Racism erodes our very humanity. No one can be truly liberated while living under the weight of oppression, argues Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary in her new book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Leary, who teaches social work at Portland State University, traces the way that both overt and subtle forms of racism have damaged… return to article
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Reader Comments (27)Page 1 of 1 pagesI find it very encouraging that someone has thought to make this subject a matter of public discourse. As an African American male, I have always been aware of these issues, but I have always felt so isolated. This isolation is twofold:
1. There is such a widespread denial of racism in America that any attempt to address your pain is dismissed, if not, laughed at. White people generally respond with a cold, injurious attitude by saying that black people are merely looking for handouts. It is this form of racism that has fueled the conservative agenda. This attitiude not only reinforces the denial, but deepens the wound and the bitterness. To make matters even worse, in a white dominated society, particularly the workplace, where the institutional and micro-expressions of racism are ubiquitous, white people will justify their denial by befriending a black person as a sign of respecting black people, as long as the issue of pain or racism is not an issue. This is also carried into the realm of politics. How else can we explain the presence of Condeleeza Rice as a member of the Bush administration? To promote racial healing or to deny it? This is what Benjamin DeMott referred to as “The Trouble with Friendship.”
2. The effects of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome also results in denial within the African American community. There are many black people who, with a need to appear “normal” in terms of their integration in white social spheres or professional fields, or who cloak their pain in the veils of professionalism, academic achievement and self-sufficiency. This in turn affects their political orientations, such as supporting affirmative action and other social measures to ease the pain of oppression.
In the process of my own awakening to these issues, I gravitated towards Franz Fanon who wrote the wonderful book “Black Skin, White Masks” which focuses on the psychological trauma of racism. Caught in the chain of tramatic repetition, Fanon recalled being hailed by a boy “Look, Mama, A Negro.”
“On that day, completely dislocated, unable to be abroad with the Other, the white man, who unmercifully imprisoned me, I took myself far off from my own presence, far indeed, and made myself an object. What else could it be for me but an amputation, an excision, a hemorhage that splattered my whole body with black blood?”
Part of the inability of whites to understand the racial pain of black people is due to what Fanon referred to as people resorting to “reason”
to comprehend the “unreason” of racism.Dr. Joyce DeGruy Leary’s work is a welcoming contribution to the study of pain and healing within the black community.
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 11, 2006 at 8:22 AM I thought it was interesting that you chose to include an image of Southern cotton fields with this article.
I am a Hispanic-American, the product of a family that, until my father’s generation, worked the cotton fields.
I will always remember one day, when I was young, my uncle took me to an old theater in a small Texas town and told me that when he was a teenager he couldn’t go to the movies because he’d get beaten up if certain people found a “dirty wetback” daring to show his face there.
About the time he finished telling me that, a fellow came up and said to my uncle, “Got a minute, Mr. Mayor?”
That is one of my fondest memories.
I am not dismissing the black experience. I would, however, like to suggest that to think of one’s self as a loser of any sort simply because of your race is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. My family ascended from poverty because they believed in themselves. That belief, in turn, can only come from within.
And so, speaking as someone only a generation removed from dirt poor, “dirty wetback” sharecroppers, I can only say - believe in yourself and all things become possible. No one else can give you that.
Posted by Phantom on Mar 11, 2006 at 6:47 PM I would agree that healing is impossible when one ignores the wound; but I would also suggest that in an age when a black man can call for genocide against whites on national television and meet applause for it (I’m referring to Kamau Kambon’s statement on CNN which, where a white to make a similar statement, would be villified, fired from his job, sued and probably physically assaulted) the social pendulum has swung FAR the other way.
Racism in this country is still very much alive and well; but the roles of the haters and the hated have reversed. If we are to combat racism, we ought to take a hand, honest, objective look at reality. Otherwise, we’re not fighting racism, but only fighting each other.
Posted by Legion on Mar 11, 2006 at 11:39 PM I found the above comment by Phantom to be a very beautiful and sensitive account of a special memory related to cotton fields. This seemed to be mostly in response to the photograph and not to Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.
The second part of the comment alludes to the article but describes the pain of oppression, black oppression, in terms of viewing one’s self as a “loser.” Without sounding too contentious, I’m afraid that comment reflects the level of insensitivity that impedes ones understanding of the topic of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.
As Dr. Leary as indicated, black people, in spite of the horrid system of white supremacy, has achieved marvels in terms of their ability to survive and reproduce themselves in ways that express the most amazing intelligence and beauty. The courageous struggle of black people is just as heroic as it is painful.
The comment by Legion recalls my earlier reference to “reason” as a response to the “unreason” of racism. I really cannot see how anyone can equate the above recollection of a black person calling for a genocide of whites to be a sign that racism has reversed. Comparing a hateful proposition (a hateful idea) to the actual enslavement and oppression of black people is “unreasonable” and hardly a view of “objective” reality. You cannot be objective about something that has not happend yet, but you can be objective about someting that has happened. I don’t condone hateful comments like that, but it would be interesting to explore even further “the hate that hate produced.”
I feel Legion’s pain at having heard the comment. Take that comment and magnify it a thousand times, multiplied by the brutality of slavery, lynching and Jim Crow, and continued systematic racism, and you may begin to understand why we are trying to have a discussion about Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome and not Pre white anxiety concerning the anger and pain of black people.
I think that Dr. Leary is right when she says that ultimately, the work will have to be done within the black community and not from without. People from without, as I mentioned above, always display a level of insensitivity that is only injurious to the health of black people.
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 12, 2006 at 1:02 AM Here’s the thing I see Epistrophy missing—slavery no longer exists. No man is any man’s slave except his own. Extremism like that espoused by Dr. Kambon, however, as well as the anti-white racism that deems it unimportant, are real TODAY. No matter how much guilt whites take on, we can never undo the past—but we can, and should, prevent racial-extremist atrocities in the future, rather than justifying the indications that they are coming.
Posted by Legion on Mar 12, 2006 at 1:28 AM Two points in this article jumped out at me.
“The real recovery from the ongoing trauma of slavery and racism has to start from within...” and “I don’t believe in making people feel “guilty.” We have to recognize that remnants of racist oppression continue to impact people in this country.”
Both relate to a favorite quote which I have posted where I can see it every day. “The last of the great human freedoms is our choice of attitude.” (Vicktor Frankel) Frankel lived through the Nazi holocaust and even maintained a sense of humor. What could be better example of “starting within?
I have always rejected the guilt of our slavery history and had little or no feelings of racial prejudice until affirmative action began to discriminate against whites.
Later the section of town where my business was located for twenty-five years began to see a rapid rise in crime. There were shootings, robberies, carjackings and break-ins and burglaries which included my office building (and later my home). In each case the perpetrator was a minority (black or Hispanic). I first realized I had become prejudiced when I began to be wary of any non-white stranger approaching.
This is not “their problem” — it is bad for each of us and bad for our entire nation. Recognizing the problem is only a first step. Getting to know people of other races as “individuals” helps to remove the generalizing which is mentioned (both directions) in some of these posts.
Posted by whattheheck on Mar 12, 2006 at 8:34 AM Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome is very similar to what has been defined as PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a psychological condition that results from traumatic experiences. Trauma, which can be defined as a physical and mental wound that tears at the tissues of the body and/or mind. In the case of the latter, psychological wounds can persist for centuries, especially if there is the presence of systematic oppression.
Slavery functions somewhat as the primal scene that engendered other forms of oppression over a long period of time. The Civil Rights movement in America, which arguably began during and after slavery and culminated during the 1950s and 60s, was a centuries long movement to end slavery and to put an end to other forms of injustice against black people. That legacy included the persistence of psychological wounds that function like traumatic repetition through the psyches of black people that has engendered a cycle of psychological pain that has severely shaped the minds of many black people. As Dr. Leary discovered many of those people can be found in the prison system. For a very disturbing account of how trauma affects the lives of black people, check out the following article about Pre-Katrina and the prison system titled “Guatanamo on the Mississippi.”
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0311-21.htm
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 12, 2006 at 8:36 AM Whattheheck: I’m curious as to why a discussion about Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome makes you feel guilty and how you have come take this topic as a personal assault upon your character?
I’m also having a lot of trouble with the contradictions of your remarks. You start with a wonderful quote: “We have to recognize that remnants of racist oppression continue to impact people in this country.”
One way to recognize these “remnants” is to explore their relationship to a history of oppression and not as isolated incidents that by themselves appear quite trivial.
You then cite Frankel’s experience with the Jewish Holocaust, similar, but not quite the same as the black holocaust, as ingenious and creative enough to deal with this legacy with a sense of humor.
I appreciate this detail. Freud, who was Jewish, found jokes to be an integral part of working through pain. This abounds in African American culture and American culture in general. Yet, this is just one of many ways in which people deal with difficult events in their life. It is not a paradigm or panacea for solving issues of oppression for fear that people may feel guilty if they are forced to confront a difficult past, more directly.
I also find it interesting that you admitted to “rejecting the guilt of our slavery history.” You seem to be implying that you reject that it ever happened or you are rejecting the notion of having to confront it. Either way, it is an act of denial. Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome is very much about confronting past and present conditions, particularly conditions that have deep psychological underpinnings.
You then went on about affirmative action as being the reason why you became conscious of race and racism, as if, the whole history of slavery, Jim Crow and racism against black people never seemed to be an issue until affirmative action came along (actually, studies have revealed that affirmative action benefitted white women equally, if not moreso, than black people). Maybe it’s the movement toward the equality of the sexes that angers you most. I’m not quite sure.
You then digressed considerably by implying that black people are an inherently criminal caste who do not deserve to be recognized as people who suffer because they spend most of their time heaping suffering on others (namely white people). Actually, studies reveal that the effects of racism gave rise to internal problems within the black community and that people most affected by crimes committed by black people are “black people.” All the more reason why Post-Traumatic Slavery Syndrome needs to be addressed.
You then concluded by reintroducing the topic I started out with, “the trouble with friendship,” in which the relationship to individuals across races, while definately a small part of bringing about racial harmony and understanding, is also used to deny and defy systematic oppression along racial lines, which implicates large groups of people (not individuals) thus making “individuals” feel guilty for being implicated in something that is much larger than themselves, yet that which they cannot extricate themselves from.
Overall, a very disturbing commentary.
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 12, 2006 at 11:07 AM The simple fact is that if there is still a *systematic* oppression going on—which is to say, oppression within institutions specifically and society in general—that oppression is no longer directed by white people against minorities, but directed by white people against white people. History is something to learn from, certainly, but to continue to react to history instead of reacting to present realities is not only non-constructive but destructive.
Posted by Legion on Mar 12, 2006 at 6:29 PM Do I dare mention that a way of seeing humans as being intimately related to one another has become a possibility now that genetic science has demonstrated beyond doubt that all humans are close-kindred..?
I ask because of the angry responses this proposal tends to bring.
Perhaps it’s just too soon for this idea to take hold; maybe not enough time has passed for it to catch on. A handful of centuries ago, there were serious debates in Europe about whether the indigenous populations of the Western Hemisphere qualified as “human”, a debate that today seems almost deliberately stupid. The entire concept of “human rights” was almost unthinkable at that time.
And yet, over time, the idea that enslavement and legal bludgeoning of African-descended people (as well as the other groups who were beat down by law and custom) constituted inexcusable crimes slowly, haltingly, BUT FINALLY, came to light and took hold. So there’s the historical example to sustain my long-term agenda.
One can wish for (hopefully without wrongly being thought to minimize the pain of millions across a period of centuries) and more importantly, try to promote, ideas of human connectedness as opposed to those ideas like racism that lead to outgrouping, vilification, assaultive underestimation, and oppression.
Maybe I’m whistling against a hurricane. Or maybe some seeds just need a longer time to germinate and grow.
Posted by Kuya on Mar 13, 2006 at 1:17 AM One does what one can, given a complex, hazardous historical and ideological terrain…
And the handicap of being a paleface while speaking in these terms is not inconsiderable! Very difficult to get a respectful hearing.
Posted by Kuya on Mar 13, 2006 at 1:20 AM Why is it so hard for people to talk about the article that is featured? Why is everyone going on tangents about the universality of the human condition and that racism is ubiquitous, and that actually white people are the victims, etc, therefore making the issue of black suffering, a minor issue or no issue at all?
Why are people so afraid to talk about the specificity of the black experience, without feeling guilty or left out? There is the particular and there is the universal. This article addresses the specificity of the black experience and how slavery, as the primal scene of trauma for black people, has engendered a cycle of trauma or traumatic repetition that has caused serious problems in the black community that need to be addressed in a way that will promote healing. The universality comes from ones ability to identify with the subject of the black experience as a member of the human family.
Why is this so difficult? It almost appears as if the black experience represents for many Americans the collective unconscious, that dark tainted and disturbing history that causes them unpleasant feelings in their waking, conscious moments. The immediate response is to move beyond the particularity of the black experience to the universal, as a defense against addressing the subject in question.
The universality comes from ones ability to identify with the subject of the black experience as a member of the human family, not by avoiding it.
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 13, 2006 at 7:37 AM Epistrophy says,
“Whattheheck: I’m curious as to why a discussion about Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome makes you feel guilty and how you have come take this topic as a personal assault upon your character?”
----------------Wow! Talk about miscommunication! it’s no wonder this issue makes so little progress.
In no way do I see this article as an asault upon my character.
I do not feel guilty. I will take responsibility for my own actions, but no one else’s. My history has no connection with slavery. My ancestors who were here at that time owned no slaves and fought on the Union side. The other half came much later. Personally, I had no more to do with the causes of this problem than I had for the imprisonment of the Japanese in California (WW2). This is irrelevant to my attitude toward any minority. My “confrontation” of the slavery issue is as irrelelavant as my opinion of the Dubai ports — aside from voting, nothing I do will effect either.
I was first conscious of the seriousness of racism when in the Army in Alabama in 1963. The military was then, and probably is now, better integrated than any U.S. organization. But when we went to town the first time (4 or 5 whites and one black) and were faced with “White Only” or “Black Only” I saw for the first time the carry-over from the Civil War era.
My prejudice which began post-1964 Civil Rights Act was because it simply reversed the “color advantage” it was supposed to prevent. You can’t solve a problem by imposing it on someone else.
Your comments:
“You then digressed considerably by implying that black people are an inherently criminal caste who do not deserve to be recognized as people who suffer because they spend most of their time heaping suffering on others (namely white people). Actually, studies reveal that the effects of racism gave rise to internal problems within the black community and that people most affected by crimes committed by black people are “black people.” All the more reason why Post-Traumatic Slavery Syndrome needs to be addressed.”
My prejudice toward a minority stranger developed as a self defense when the crimes in my work neighborhood and my home were all committed by minority offenders. (These are just facts — they were criminals and they were minorities. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.) The individuals I know personally present no such problem. I live in an area which includes black, white, tan, whatever, from Mexico, India, born here and outside the U.S.
And…
“Why are people so afraid to talk about the specificity of the black experience, without feeling guilty or left out?”
To me YOUR comments above are disturbing. If you read that into what I wrote, there is little chance of any meaningful dialog.
I am not responsible for your situation.
You reject “reason” and are obviously responding from emotion. There is no way I can truly empathize and “feel your pain.” I may have sympathy, but mainly I have only reason to work with.
What makes anyone qualified to talk about “the black experience” who cannot experience it? Can you relate with “specificity” to childbirth if you are a man? Can a woman truly understand a man’s impotence? Can a Yale graduate from a wealthy eastern U.S. patrician family really understand why a free enterprised, globalized, Wal-Mart captive customer thinks his “good economy” is a scam?If you continue to suspect any attempt by someone befriending a black person as “...white people justifying their denial,” that is YOUR problem and will continue to reinforce prejudice (including yours, as sample this exemplifies). It will require both reason and emotion if there is to be any solution.
Your freedom lies in the Viktor Frankel attitude adjustment. No one can do it for you.
Posted by whattheheck on Mar 13, 2006 at 9:43 AM Actually, I was not addressing this topic as a personal issue but as a social, historical, and social issue. Your response was personal and because of it, you appeared defensive.
To the right of this comment board the words say “try to remain on topic.” Once we digress into personal experiences, we miss the whole point as to what this article is about. So, I will end my contributions to this dialogue.
Posted by Epistrophy on Mar 13, 2006 at 10:39 AM Epistrophy,
You say, “I was not addressing this topic as a personal issue...”
What part of your following question was impersonal?
Whattheheck: I’m curious as to why a discussion about Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome makes you feel guilty and how you have come take this topic as a personal assault upon your character?
You, you (again) and your are all personal pronouns in the very first sentence and addressed persumably to me.
The author makes it very personal in calling for change to start from within.
Posted by whattheheck on Mar 13, 2006 at 1:39 PM Very interesting interview, I certainly plan to read the book. As a Black man in America I’ve always known that racism had to be some kind of a mental illness. European pursuit of “The systematic dehumanization” of non-Europeans world wide is surely the worst kind of crazy so the victim of this craziness can’t help but develop as many if not more mental health issues trying to make any sense of it.
Posted by theloneous on Mar 13, 2006 at 3:14 PM Wow, I am really excited about Dr. Leary’s work. Hope to read more about it. I see this sort of work as part of the process of healing the past and making this country, called America really a place where everyone can make it.
As a Native person, I would like to talk to Dr. Leary about how her work could apply to indigenous people. My family has successfully made the transition to be “American Indians” from our tribal identity, but we still mourn the loss of that identity with each elder that dies and with each language that dies, too. Who are we today? I look Indian, but I do not have the language.
American Indian youth have the highest suicide rates, murder rates, school drop out rates, etc, in the country. What does this mean? I know I was lucky to be born into a healthy family, but many others were not. I have cousins living in pain on the rez. It’s tough to watch each generation sink lower and lower. I wish I could stop it, and maybe Dr. Leary has the key to something I can do to help.
I know many comments here are in the variety that we should all just seek to do the best in our lives, regardless of the past. And although a wonderful sentiment in many ways, it does not provide enough support for those who lack the abiltiy to do that. It is not easy for everyone to cast aside that burden. Hence the statistics for suicide, murder, etc. endemic to the darker skinned members of our society. There is a cause, a correlation to American history.
In the present day, a light-skinned Indian person can melt away into the white world so easily. Well, I guess they always could, as the great number of white-appearing progeny of Cherokee Princesses attests to. My dad looks like Dan Rather (who is also Indian/white), so he can “pass”. I find it funny that obviously Indian actors like Johnny Depp and (well, Polynesian) Keanu Reeves, so easily pass for white in this world. They are always cast opposite white women (except in Depps’ self-produced movie where he was Indian). Same with my dad, if he had married a white woman, instead of a full-blood, he could easily blend in and never have to deal with the past. But he did not, and so we do (deal with the past).
On top of this, the media has not kept up with how Americans really look. I mean in the tv shows like Friends and Seinfeld they lived in a nearly entirely white New York City! Walk down the street of the real New York and you will see that more than 50% of the population is brown! Or any of the teen shows which have entirely white casts. In the real world, we work, live and marry in multi-cultural/multi-ethnic America, even in the OC. Why is this not shown? Why is the image of a white America still so predominant? And how does this make the other non-white 50% (in California) feel?
If you feel this it is not true that the image of the “All-American” is blonde and blue-eyed Anglo-Saxonite/Northern European type, I direct you to a recent article that referred to Claudia Schiffer, blonde German model, as “all-American” looking.
Also, I had the experience when I was in highschool of being asked where I as from (and this still frequently happens). When I said, “From here.” The response was (and still is), “No, I mean originally.” And what can I say? My ancestors have always lived here on this continent. I’m a bit French and English (my pinkie and my big toe, respectively) but that is not why they were asking me where I was from. It was because I am not “All-American” looking that I got the question. And my friend standing next to me, a blonde, blue-eyed, All-American looking Norwegian exchange student was not asked the question. She looked like she belonged, I did not.
You must wonder what kind of American that made me feel like. Really, more like a survivor of Americanism and genocide than a member of American society.
Posted by Bahesmama on Mar 20, 2006 at 4:47 PM Thanks for all of this feedback, folks. Re: Bahesmama’s powerful comments, it’s worth saying that Dr. Leary does make a number of comments (in her book and in person) about how these issues interrelate to those of other ethnic, cultural and religious groups. But her work is unequivocally rooted in the African American experience.
Posted by Silja J.A. Talvi on Mar 24, 2006 at 7:00 PM Think about this… If slavery had never happened, if the plantation owners never went to Africa back in the 1800’s.... then all of the black people in America today would not be living in America ... THEY WOULD BE LIVING IN AFRICA. No one ever mentions that.
So, Blacks here in America should be glad that slavery happened, otherwise they would be running around the brush with an spear trying to kill an animal for dinner in the middle of Africa.
If anyone Black person is pissed off that their Great, Great Grandfather was shipped to America 150yrs ago… then move to Africa. Because if your Great, Great Grandfather wasn’t a slave you wouldn’t of been born in the USA, you would of been born iin a grass hut in Zombobia and your Mom would be featured on National Geographic Magazine.
Quit Whinning !!!!
Posted by tina1 on Mar 24, 2006 at 8:40 PM In 2006, to read a post like the one above should be considered an extraordinary, utterly jarring experience.
Unfortunately, it simply exemplifies the most crude form of the “sickness” of which Dr. Leary writes and speaks so eloquently.
Posted by Silja J.A. Talvi on Mar 25, 2006 at 6:49 PM Slavery has been practiced by just about every group in the world throughout history. It was the Quakers who brought an end to the large scale trafficking in slaves. But slavery persists in various African countries and it was Africans who sold slaves to the Jews and Arabs who controlled the slave trade. Blacks are just looking for another excuse for their failures. What is ‘traumatizing’ for blacks is their low IQ. That’s what holds them back. For Africans it’s only around 70 which is borderline retarded. In America, the black average is only 85 which is one standard deviation below the white mean. If blacks think they have it so bad, go back to Africa. You can starve there along with the rest of your kin. Good riddance.
Posted by bigmomma on Mar 26, 2006 at 11:31 AM Hello everyone~
I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts as to the future of racism in America. I am 20 years old and tend to believe that my generation is more or less race blind to a degree. I hope that when all the old people that remember the 60’s die their corrupted socialization will die with them. Please don’t take offense if you fall into that catagory. I feel some times that I have unwanted beliefs within me. As a white( whatever that means) male I am unable to help my own awareness and prejudice between the races, but it is important to me to stop and reilize that those are not my beliefs. Yes they are a part of who I am, but I try very hard to be just and equitable towards my peers both in the mind and in the action. I am wondering if these piosonous thoughts that have been so subtly implanted are combatible to any expediant result or if they must die out like a really bad cold. It seems to me that America in the next 20- 25 years will completely reset in terms of social demographics. How do you all think this will impact racism?
If anyone feels compeled to respond and I hope you all do please bear in mind that I am more interested in your take on the future of racism and not what you think about my personal beliefs. Please let the search for meaningful truth guide your response and not your REACTION to me. Thank you.
Posted by z.perry on Mar 26, 2006 at 1:11 PM Zperry,
I see that happening here in france as the young going to school together do are naturally race-blind. 11 national origins in my daughter’s class of 21 ! But their older brothers and sisters have a harder time getting a job than their white schoolfriends. So racism still exists here, and even the teenagers know inside it will be tougher for them. Here it is not PTSS, apart from the caribbeans, it’s colour. They come from bangladesh, ceylon, and 9 african countries, so were never slaves.The same “poisonous ideas” were instilled in me 50years ago, and I have managed to mostly dispose of them by some thought and lots of living. I never was given the extreme version in my family, but it was pervasive. When I saw the extreme around me, I hated it.
These threads can be very therapeutic, but it is only by doing your own thinking and heart-searching, and reading and research, that you will evolve yourself !
You said “more or less” race-blind , which is a key. Social class, culture, may well be more important than skin colour .Leaving aside personal psychological hangups, my opinion as to the future of racism in America is a question of how you define the present.
It’s mixed. Quite good integration here and there; OK. BUT 2million black men in prison out of 2.3million ? Katrina victims, mostly black, disowned by the Federal government ?
Unfortunately your idea that the old generation dying out will arrange things doesn’t wash. Tina1 and bigmomma might be old KKK nazi farts, but they could well be young ones !
Posted by frog on Mar 27, 2006 at 6:31 PM Hello zperry,
Though I’m bummed to think about it, and intend to help erode it wherever I can, I fear the future of racism in America will include its increase and intensification, at least for a few generations to come. Unfortunately, racial identity (or really, racial exclusion) seems too difficult a concept to let go of in a society that has color-coded people for hundreds of years. It will become worse before it gets better, in large part because of (a prediction) the continued widening of the gap between haves and have-nots, which in America also correlates with skin hue to a great extent, as is obvious.
Posted by Kuya on Mar 28, 2006 at 7:37 PM Yes....I have not read the book, but heard an interview with the author on WPFW.FM ...... I would like to thank the author for her hard work and encourage her to continue in the process of freedon from the pedagogy of oppression........hotepu
Posted by Redhorse on May 19, 2006 at 9:24 PM i look forward to reading this book i have read much about it
i would like Black people globally who are still in slavery including the american jail/prison/judicial system
where the 14th amendment allows for involuntary servitude under the condition that one is ‘duly convicted’ of a crime clearly allows slavery to flourish in this stolen land which has been under martial law for centuries and recently has had the decency to let the masses of white folk know they too are under constant suspicion…
Slavery is a thousands of years old system of taking people as prisoners of war and forcing them to serve in any manner the the hostage taker can think up and carry out.
The trauma of slavery is not post but continues today
any Black person who has been thru the judicial educational criminal economic system of this nation or any other white nation can tell you slavery aint over....perhaps others can come together with a solution to this problem of white supremacy which i agree with Dr. Frances Welsing (blackconsciuosness.com) is the result of white peoples
subconscious fear of genetic annihiliation through sexual reproduction due to their low amounts of melanin and the rest of the world’s people having higher amounts of melanin
We often have discussions amongst Black folks as to why whites did and do what they do regarding Black people.. it is my theory once again that their actions against Black people are initiated by their lack of significant amounts of melanin and Black people’s large amounts of melanin
as history has shown during the reign of Kmt (Egypt) and Moorish Spain Black people intermixed with white people mainly white women consentually and of course 99 percent of the time the result was a colorful Black baby girl/boy
now the god /creator of the universe created Black people with this genetic weapon in my theory to oppose white people specifically who are out of balance with universal law and seem to not know of its existence much less care if it is does causing non stop genocidal wars across the planet Earth and soon to spread into the far reaches of the galaxy.
Black people need to overstand they should not conform to white supremacy’s inferior expectation of Black people in all areas of people activity but subcumb to the reality of their divinity and resurrect our Black wolrd
thank you
Yaw Adu
Posted by nubadal on May 8, 2007 at 6:29 PM I just attended a keynote given by the author of this book, and I cannot wait to read the book. I found it such a huge relief to hear Dr. DeGruy-Leary speak in unapologetic tones about the fact that this nation owes its success to slaves, that they built this country. I have been uncomfortable discussing slavery my entire life, but never able to put my finger on “why”. I suspect that part of my hesitation was the fact that I knew, somewhere inside my pysche, that the way slavery was taught and discussed in my classrooms and home was wrong. Hearing Dr. DeGruy-Leary speak of slaves as beautiful people who were resilent survivors of henious crimes felt honest. For me, hearing the discussion in truthful tones (as opposed to my childhood textbook rhetoric) is enabling me to begin an honest exploration of my part in the racist systems that exist today.
I do not want to underestimate the power of a positive attitude; Frankel was amazing but attitude did not save millions of other Jewish people. To minimize the complex topic of racism by telling people that the reason they are not succeeding is due to their attitude feels like blaming the victim. I look at the beautiful array of enthusiastic children in my neighborhood, and you cannot tell me that only the enthusiatic white children have good attitudes!
Posted by reneea on Jun 5, 2007 at 12:16 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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