Origins and use of the phrase people "who look like me"
April 18, 2023 8:52 AM Subscribe
Probably a very U.S specific question: I regularly see this phrase when people say things like, "I wanted a doctor who looked like me". This phrase "x who looks like me" seems to be used by ordinary people and reporters and others talking about Black communities mostly. Is this a new phrase? Has this always been used and I just haven't noticed it before?
Bonus points: is it used in/for non-Black POCs? I feel like I'm being very literal in trying to understand this, but why wouldn't people just name the community or identity that they're talking about? Where does this phrasing come from, and what is intended to convey?
Bonus points: is it used in/for non-Black POCs? I feel like I'm being very literal in trying to understand this, but why wouldn't people just name the community or identity that they're talking about? Where does this phrasing come from, and what is intended to convey?
I think it's similar to "representation matters".
There have been several fairly well-publicized studies finding Black doctors associated improved health outcomes for Black patients. It's life and death: "Findings suggest that when Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, the mortality penalty they suffer, as compared with White infants, is halved. Strikingly, these effects appear to manifest more strongly in more complicated cases, and when hospitals deliver more Black newborns."
(can't speak to this particular phrasing)
posted by BungaDunga at 9:22 AM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
There have been several fairly well-publicized studies finding Black doctors associated improved health outcomes for Black patients. It's life and death: "Findings suggest that when Black newborns are cared for by Black physicians, the mortality penalty they suffer, as compared with White infants, is halved. Strikingly, these effects appear to manifest more strongly in more complicated cases, and when hospitals deliver more Black newborns."
(can't speak to this particular phrasing)
posted by BungaDunga at 9:22 AM on April 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
Best answer: I'm in my 40s and I've heard the phrase used by various ethnicities for decades, perhaps most commonly in the 1990s actually, when I was active in ethnic studies student activism. I think the phrase is intended to convey the burden of racial alienation and constant othering and the psychological importance as well as practical impact of representation.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:24 AM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:24 AM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Small datapoint on your bonus question - I was just yesterday rewatching an episode of s2 of Ted Lasso, where Ted (a white man) is talking to a bunch of newspaper reporters about one of his football players (a black, Nigerian man) who has just made a very public protest about environmental issues and Government corruption in Nigeria. Ted says he's never been called on to make such a courageous protest, because: "When bad things happen to people like me (gestures at his face), y'all have a tendency to write about it without being asked."
So in that case it's being used by a white man. Although he doesn't say "who look like me", it's clear from his gesture that that's what he means - though maybe also with a dash of status/class/power thrown in there as well - he's a well-known football coach with a platform.
It feels to me like it's being used there as a way to call out institutionalised racism, in a simple, visceral way that makes instant sense to the listener. It's soft-pedal and matter-of-fact enough to hit home without putting the recipient on the defensive in that way that saying "You're all a bunch of racists, but you don't realise it because you're swimming in racist soup" would.
Think it was released in 2021.
posted by penguin pie at 9:26 AM on April 18, 2023
So in that case it's being used by a white man. Although he doesn't say "who look like me", it's clear from his gesture that that's what he means - though maybe also with a dash of status/class/power thrown in there as well - he's a well-known football coach with a platform.
It feels to me like it's being used there as a way to call out institutionalised racism, in a simple, visceral way that makes instant sense to the listener. It's soft-pedal and matter-of-fact enough to hit home without putting the recipient on the defensive in that way that saying "You're all a bunch of racists, but you don't realise it because you're swimming in racist soup" would.
Think it was released in 2021.
posted by penguin pie at 9:26 AM on April 18, 2023
Response by poster: Just a couple of quick things that I realize I wasn't clear about: when I said new, I didn't mean new this year, it was more like I've been seeing this a lot more in the last 4ish years, was it as common before that?
Second, I used doctors only as an example - I'm very familiar with the discussion about the effect of having a Black doctor in Black communities. This isn't a question about health care. My question is literally about this phrasing, which gets used when talking about health, education, politics, etc.
posted by spockaway at 9:37 AM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Second, I used doctors only as an example - I'm very familiar with the discussion about the effect of having a Black doctor in Black communities. This isn't a question about health care. My question is literally about this phrasing, which gets used when talking about health, education, politics, etc.
posted by spockaway at 9:37 AM on April 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I grew up in an area in the US steeped in casual (and formal! and systemic!) racism and heard that phrase used in an unpleasant way in the 70s-80s by white people shocked! to find themselves dealing with doctors or teachers or mall Santas (true story from my family) who did not in fact "look like them" and it was a problem.
I think it was the 90s before I heard the phrase used by people of color, and specifically I think the first time was in a news story about dolls, maybe, or some kind of person-like kid toy, and the sentiment that kids deserved and wanted and loved dolls and toys that "looked like them". That was probably the first time I registered the idea of representation, and the first time I remember the phrase NOT tied to "professional" job titles like doctor, lawyer, teacher etc.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:43 AM on April 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
I think it was the 90s before I heard the phrase used by people of color, and specifically I think the first time was in a news story about dolls, maybe, or some kind of person-like kid toy, and the sentiment that kids deserved and wanted and loved dolls and toys that "looked like them". That was probably the first time I registered the idea of representation, and the first time I remember the phrase NOT tied to "professional" job titles like doctor, lawyer, teacher etc.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:43 AM on April 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Initially I thought that the phrase probably came from "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh, but its list is specific to race, not as general as "people who look like me":
posted by Jeanne at 10:11 AM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
18. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.I think it's possible that McIntosh's essay had some influence, because it was one of the 101-level resources that was being passed around a lot in 2020.
19. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.
20. I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.
posted by Jeanne at 10:11 AM on April 18, 2023 [4 favorites]
Best answer: For the phrase itself of "looks like me", Ben Yagoda (who I know nothing about and only found via google) did a blog article and has cites popular usage back to 1993 and credits the Obamas' use of the phrase as making it more popular.
The concept of preferring to work with/learn from/live around/hire/accept into academia "people who look like me" has been around forever though an argument can be made that (1) formalization essentially took off with the civil rights and equal rights eras and (2) there's significant overlap with previous phrases such as "implicit bias" -- thus looking for specific usages is complicated. But "looks like me" as a colloquialism was certainly used by Thurgood Marshall in his legal work on racial integration in the 1930s through 1950s.
Ben Yagoda (who I know nothing about and only found via google) did a blog article on the phrase "looks like me" and has cites back to 1993 and credits the Obamas' use of the phrase as making it more popular.
Google for: evolution of "who looks like me"
posted by beaning at 10:30 AM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
The concept of preferring to work with/learn from/live around/hire/accept into academia "people who look like me" has been around forever though an argument can be made that (1) formalization essentially took off with the civil rights and equal rights eras and (2) there's significant overlap with previous phrases such as "implicit bias" -- thus looking for specific usages is complicated. But "looks like me" as a colloquialism was certainly used by Thurgood Marshall in his legal work on racial integration in the 1930s through 1950s.
Ben Yagoda (who I know nothing about and only found via google) did a blog article on the phrase "looks like me" and has cites back to 1993 and credits the Obamas' use of the phrase as making it more popular.
Google for: evolution of "who looks like me"
posted by beaning at 10:30 AM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Sorry- the link for the scholarly article on the SaraLee doll and the work the Clarks did and how it was utilized by Marshall is broken. A quick summary can be found at https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/what-the-children-told-us-the-untold-story-of-the-famous-doll-test-and-the-black-psychologists-who-changed-the-world/
posted by beaning at 10:49 AM on April 18, 2023
posted by beaning at 10:49 AM on April 18, 2023
Best answer: Google Ngram shows it started picking up in the 1990s in literature.
posted by hydra77 at 12:42 PM on April 18, 2023
posted by hydra77 at 12:42 PM on April 18, 2023
Best answer: I took a look through the Google books search for the phrase by date, and it seems to give some support to the general things people have mentioned above:
* There is positively no use of the phrase in this sense in say the 1950s or earlier - nothing to do with racial or ethnic similarity in looks or skin color, etc, is ever meant, that I could see. Of course this is a "literature" search and throughout this entire period is going to have a huge bias and also not pick up oral usage.
* Starting in maybe the late 1970s and 1980s there is a bit of usage here and there, not exactly in the sense you mention but more in the sense of "X for people who look like me." Couple of examples:
- 1978: Re: Maria on Sesame Street, "Kids can say, there is a girl who looks like me or looks like my sister."
- 1985: "A person who looks like me and a person who looks like Joe" (one white & one black, talking about how they will be treated very differently).
- 1988: Whoopi Goldberg: "If I wait for a script written for a person who looks like me . . . "
Then in the 1990s there are more commonly usages more similar to the one you cite:
- 1996: "as Black men, I and everyone who looks like me live in an extreme world . . ."
- 1999: "I'm already anxiously eyeing them for someone who looks like me, but whom I almost never find . . ."
- 1999: "There's this need, this desire I have, to be with someone who is like me, who looks like me."
As the google ngram shows, the usage continues to grow steadily in the 2000s and 2010s. Almost all the increase in usage over this time period is from this new type of usage. The old "There is a doppelganger somewhere out there who looks just like me" usage continues along at something like 1% of total usage, just as it did before.
To me, the increase in usage since about the mid 1980s looks pretty steady - you can almost put a ruler on it. But you can look at the non-smoothed version of Google NGram and also compare that ("who look like me") to the similar phrase "who looks like me" and see if you see any real patterns to the increase in usage over time, or just a bit of noise laid on top of overall steady growth.
It looks like there might have been a small acceleration in usage around the time Obama was first elected, and another one maybe 2016-2019.
No Ngram data post 2019, unfortunately - but a quick Google News search for 2012-15 vs 2016-19 vs 2020-23 does show a pretty big increase in hits from the first to the second, then a more modest increase from the second to the third. So I would say usage has definitely continued to increase in the 2020s - probably more as a continual steady increase in usage than a sudden acceleration, though.
posted by flug at 5:02 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
* There is positively no use of the phrase in this sense in say the 1950s or earlier - nothing to do with racial or ethnic similarity in looks or skin color, etc, is ever meant, that I could see. Of course this is a "literature" search and throughout this entire period is going to have a huge bias and also not pick up oral usage.
* Starting in maybe the late 1970s and 1980s there is a bit of usage here and there, not exactly in the sense you mention but more in the sense of "X for people who look like me." Couple of examples:
- 1978: Re: Maria on Sesame Street, "Kids can say, there is a girl who looks like me or looks like my sister."
- 1985: "A person who looks like me and a person who looks like Joe" (one white & one black, talking about how they will be treated very differently).
- 1988: Whoopi Goldberg: "If I wait for a script written for a person who looks like me . . . "
Then in the 1990s there are more commonly usages more similar to the one you cite:
- 1996: "as Black men, I and everyone who looks like me live in an extreme world . . ."
- 1999: "I'm already anxiously eyeing them for someone who looks like me, but whom I almost never find . . ."
- 1999: "There's this need, this desire I have, to be with someone who is like me, who looks like me."
As the google ngram shows, the usage continues to grow steadily in the 2000s and 2010s. Almost all the increase in usage over this time period is from this new type of usage. The old "There is a doppelganger somewhere out there who looks just like me" usage continues along at something like 1% of total usage, just as it did before.
To me, the increase in usage since about the mid 1980s looks pretty steady - you can almost put a ruler on it. But you can look at the non-smoothed version of Google NGram and also compare that ("who look like me") to the similar phrase "who looks like me" and see if you see any real patterns to the increase in usage over time, or just a bit of noise laid on top of overall steady growth.
It looks like there might have been a small acceleration in usage around the time Obama was first elected, and another one maybe 2016-2019.
No Ngram data post 2019, unfortunately - but a quick Google News search for 2012-15 vs 2016-19 vs 2020-23 does show a pretty big increase in hits from the first to the second, then a more modest increase from the second to the third. So I would say usage has definitely continued to increase in the 2020s - probably more as a continual steady increase in usage than a sudden acceleration, though.
posted by flug at 5:02 PM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I distinctly remember hearing that phrase in conversation for the first time in around 2019. I remember that because I initially had no idea what the person was talking about or why; he said he felt awkward at a grocery store because nobody there looked like him. It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking generally about Black people and not literally people that look exactly like him.
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard the phrase a lot since then, so I feel like it must’ve ramped up around then.
posted by wondermouse at 8:29 PM on April 18, 2023
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard the phrase a lot since then, so I feel like it must’ve ramped up around then.
posted by wondermouse at 8:29 PM on April 18, 2023
Response by poster: Thanks for these insights, all the answers were good, but I marked as "best" the ones that most closely reflected what I've been observing. I think the first time I really noticed the phrase was 2017, but had probably heard it before just not at quite the level of repetition and as a clear stand in for Black or African-American. As Rock 'em Sock 'em noted, it definitely seems like a putatively race blind euphemism.
posted by spockaway at 7:18 AM on May 10, 2023
posted by spockaway at 7:18 AM on May 10, 2023
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I think regards to wanting a doctor who "looks like me" might be because non-white people have a much different experience in America. With healthcare but also life in general.
posted by MadMadam at 9:13 AM on April 18, 2023 [2 favorites]