|
5
Tragic Stereotypes, Part I
By
Bakari Akil II
One of the tragic
consequences that occurs when a person or group is subjected to
ridicule and degradation is that if it occurs long enough, the
victims of this treatment begin to acquiesce and in a
unfathomable process begin to take on the negative
characteristics assigned by the victimizer. As Blacks in the
United States and elsewhere throughout the Diaspora, this
scenario has been inescapable and has in fact been successful in
ways unimaginable to those who first practiced this type of
psychological conditioning, known in some circles as "seasonin."
"Seasonin"
to the uninitiated was a common practice where Africans who were
enslaved were intimidated by torture, physical force and
psychological coercion into accepting their new status as
enslaved human beings. Thereby, becoming a valuable product
capable of carrying out the wishes of their respective
enslavers. Think of the conditioning applied to training wild
horses or in today's basic training for the military, except
that horses and soldiers are treated much more humanely. It is
the process of breaking down an individual's physical,
emotional, mental and spiritual well-being until they are a
totally new creature.
A carryover of this
type of "seasonin" is that the fear of possible
consequences of rebelling against the authority that exists
prevents the victim from assuming their natural or previous
state. They begin to exhibit characteristics of that idealized
image held by the person(s) who initially provided the
conditioning. As a consequence of this type of fear and brutal
brainwashing that existed during the Transatlantic slave trade
and the era of Black Codes, Jim Crow and present day continued
disenfranchisement, the victims (Blacks) of such treatment
continue to suffer from the legacy of these sadistic techniques
and in some cases are perpetrators who out perform its most
devoted non-Black adherents.
The behavior that I
speak of now is not physical, it is verbal (stereotypes) and can
be observed in many different ways and in fact has become apart
of Black culture. It can be heard in humor, average
conversations and can be major components of intellectual
writings and debate. Whether it is a janitor or C.E.O., student
or professor, apathetic citizen or activist, sinner or priest,
many Blacks have accepted, processed, internalized and now
proselytize the verbiage of shameful stereotypical statements
not as fiction, but as fact.
In the age of
modern media technology and the proliferation of media messages
through many different mediums, these verbal "shots"
cannot be escaped and thus are highly detrimental to Black
communities' development and advancement.
Now, since these
stereotypes are many and varied, this article will limit itself
to five statements and others will be discussed in future
writings. So, what are these verbal stereotypes and their
effects?
Number 1: If you
want to hide something from Black people, put it in a book!
This is a very
offensive statement and not a thoughtful one at that. A cursory
glance at historical data will demonstrate that after
prohibitions had been lifted against Black people learning how
to read in the US, Black people flocked to those who knew how
and pleaded or cajoled them into teaching them how to do so. In
fact, without the push by many Black politicians during
Reconstruction (1865-1877), public schools as we know it might
not exist. Reading has always been a strong tradition amongst
Blacks before and after slavery. To state that Black people do
not understand the importance of reading and that most do no
read, is a fallacy. A better question may be, what types of
materials are Black people are reading, which in itself may be
an inexhaustible subject.
Number 2: Colored People
Time, Better known as C.P.T.
This is another
statement that hurts Black communities in numerous ways. There
is the perception, held by many, that Black people are not able
to start functions on time as well as Blacks as individuals are
not punctual, in general. As a matter of consequence, those who
constantly rely on this statement as an excuse for this type of
behavior and view lateness as a cultural phenomenon assigned to
Blacks, indeed provide license for this behavior to occur.
People, groups or organizations that do not start things on time
is a universal behavior and it is not a characteristic that can
be assigned to a group. Instead, the event organizer, individual
in charge, guest of honor or "fashionably late" person
should instead be judged as not being punctual or professional.
The blame should not fall on Black communities as a whole. After
all, the people who are in attendance and who are present at
that time are not late.
This stereotype
also carries over to professional assessments and business
determinations, which affect the perceived credibility of Blacks
as it relates to economic endeavors.
Number 3: More
Black Men in Jail Than In College
The reasons for
this statement are obvious. It is to cite the sheer sense of
hopelessness that exists for Black males as it relates to
society in terms of being involved with prison systems and
chances for a higher education. Yet, this statement should be
clarified. Yes, there are more Black men in jail than in
college. However, that is if you include all age groups. If you
choose the age demographic that falls between 18 to 24 years of
age then there are more Black men in college of this age range
than in jail. This is nothing to be excited about, but it does
provide a clearer perspective and lets us know that Black men
are on the right track. By highlighting this disparity without
clarification, Black men who are in college and not involved in the
criminal justice system receive no credit.
Number 4:
Minority & Minorities
In terms of
population in the US, Black people constitute a numerical
minority as it relates to the White populous; however that is
where the use of this term should cease. Instead of this word
being used as an adjective describing Black numerical
representation, it is instead used as a noun and the Black
person becomes the minority. If the Black person is now the
equivalent of that noun then they are in essence the definition
of that word and all it implies.
See definition
below:
Minority: 1. A
group of people or things that is a small part of a much larger
group. 2. Group with insufficient votes to win 3. Smaller
socially defined group, a group of people, within a society
whose members have different ethnic, racial, national,
religious, sexual, political, linguistic, or other
characteristics from the rest of society. 4. Offensive term; an
offensive term for a member of a minority group 5. Non
adulthood; the state or period of being younger than the legal
age of adulthood.
From analyzing the
definition, provided by Microsoft's Encarta College
Dictionary, the word minority has many implications, none of
them particularly impressive. As can be seen from the
definition, many types of groups can be assigned this name,
however in US society, only color determines if that is your
official designation to be used by media pundits, scholars and
your every day average citizen.
What is
particularly disturbing is that this term's usage by Black
individuals and communities is rampant. To automatically assign
oneself to a degrading status is an indictment on one's
perception of themselves and their power and role in society as
an individual and of Black people as a whole.
I am not a minority
and neither is any other person of color. End of discussion!
Number 5: Young
people have no direction!
Black youths are
often viewed in a negative sense. They are criticized for their
style of dress, choice of music, way of expressing themselves
and if you really think about it, for their audacity in existing
at all. As a surveyor of communications media and its
corresponding terrain, criticism of Black youths by their elder
generations is continuous and in some cases worse than
mainstream criticisms.
Although much of
the imagery concerning Black youth is negative and can influence
them to behave negatively, creatively a vicious cycle, most of
the imagery is indeed false and portrays an unrealistic picture
of those who know them intimately as sons, daughters, brothers,
sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, students or friends. In
reality, if Black youths have no direction, then what does it
imply about the preceding generations' role in preparing them
for adulthood? Are older generations providing guidance, are
they asserting their leadership or have they folded to the
pressures of society and have resorted to complaining backed by
inaction?
Instead of quickly
indicting youth and assigning them to mediocrity or less,
perhaps a greater focus should be placed on finding the success
stories that are out there and they are numerous. Black youths
are attending high school and college, are politically active,
volunteering in their communities, playing sports, creating
businesses or working, assuming all of their responsibilities
and enriching their communities in ways we would be wise to
recognize. Instead of continuously highlighting their
immorality, faults and wrongs, perhaps they should be recognized
as those who will accept the baton of leadership for the future
and allies for a better tomorrow. To do otherwise would be an
error that will hold negative consequences for both young and
old.
In conclusion, it
is possible to be one's own enemy, even if unconsciously.
Therefore, a thorough analysis should be applied to our
interactions with each other, both verbally or otherwise. Our
present day language, vernacular and conversations that we hold
with each other may seem harmless, yet it affects the way we
treat each other as well as the way that we approach the society
in which we exist. As humans we have choices and my choice is to
use language for empowerment and not degradation, I hope you
choose the same!
Bakari
Akil is an Editor-In-Chief for Global Black News. He holds a
MASS degree with an emphasis in Public Administration and has a
Bachelor Degree in Law and Society. He is currently teaching
Public Speaking and working on his PhD in Communications.
GlobalBlackNews@hotmail.com.
Bakari Akil is an editor for GlobalBlackNews.com.
* * *
* *
Marketing Ghana as a Mecca for the African-American Tourist—The
Afro-American tourist market constitutes an important niche
market. At the moment, the U.S.A is Ghana's second highest
tourist generating market with the U.K being the first. In 2003,
some 27,000 tourists arrived in Ghana from the Americas.
Approximately 10,000 were African-Americans. Also, about a
thousand are living and working in Accra. The African-American
tourist market is Ghana's niche market because it has the
greatest growth potential in terms of arrivals and receipts.
This is because the African-American tourist of today is more
interested in exploring his/her cultural and historical
heritage; the very products that Ghana offers. Also, they have a
$300 billion spending power and spend 98% of their household
income. The total income of this segment of the American
population is the largest of all the ethnic groups at $485 and
projected to reach $1.01 trillion by 2010. In a 2000 Gallup poll
commissioned by the National Summit on Africa, 73% of
African-Americans were interested in learning more about Africa.— ModernGhana
*
* * * *
Strange Fruit Lynching Report
/
Anniversary of a Lynching
Willie
McGhee Lynching /
My Grandfather's Execution
Dr. Robert Lee Interview /
African American dentist in Ghana
*
* * * *
Bob Marley—
Exodus
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was
the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska,
rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (19641974) and Bob
Marley & the Wailers (19741981). Marley remains the most widely
known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for
helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement
(of which he was a committed member), to a worldwide audience.
|
Exodus
Exodus:
movement of jah people! oh-oh-oh, yea-eah!
Men and people will fight ya down (tell me why!)
When ya see jah light. (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Let me tell you if youre not wrong; (then, why? )
Everything is all right.
So we gonna walk - all right! - through de roads of
creation:
We the generation (tell me why!)
(trod through great tribulation) trod through great
tribulation.
Exodus, all right! movement of jah people!
Oh, yeah! o-oo, yeah! all right!
Exodus: movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Yeah-yeah-yeah, well!
Uh! open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied (with the life youre living)? uh!
We know where were going, uh!
We know where were from.
Were leaving babylon,
Were going to our father land.
2, 3, 4: exodus: movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
(movement of jah people!) send us another brother
moses!
(movement of jah people!) from across the red sea!
(movement of jah people!) send us another brother
moses!
(movement of jah people!) from across the red sea!
Movement of jah people!
Exodus, all right! oo-oo-ooh! oo-ooh!
Movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Exodus!
Exodus! all right!
Exodus! now, now, now, now!
Exodus!
Exodus! oh, yea-ea-ea-ea-ea-ea-eah!
Exodus!
Exodus! all right!
Exodus! uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move! move! move! move! move! move!
Open your eyes and look within:
Are you satisfied with the life youre living?
We know where were going;
We know where were from.
Were leaving babylon, yall!
Were going to our fathers land.
Exodus, all right! movement of jah people!
Exodus: movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Move! move! move! move! move! move! move!
Jah come to break downpression,
Rule equality,
Wipe away transgression,
Set the captives free.
Exodus, all right, all right!
Movement of jah people! oh, yeah!
Exodus: movement of jah people! oh, now, now, now,
now!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Move! move! move! move! move! move! uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)! movement of jah people!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Move(ment of jah people)!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
Movement of jah people!
|
*
* * * *
Relations
Between Africans and African Americans: Misconceptions, Myths
and Realities
By
Godfrey Mwakikagile
(Grand
Rapids, Michigan: National Academic Press, 2005) 302 pages
Chapter Four: The Attitude of Africans Towards African Americans
Chapter Six: Misconceptions About Each Other
* * *
* *
Chiefs in Cape
Coast, Ghana /
Grand Durbar Parade
* * *
* *
|
Dentist Dr. Robert Lee
Championed African-American Community in
Ghana
In the
mid-1950s, Dr. Robert Lee, a dentist from
South Carolina, moved to Ghana to escape
racism in the south. Over the next half
century, Lee became a fixture in the
African-American community in the West
African country. Dr. Lee died on Monday,
July 5th at the age of 90. But few here in
his home state, or in the States at all,
knew of his work. But in Ghana, he made a
name for himself. Dr. Robert Lee, trained as
a dentist, moved to Accra in the mid-1950s.
Over the past half century, Lee became a
fixture in the black American ex-patriot
community in Ghana.
NPR
Host Michel Martin talks to NPR West African
correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton about his
life and legacy.
Dr. Robert Lee NPR Interview
Dentist Championed
African-American Community In Ghana
Dr Robert Lee passes on
|
 |
| |
Dr. Robert Lee (right) in
2009 with Kwame Zulu Shabazz |
*
* * * *
The State of African Education
(April 200)
Attack On Africans Writing Their Own History Part 1 of 7
Dr Asa
Hilliard III speaks on the assault of academia on Africans writing and
accounting for their own history.
Dr Hilliard is A teacher,
psychologist, and historian.
Part 2 of 7
/
Part
3 of 7 /
Part 4 of 7
/
Part 5 of 7 /
Part 6 of 7 /
Part 7 of 7
*
* * * *
Basil Davidson's "Africa Series"
Different
But Equal /
Mastering A Continent /
Caravans
of Gold /
The King and the City /
The Bible and The Gun
* * * *
*
 |
West Africa Before the Colonial Era: A
History to 1850
By
Basil Davidson
This
book is excellent as an introduction to West
African history. It begins with a brief
overview of region's history from earliest
times but the focus of the book is on the
thousand years between the 9th and the 19th
centuries A.D.
Comprehensive overviews of the political
histories of both well and little known West
African states and cities are recounted.
These include the histories of the empires
of Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kanem-Bornu, Oyo,
Benin, Dahomey and Asante. Accounts of
several other smaller states are also
detailed such as the Hausa city states, the
Wollof kingdom, the Bambara states, the
Niger Delta trading states, the Fulani
states of Futa Jallon and Futa Toro, the
important cities of Timbuktu, Jenne and Gao
and several others. |
Apart from these
political histories, Davidson also provides an insight
into the social fabric of West Africa, especially at the
dawn of the 17th century. He describes economic features
(like trade items, routes, currencies etc), religion,
arts and learning in the region, social stratification
and dominant trends. These provide the reader with a
real "feel" of the society at that time. Like all of
Davidson's writings on this subject matter, this book
dispels the myth that Africa had no history or
civilization before contact with Europe. It is clear,
concise and very easy to read.
D. E. Chukwumerije
* *
* * *
|
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
|
 |
* *
* * *
 |
Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
updated 22 October 2007
|
