Racial Religious Imagery & Psychological Confusion
There is so much to be said for blacks having a lucid understanding of our history. Through the careful anatomization of our history, we are able to see a very troubling pattern that demands our attention. For instance, where we stand in the grand scheme of things today is not much different than the position we found ourselves in a little over 100 years ago. It was at the turn of the 19th century that blacks believed that they were experiencing a certain level of enfranchisement as far as their position in the country and their status in the socioeconomic structure. In fact, blacks owned more land and property as well as having more people in positions of political influence than we do today. However, it was shortly after this that the Jim Crow laws were enacted, and the life of blacks was turned back to a condition that was, in many ways, worse than slavery.
During Jim Crow, the life of a black had less value than it did during slavery, and whites were more liable to see blacks, especially black men as a threat. This meant that not only were blacks becoming exponentially disenfranchised from a political and socioeconomic perspective, but they were more likely to face a horrible death during this period. Understanding this, we can see that in less than 100 years of being legally emancipated, former slaves and their progeny found themselves right back where they started. Finally, the Jim Crow laws were repealed, and once again blacks considered themselves liberated. Unfortunately, we now find ourselves going through a process that Michelle Alexander has designated as The New Jim Crow — the criminalization and mass incarceration of black men for the purpose of suppression and profit.
We are also experiencing other negative phenomenon, such as the mis-education of black youth and the senseless slaughter of young black men by white police officers. We have seen elderly black women brutally beaten by white police officers. We have even experienced our women and minor children assaulted and killed. One must ponder the question: How do we continuously end up back at square one when it seems that we have finally made progress?
Symptom Solving is Not the Answer
Unfortunately, I cannot completely answer that question in this short treatise, but I would like to present some ideas that should serve to create food for thought. Any time that you engage an issue and things seem to be better for a while, but then the issue resurfaces later, it is indicative of treating the symptoms of the issue instead of treating the source. It is like hacking down weeds in your garden or lawn without destroying the root. The weeds will be gone temporarily, but they will resurface, and eventually they will begin to choke the life out of your garden or lawn.
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In order to rid your lawn and garden of the weeds, the weeds must be destroyed at the root. The same applies to the problematic and enigmatic issues that blacks face in this country. From the beginning, we have been only dealing with the symptoms. Because we are only focused on the symptoms, it has allowed our oppressor to simply change the look and appearance of the mechanism while maintaining the ability to obtain their desired result — the perpetual oppression and subjugation of the black race.
The Power of History
When we know our history, we can view our current situation through a more lucid paradigm. When we understand that Abraham Lincoln did not free our ancestors based on some moral obligation, nor did he do it because he viewed them as being equal to whites, we can approach our dilemma from an understanding that we have never been considered a part of their world. Freeing the slaves was a last-ditch effort to save the Union by economically castrating the southern states. The southern states had an economic system that was built on free labor, which gave them a significant economic advantage over the industrially driven economy in the north.
When we understand this it allows us to realize that we have never been viewed as equals, nor have we ever been truly accepted by White America. Why is this important? It is important because it is representative of the true nature of this war that we are in. When we are forced to accept the fact that we have never been accepted, no matter how much we have attempted to assimilate into this system, it subsequently forces us to accept the fact that we are never going to be viewed as equals and accepted into white mainstream America. This causes us to seek a different approach to facilitate our elevation. It will hopefully drive us to look at ways we can empower ourselves so that we can protect our own interests, without depending on others to do it for us.
The Psychological Disturbance
Without becoming too technical here, it is vital to understand slavery is a duality of physical and psychological bondage. It is imperative that we see that the experience of slavery did not take place without causing a significant amount of psychological disturbance. This disturbance is multi-faceted. Dr. Na’im Akbar refers to certain aspects of this disturbance as the psychological chains of slavery, while Dr. Joy DeGruy refers to the traumatic aspect of this disturbance as Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. It is simple, the psychological issues that are a direct result of the slavery experience must be dealt with at the root, because until we deal with it, we will not be adequately equipped to engage our struggle against white supremacy. As long as self-hatred and the resulting inferiority complex that it breeds remain a solid fixture in the black psyche, we will continue to seek erroneous solutions to our dilemma.
The Power of Religious Imagery to Create Psychological Confusion
What I want to deal with here is just one aspect of the problem. This is a topic that many avoid like the plague; however, it is imperative that we deal with this issue if we are ever going to lift ourselves out of the quicksand of oppression. Dr. Akbar covered this in depth in his essay, “I’m Trying to Get You Free;” however, I just want to shed enough light on it to inspire critical thought, research and action.
It is a very difficult task to get contemporary Blacks to engage the power and influence of images and symbols, especially religious images and symbols. The truth is that Whites want nothing to do with this reality either; however, I don’t waste my time attempting to convince Whites of anything. This is because I don’t believe that bringing Whites up to speed is this solution to our problem. Blacks must learn to become autonomous. We must learn to take the necessary steps to build for ourselves, instead of depending on a system that has historically been hostile toward us.
When ancient African history is studied, we can see that a great deal of emphasis was placed on religious images and symbols. It is obvious that they understood the power of the images and symbols to impact the vision and perception of those who viewed them.
“… The massive symbols which stand as monuments of this great civilization, such as the sphinx, the pyramids and obelisks were constructed with the specific intention of creating powerful and compelling images in the consciousness of people.”[1]
Getting to the heart of the matter, the image of God that a specific race of people possess will have a direct impact on determining the potential limits of their mind. We can study history to also determine that European Whites also understood the importance of religious imagery. This is why Napoleon shot the nose off of the sphinx. There have been multitudinous efforts by Europeans to remove the African influence from religion in order to present an image of a White God.
There are numerous resources that provide great detail as it relates to the process of whitewashing religion, so I will not spend time on that particular aspect. What I would like to do here is simply suggest that we look at the confusion that the religious imagery that was presented to the slaves, and the religious imagery that currently exists, has had a monumental negative impact on the psychological development of blacks.
The History of Religion
Historically, people have always adopted an image of God that looks like them. All religions can have their origins traced back to Kemet (Ancient Egypt), Kush or Ethiopia, but what you can see is that as religion spread throughout the world, the image of God was perceived to be that of the people who engaged God in any particular region. Predominantly, this is the way that it is still done today with other religions besides Christianity. There has been a concerted effort over the last 1,700 years to whitewash Christianity and its origin and roots in ancient Kemet. This has had an immense impact on the psychological development of all people who have accepted Christianity as their faith. For whites, it has caused them to collectively develop a sense of superiority, while blacks have assumed the role of an inferior subservient afterthought.
The image of a white God creates the mindset that those who look like this God are, in some way, like him. It is natural to ascribe a sense of superiority to them. For blacks, who did not resemble this white God, it served as some type of condemnation and relegation to the position of being a sub-standard creation. When you add the fact that this same religion was used to justify the enslavement of these people, you will understand that it also created the mindset that slavery and suffering were the black’s lot in life.
Religious images also serve to set the limits of a person’s imagination. When a person believes that their current position is the will of God for them, their imagination is retarded, keeping them within the mental confines of their current situation. They may contemplate what being at the pinnacle feels like, but they will never truly see themselves operating from the pinnacle, meaning that they will never aspire to reach the pinnacle.
It is this limited imagination that is the result of the psychological disturbance associated with certain religious symbols that has corralled blacks into the valley of minimal attainment. It is the reason that we seek acceptance from whites instead of seeking to empower ourselves. We have associated the acceptance of whites with the acceptance of God.
When the divine image does not look like us, we cannot truly connect with the Divine. This is why, despite reading incessantly that we are made in the image of God, we consistently perpetuate actions that reflect that at the deepest level, we don’t believe it. It is impossible to truly believe that you are made in the image of God while believing that anyone else is inherently better than you.
I am not here to champion any particular religion, but I am here saying that if you are claiming any faith in a divine power, it is vital that you surround yourself with images that are reflective of who you are. We cannot overcome our current position of oppression until we actually reach a point in which we truly believe that we are worthy of the elevation we say that we deserve. This will call for us to deal with the source of our problem — self-hatred bred from a desire to become like the oppressor. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.
[1] Akbar, Na’im, Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery, Mind Productions & Associates, Inc., 1996, p. 52
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