exposes who they are in this for. You are upholding a mainstream white liberal narrative if you are parroting buzzwords and viewpoints that appease white liberals. That you don't advocate a viewpoint that doesn't hold the interests of AA's in priority means you failed to signal to the group (AA's) that you support them. Yet you further cement your place among white liberal society because you sent them the right signals.

As humans, we instinctively understand that the more costly your signal, the more devotion it shows. That's why actions always speak louder than words, because talk is cheap. On a prime level, for example, many Asian men distrust women who claim to care about Asian guys when their actions (lack of defense, dating strictly white guys, criticizing Asian guys, supporting ideas hostile to Asian men) are sending the wrong signals that expose where their loyalties lie. To marry an Asian guy is of course, the ultimate signal. It's difficult to fake that signal. Actively criticizing feminism where it hurts minority men would probably be another, because in doing so you are jeopardizing your feminist card.

If you blame your exclusive pursuit of a white person on your social conditioning, then whether that's true or not, you will end up using it to justify your actions. So in the context of the social signaling, it will become far too easy for people to disguise their lack of signaling by blaming it on their internalized racism, or internalized-pressure-to-get-seckz, or whatever may be the case.

Then there is the other problem. Poor man's gonna accept defeat because capitalism, rich man's gonna exploit to gain competitive advantage because capitalism. You lose agency over your actions, and by losing agency, you lose ability to affect the system or situation the way you might actually want to. It doesn't matter whether or not the poor man is actually oppressed by the system. I'd still want to empower him to do whatever he wants for his situation in a way he sees fit. I'd rather see empowered Asians, not victimized ones.

If AA communities are to grow, they need to genuinely look out for each other and be in control of their narratives.