So
many of the problems that African people face in the world today are
due to the assault on our minds by those who captured us and removed
significant numbers of us to the western hemisphere. This also
included the mind damage caused by the tampering of African lands and
culture on the continent of Africa.
Most
African people in America are aware that our minds were tampered with
as a result of our forced capture and enslavement in America. The
impact of this process is central to the international component of
the Reparations Movement that we must focus on, and that is the
“Repair of Ourselves” at the same time we demand
reparations from the government and private corporations who
benefited from our enslavement and still benefit today. Examining and
reexamining the contributions of the late Dr. Bobby Wright provides a
significant source we can utilize in addressing our “internal
reparations” challenges.
The
contributions of the late Dr. Bobby E. Wright in helping us assess
this problem should be a continuous part of our study, and
reflection, as we struggle to break the psychological chains of white
supremacy.
Four
years before Dr. Wright’s untimely death he wrote a profound
article entitled, “Mentacide: The Ultimate Threat To The Black
Race.” In defining “Mentacide,” Dr. Wright explains
that it is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a
person’s or group’s mind [which] may give a clue to why
the Black race, after developing such an advanced civilization, has
for the last 400 years been assisting in it own destruction and the
nearly total subjugation of Africa by foreign invaders.”
In
an earlier work, written in 1975 by Dr. Wright, titled The
Psychopathic Racial Personality, he stated that in the
relationships of whites with Blacks “whites exhibit the
behavior of psychopaths and their behavior reflects and underlying
biologically transmitted proclivity that is rooted deep in their
evolutionary history.” Dr. Wright says, “Mentacide is the
ultimate goal of the behavior.”
Any
cursory examination of history will bear out, and support, the
following “incomparable traits” of the white race
(Europeans) that Dr. Wright reveals in terms of 1) Predatory behavior
toward people and their land, 2) A predilection for senseless
destruction of nature and people, and 3) The ability to persuade
Blacks to support and protect them against their own interest.”
These
key points described by Dr. Wright concerning the continued
oppressive psychological condition of African people in the world
indicates to me that our biggest challenge as a people is that of
Getting Our Minds Straight and Stopping Mentacide!
Getting
Our Minds Straight requires that African people begin to relearn
the African principle that renowned historian Dr. Anderson Thompson
has been discussing for the last twenty plus years. According to Dr.
Thompson, the “African Principle represents those standards,
rules, laws, and customs which guide our behavior and which serve as
the foundation for all of our action.”
Dr.
Thompson continues by explaining that the African Principle “is
the quality underlying the source of the African value system. The
gift from our Creator passes on to us through our ancestors.”
At
this juncture in history, we as African people have the capacity to,
Straighten Our Own Minds Out, without the help of anyone
outside the African Community.
It
must be understood that Africa and African people have been under
siege for more that 2,000 years by Europeans, Asians, and Arabs. The
invasions, intrusions, thefts, murders, pillaging, and the decimation
and destruction of African lands, bodies, minds, and spirits over
these 2,000 years is the basis for our on-going struggle for African
Liberation worldwide.
In
our efforts to Straighten Out Our Minds, the following
revelation by Dr. Wright should be understood, and internalized, by
all African people. Dr. Wright reveals that, “It is very clear
that the Europeans have developed a method whose basic purpose is to
replace all indigenous cultures with their own… Therefore, the
Europeans, without any historical precedent, went forth into the
civilized world and began to impose their cultures on others, mainly
through religion, literacy modalities and military force.”
All
roads lead to our unity. We must work together in organizing and
mobilizing African people in America. All of our organizing
strategies must lead to Getting Our Minds Straight and Stopping
Mentacide. Without this occurring, we will continue in our
present state of mental stagnation and servitude to other people.
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