Black Psychology 101: "Exploring the Anti-Black Mindset"
Mba Mbulu, Instructor
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2016, 2020 ASET, M. Mbulu All rights to everything on this web site are reserved.

Class 5

Read the information that follows. In order to benefit the most from this course, you must constantly keep the following points in mind and refer to them frequently: (1) 50 years after the writing of Black Skin, White Masks, Black People in the United States still perceive of their potential and capabilities within an unnaturally or abnormally limited context. (2) The psychological molding of Black People predisposes the best educated among Us to be anti-Black: anti-Black nationalism, anti-Black centric, anti-Black whatever. (3) In addition to being victims of racism, Black People in the United States demonstrate all of the qualities of a people who have been victimized by colonialism.

This class will concentrate on excerpts from Chapter 7 of Black Skin, White Masks. The question discussed herein is whether people have an inherent/inborn capacity to appreciate themselves or if racial/self appreciation depends on acknowledgement from other persons of value ("significant others"). Think about the following issues as you study and learn.
(1) Is there any evidence that Black People are lacking some human qualities?
(2) Is it possible for people to be responsible for their own psychological imbalances?
(3) Is it likely that Black individuals will admit that they possess qualities of a psychologically unbalanced person?

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Chapter 7 The Negro and Recognition [Audio Version]

p. 216 Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him. As long as he has not been effectively recognized by the other, that other will remain the theme of his actions. It is on... recognition by that other being, that his own human worth and reality depend.
People are HUMAN only to the extent to which they try to IMPOSE THEIR existence onto others. The terms IMPOSE and THEIR can not be overemphasized here. Human beings try to impose THEIR value system onto others, to get others to recognize THEIR worth, THEIR accomplishments, THEIR genius, THEIR uniqueness, THEIR essence, THEIR essential qualities. This is not the case with persons of African descent who have an anti-Black mindset. They do the exact opposite! They go out of their way and do somersaults in order to prove that they can be something other than what they are. The force that impels them to abandon their own and emphasize something that is foreign to them is pathological in nature.
Black individuals who are pathological ("sick") are intent on being what someone else wants them to be, what someone else is making them out to be. Not only are they psychologically impaired, the qualities that make them human have been compromised as well. Fanon makes this point about certain Black individuals several times in Black Skin, White Masks.
p. 215 The Martinican [Black] does not compare himself with the white man qua father, leader, god; he compares himself with his fellow [other Blacks] against the pattern of the white man
People are HUMAN only to the extent to which they try to impose THEIR existence onto others. Damaged Black individuals do not compare Black standards to white standards; they do not compare the Black concepts of fatherhood, leadership or religion to the white concepts of fatherhood, leadership or religion. Instead, they render the Black standards invalid and ignore them and measure themselves against other Blacks according to white standards. Normal human beings do not function in that manner.
p. 225 I have ceaselessly striven to show the Negro that in a sense he makes himself abnormal
Hundreds of years ago the political and economic destiny of Black People lay in the hands of white people. That has long since ceased to be the case, but the relationship of Black People to white people has barely changed. Why? Because Black People have failed to intelligently act in their own interests. The once physical barriers, long since removed, have been retained in the psyche of Black People, and they continue to keep Black People confined within unnatural limitations.
Long ago, Black People could have removed the psychological scars brought on by Our unfortunate encounter with white people. But those scars remain because we have failed to let them heal. The white mythology has been exposed for the lie it really is, white standards have turned out to be substandard at best, white people have proven themselves unworthy of the elevated status that has been accorded them and Black People have made shambles of all of the racist logic used as the basis for Black inferiority. Yet, too many Black individuals continue to rate themselves according to a white measuring stick. They are making themselves abnormal. Even when they have a model available that makes normality possible, they cling to a model that makes normality impossible. That is the response of a person who is out of touch with reality.
Many Blacks will never see themselves in Black Skin, White Masks. Even as they read this lesson, most will not see themselves as the ones being discussed. Others will see themselves but attack Fanon's principles and/or conclusions rather than question their priorities and objectives. [Top]

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