Refers to attempts by marginalized groups to police their own members and show their
social values as being continuous and compatible with
mainstream values rather than challenging the
mainstream for its failure to accept difference.
Person 1: If black
people get an education, pull up their pants, and stop committing crimes, then they will never have to worry about negative encounters with the police.
Person 2: Please can that respectability
politics mess. James
Blake went to Harvard, was a star athlete, and never committed a crime, but that didn't prevent an officer in the NYPD from tackling and body slamming him to the ground.