"Some theorists have suggested that when such a rigidity around racial identity manifests itself among oppressed, it is the result of the internalization of oppression and acceptance of racist, self-denigrating cultural values." (The Idea of Race p. 143)

To me, this quote (which is not Alcoff's opinion-- but drawn from another source), leaves out an important dynamic that we mentioned in class about minorities choosing to identify with the title forced upon them. Of course, no rational would choose to be a member of a marginalized group purely for the sake of being marginalized. However, this quote seems to me to attribute the racial rigidity among minorities as totally involuntary and as a result of negative forces. I, however, disagree that the acceptance of racist, denigrating self values must be at the root of this phenomenon. Some minorities, such as the mulattoes who chose to be identified solely as "Negro" even if they could pass for white, embrace a form of racial purity and rigidity for other reasons, such as: genuine affection for that minority group and distaste for white, to make a point about race, etc.