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, entitled 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.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National
Chairman of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Click here
to contact Dr. Worrill. |