I was teaching a class in African-American studies recently when one of my students made a comment referring to another young lady that he found attractive. He said, “I have never been that attracted to a girl that black. I mean, she is black as hell, but she looks good!” I could only look at him with disappointment as my other students went on to remind him of a few lessons from day one of my class. I had already told them that one of the first elements of physical slavery, was mental slavery. How do you enslave someone mentally? You attack everything that composes their identity.
When the first Europeans arrived on the shores of northern and western Africa, a few of them documented the inherent beauty of these African people. A Greek by the name Herodotus spoke highly of the build and complexion of these people “bronzed” people he encountered. At the same time, the people of northwest Africa were busy trying to feed Herodotus because they mistakenly took his pale complexion as a sign of sickness. Needless to say, these were a proud people of Africa who had no qualms about their dark skin or their fullness of features.
A lot has changed since then.
At the inception of slavery, Europeans convinced themselves that Africans were perfect for slavery based on a few fundamental ideas. First, the Africans looked nothing like the European. From the tightly coiled hair, to the dark complexion, to the shapeliness of the men and woman (Herodotus), there were so many distinguishable differences that it was impossible not to register. And human nature has a tendency to fear what it interpreters as different. Secondly, many regions of Africa were not Christian (although Ethiopian Christianity is older than Catholicism-and one of the oldest sects of Christianity in the world). This allowed the European to convince himself that he was doing the African a favor by “Christianizing” us for the sake of our salvation in the after life. It has been written in many slave narratives that before the Europeans with the guns showed up, it was the Europeans with the Bibles who came first.
Thirdly, according to many European “intellectuals” of the time, African civilization had magically withered from a cornerstone of civilization in the days of Herodotus to a land without history, culture, or custom by the time slavery was instituted. Therefore, slavery would also allow Africans to be exposed to the ‘higher’ culture of western society. The process of Europeans convincing themselves of our inferiority was necessary for their own psychological success during our enslavement. Without being convinced that we were sub-human, it would be next to impossible to inflict the brutality that was needed to ensure the success of slavery as a financial institution. But whites convincing themselves would not be enough. If slavery was to enjoy longevity and wealth, Blacks especially had to be convinced of our own wretchedness as well.
One of the first elements of the enslavement process for Blacks was the stripping away of their name, language, religion, family ties, and cultural priorities. Anything that would connect the Africans to their homeland had to be stripped away. As long as the would-be slave was cognizant of the fact that America was not home, he/she would always strive to return there. This includes your own relatives especially, because in the face of your child, you can see the face of your spouse, mother, father, and all the generations before them. As long as the slave had something to fight for, they would not work to the best of their potential.
Your name is what verbally connects you to something larger than yourself. A family name is so important because it is your membership to a larger body of people with a particular set of customs, values, and heritage. A name ties the past to the present while promising a future. The name must be stripped away from the African in order render the African mentally incapable of connecting to anyone. A person becomes much weaker when they feel as though they are by themselves. The elders of the first generation of slaves may have remembered and knew better. But that generation was also the hardest to break. Once the first generation of Africans in America was born, it got a whole lot easier. Master had a plantation, a gun, and the law. Mother just had stories about a place her children would never see-if she still had her children.
Linguists agree that language speaks heavily to the priorities of a people. Every culture has words and phrases that exist only in that culture. For instance, because snow is such an important element in the life of an Eskimo, they have 7 different words to describe different types of snow. Africans all over the world are big on call and response as an element of the verbal historical discourse. Within this cultural aspect, you simply want to know that you are being understood and agreed with. As a result, ministers today often ask, “Can I get an Amen?” Likewise, the younger generation of Blacks asks if, “You feel me?” The wording of a people speaks to their aspirations as well as their fears. Stripping away the language of Africans in America worked to re prioritize their cultural goals and aspirations to match those of whites.
Finally, our spiritual priorities were attacked viciously. A god of war does not do well for the enslavement of people. Therefor, the worship of any deity that would encourage resistance must be discouraged. However, an interpretation of Christ that preaches, “Love thine Enemies”, and, “slaves should serve their masters”, as well as don’t be violent now, just wait for your reward in heaven, is perfect for the slaves to accept. Likewise, Jesus had to be made white in the mind of the African because especially in our prayer life, we were to look to a white man for our guidance and salvation. Good, pure, and wholesome, became synonymous with white-now and forever more-Amen.
People have often told me that we can only look at the Black community for its flaws. You can’t keep blaming our condition on history. That’s funny. I thought this country’s laws and customs were heavily steeped on the past.
Are we not encouraged to acknowledge the American “patriots” who killed people for land they did not own? Are we not encouraged to support Israel based on what God told a group of people 1000’s of years ago? Does the US not continue to pay reparations to Japan for Americas use of the atomic bombs? Are we not told to never forget the events of September 11, 2001 because that would dishonor those who died? Does the Jewish community not rightfully continue to propagate their demise during the holocaust?
How can we expect the Black community to ever completely heal from the horrors of slavery and institutional racism, when we as a people never want to acknowledge it? Every element that comprises a human being was stripped from us during-and long after slavery. As Martin Luther King pointed out, racism has been allowed to remain a festering boil on the consciousness of the American culture. As long as young Black children continue to refer to each other as “...black as hell, but looking good...”, we will continue to see the results of self-hatred manifest themselves in various forms. And until this country is willing to take a long and arduous look its own failures in the quest for democracy, we as a nation will continue to bear the burden of those whom we have made to feel like outcasts-now and forever more-Amen.
Delma Jackson III
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