"OUR" Metamorphosis
Dodging the Dung
[I tried to do an edit of this article but couldn't. Perhaps it's reached a maximum of characters or inserts? I may try again because I think I need to add to it. However, it's hard to want to do it again and have it not take the update.]
The broadside I have posted below was quoted and paraphrased by me. I wanted it to be a new "Willie Lynch Letter" but a healing version. I also did not want it to be "unauthentic." Originally, I had no plans of claiming it - ever. But today's climate has deemed it necessary for me to reveal my authorship. The learned Black man who wrote the letter confessed at another much more learned Black man's book signing (See "Durham resident is the author of the Willie Lynch Letter" article below). It was circulated by a librarian and grew into a behemoth. Scholars studying the letter have debunked it because some of the language used would not have been the fashion when it was written. However many Black folk are determined to believe it was actually written by an enslaver named Willie Lynch. The name of the man - alone - caused me to question it's validity the first time I learned of it. I, too, had the same feelings regarding the type of person who would have been the author. But I understand the belief of others completely because the letter is pointing out some behaviors that have been and are still true today. The history of being enslaved continues to drape its residuals on and haunt all Black people's lives. Being "woke" means recognizing these things and OWN up to the devastating effect - no matter how well we may be doing financially AND mentally.
How can any person awaken every morning without crumpling from it all? It has been open season on minoritized people forever. Having become OK to let it all hang out - again - of late in OUR country makes me realize I am a little less despised (in general) at the moment and how much more precarious my present life would be were I Afro-Mexican, serving in the US Military and a gay female.
I used think the harm would be not as egregious since it has become more exposed and the world is realizing its devastation; particularly for Black peoples. Well, I am unable to nurse that hope anymore.
To know I could be found dead in a jail cell because I didn't put out a cigarette when ordered to do so by a police officer who stopped me; to know I will be severely punished for not standing for a flag that does not stand for me and has no heart; to know I will always have to deal with being continuously under observation despite how often I shop in certain stores in my neighborhood; to know a young man can be killed because an eager man with no impulse control (a would-be-security guard) felt threatened; to know any law enforcer's unprofessional, vigilante, hatred and predatory behavior not be disciplined - at the very least - for such; to know avowed racists are being openly and joyfully patted on the back and pardoned; to know had a brave and dedicated Black woman been mowed down by a rabid neo-nazi it most likely would not have received 3/4 of the attention paid to the brave and dedicated young white woman whose humanitarian actions cost her life; to have to frequently explain - to well-meaning white people - why I am hyper-vigilant regarding even the possibility I may be considered armed and dangerous (the stereotypical "angry Black woman") for refusing to be mistreated; to know I may have to part ways with people who tell themselves they are innocent beneficiaries of an unjust system; and to basically have all of this knowledge - since I was a ten-year-old - may have metastasized from my brain to my body - shortening my lifespan ...
The preceding is NOT imaginary. Persons, please don't even try to tell me it is. There is no comfort.
10/30/2017
Added 10/17/2017
No kidding????
RACISM IS BAD FOR EVERYONE'S HEALTH!
PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSIDIOUSNESS THAT ALLOWS RACISTS TO CONTINUE IN THIS BEHAVIOR.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE LEARNED IGNORANCE THAT HAS TO BE NURTURED IN ORDER TO NOT EFFECT POSITIVE CHANGE. #InnocentBeneficiaries
What CAN YOU DO to to combat this as a HUMAN BEING? #humanity #awareness #fairness
~ Karen E. Dabney
"On how to start combating discrimination:
Much of this discrimination that occurs in the health care context, and in other contexts of society, may not even be intentional. There is intentional discrimination, but we think the majority of the discrimination that occurs in the health care context is driven by what we call "implicit bias" or "unconscious unthinking discrimination."
YOU, ME AND THEM: EXPERIENCING DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICA
Share Your Story: Discrimination In America
"If I am a normal human being, I am most likely to be prejudiced. Why? Because every society, every culture, every community has in groups and out groups. And if there are some groups that you have been taught — just subtly, as you were raised — to think of negatively, you will treat that person differently when you encounter someone from that group, without any negative intention on your part, even if you possess egalitarian beliefs. That's why you have to acknowledge that I and everyone else is a part of the human family, and these are normal human processes that occur, and the first step to addressing it is to acknowledge: "It could be me."
Following is a review - I wrote on Amazon in 2012:
Drum Majors for Justice
"Khalid el-Hakim, the founder and curator of The Black History 101 Mobile Museum, has compiled a wealth of important quotes from African American politicians. I know I have read or heard many of them but there are also many new to me. The book is a learning experience for those of us who have formed one single opinion of a person who happens to be a politician - an elected voice.
el-Hakim has chosen his drum majors well. Their words have and will inspire anyone reading them. Through the words of these leaders we are shown how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Open racism is making a roaring comeback in ... this country, as if a newly re-made style of dress is again in fashion and flaunted without shame. Some wearers never retired theirs.
"Upsouth" has thrown off its gauzy cover and bared its ugly truth whereas the places that never bothered to hide it become fiercer by the day. There is no "all in your mind" explanation for feeling snubbed, overlooked, belittled and in danger. That sneaky kind of abuse - more insidious and damaging to the body, is slowly disappearing. Which is actually a good thing. Better to know what you are facing than to think you're paranoid.
The recent brazen injustices being rained down on black "citizens" makes me better understand what my parents lived through. When Rosa and Martin locked arms in rebellion, I was just a month old. I never thought I'D see the day when open season on black youth was considered justified and courted. I, like others, felt we had made strides into being seen as human beings, not creatures who shouldn't BE. And, the brute horror of the weak excuses for the jokes, the slip of tongues, the cruelty; I have no words.
This book is especially important for our youth. Many would not know of the collected items of brutality and mockery were it not for the made in Michigan Black History 101 Mobile Museum. Seeing the artifacts such as sticks and chains can be a bit hard for young people to process. el-Hakim thoughtfully ends his exhibits on a positive note. This book is one of the ways he can continue to do so. Drum Majors for Justice needs to be heard loud and proud. We must answer the call and tighten our grip on the freedom some would snatch away with impunity.
Our youth must realize we never took our beatings laying down."
In Franz Kafka's story, The Metamorphosis, spineless Gregor Samsa learns the hard way; his terrible descent chronicled in a prescient tale. No wonder this author has been deemed as mad. I prefer to think he was extremely angry (paying attention) and a highly sensitive person (HSP) as am I. He was an unconventional person, to say the least..
A favorite professor of mine - Dr. Dorothy Lee - was teaching our class and became somewhat passionate in her dissection of the story. I am quoting her words which caused me to laugh out loud and almost fall from my desk: "So, in essence, Gregor Samsa acquiesced into cockroach-ness." Humor can save your life.
So, will more of the UPright continue to stand up?
Copyright 2017 ? Karen E. Dabney
The above is a "gentle" yet effective explanation relating to adaptive changes.
WHAT WAS PASSED OFF AS AUTHENTIC:
[WARNING: This "letter" is not an easy read.]
The Willie Lynch Letter: The Making Of A Slave
This speech was delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners there. The term "lynching" is derived from his last name.
December 25, 1712
Gentlemen: I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies, where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome's would envy us if my program is implemented.
As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose version of the Bible we cherish, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasions. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree, a couple miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, You suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed. Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a foolproof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least 300 years [2012]. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves and make the differences bigger. I use fear, distrust and envy for control. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is "age" but it's there only because it starts with an "A." The second is "COLOR" or shade, there is intelligence, size, sex, size of plantations and status on plantations, attitude of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that distrust is stronger than trust and envy stronger than adulation, respect or admiration. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don't forget you must pitch the old black Male vs. the young black Male, and the young black Male against the old black male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female vs. the male. And the male vs. the female. You must also have you white servants and overseers distrust all Blacks. It is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect and trust only us. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful of each other. Thank you gentlemen
Lets Make a Slave
It was the interest and business of slave holders to study human nature, and the slave nature in particular, with a view to practical results. I and many of them attained astonishing proficiency in this direction. They had to deal not with earth, wood and stone, but with men and by every regard they had for their own safety and prosperity they needed to know the material on which they were to work. Conscious of the injustice and wrong they were every hour perpetuating and knowing what they themselves would do. Were they the victims of such wrongs? They were constantly looking for the first signs of the dreaded retribution. They watched, therefore with skilled and practiced eyes, and learned to read with great accuracy, the state of mind and heart of the slave, through his sable face. Unusual sobriety, apparent abstractions, sullenness and indifference indeed, any mood out of the common was afforded ground for suspicion and inquiry.
Let us make a slave.
What do we need? First of all we need a black nigger man, a pregnant nigger woman and her baby nigger boy. Second, we will use the same basic principle that we use in breaking a horse, combined with some more sustaining factors. What we do with horses is that we break them from one form of life to another that is we reduce them from their natural state in nature. Whereas nature provides them with the natural capacity to take care of their offspring, we break that natural string of independence from them and thereby create a dependency status, so that we may be able to get from them useful production for our business and pleasure.
Cardinal Principles for making a Negro
For fear that our future Generations may not understand the principles of breaking both of the beast together, the nigger and the horse. We understand that short range planning economics results in periodic economic chaos; so that to avoid turmoil in the economy, it requires us to have breath and depth in long range comprehensive planning, articulating both skill sharp perceptions. We lay down the following principles for long range comprehensive economic planning. Both horse and niggers is no good to the economy in the wild or natural state. Both must be broken and tied together for orderly production. For orderly future, special and particular attention must be paid to the female and the youngest offspring. Both must be crossbred to produce a variety and division of labor. Both must be taught to respond to a peculiar new language. Psychological and physical instruction of containment must be created for both. We hold the six cardinal principles as truth to be self evident, based upon the following the discourse concerning the economics of breaking and tying the horse and the nigger together, all inclusive of the six principles laid down about. NOTE: Neither principle alone will suffice for good economics. All principles must be employed for orderly good of the nation. Accordingly, both a wild horse and a wild or nature nigger is dangerous even if captured, for they will have the tendency to seek their customary freedom, and in doing so, might kill you in your sleep. You cannot rest. They sleep while you are awake, and are awake while you are asleep. They are dangerous near the family house and it requires too much labor to watch them away from the house. Above all, you cannot get them to work in this natural state. Hence both the horse and the nigger must be broken; that is breaking them from one form of mental life to another. Keep the body take the mind! In other words break the will to resist. Now the breaking process is the same for both the horse and the nigger, only slightly varying in degrees. But as we said before, there is an art in long range economic planning. You must keep your eye and thoughts on the female and the offspring of the horse and the nigger. A brief discourse in offspring development will shed light on the key to sound economic principles. Pay little attention to the generation of original breaking, but concentrate on future generations. Therefore, if you break the female mother, she will break the offspring in its early years of development and when the offspring is old enough to work, she will deliver it up to you, for her normal female protective tendencies will have been lost in the original breaking process. For example take the case of the wild stud horse, a female horse and an already infant horse and compare the breaking process with two captured nigger males in their natural state, a pregnant nigger woman with her infant offspring. Take the stud horse, break him for limited containment. Completely break the female horse until she becomes very gentle, whereas you or anybody can ride her in her comfort. Breed the mare and the stud until you have the desired offspring. Then you can turn the stud to freedom until you need him again. Train the female horse where by she will eat out of your hand, and she will in turn train the infant horse to eat out of your hand also. When it comes to breaking the uncivilized nigger, use the same process, but vary the degree and step up the pressure, so as to do a complete reversal of the mind. Take the meanest and most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of the remaining male niggers, the female, and the nigger infant, tar and feather him, tie each leg to a different horse faced in opposite directions, set him a fire and beat both horses to pull him apart in front of the remaining nigger. The next step is to take a bull whip and beat the remaining nigger male to the point of death, in front of the female and the infant. Don't kill him, but put the fear of God in him, for he can be useful for future breeding.
The Breaking Process of the African Woman
Take the female and run a series of tests on her to see if she will submit to your desires willingly. Test her in every way, because she is the most important factor for good economics. If she shows any sign of resistance in submitting completely to your will, do not hesitate to use the bull whip on her to extract that last bit of resistance out of her. Take care not to kill her, for in doing so, you spoil good economic. When in complete submission, she will train her off springs in the early years to submit to labor when the become of age. Understanding is the best thing. Therefore, we shall go deeper into this area of the subject matter concerning what we have produced here in this breaking process of the female nigger. We have reversed the relationship in her natural uncivilized state she would have a strong dependency on the uncivilized nigger male, and she would have a limited protective tendency toward her independent male offspring and would raise male off springs to be dependent like her. Nature had provided for this type of balance. We reversed nature by burning and pulling a civilized nigger apart and bull whipping the other to the point of death, all in her presence. By her being left alone, unprotected, with the male image destroyed, the ordeal caused her to move from her psychological dependent state to a frozen independent state. In this frozen psychological state of independence, she will raise her male and female offspring in reversed roles. For fear of the young males life she will psychologically train him to be mentally weak and dependent, but physically strong. Because she has become psychologically independent, she will train her female off springs to be psychological independent. What have you got? You've got the nigger women out front and the nigger man behind and scared. This is a perfect situation of sound sleep and economic. Before the breaking process, we had to be alertly on guard at all times. Now we can sleep soundly, for out of frozen fear his woman stands guard for us. He cannot get past her early slave molding process. He is a good tool, now ready to be tied to the horse at a tender age. By the time a nigger boy reaches the age of sixteen, he is soundly broken in and ready for a long life of sound and efficient work and the reproduction of a unit of good labor force. Continually through the breaking of uncivilized savage nigger, by throwing the nigger female savage into a frozen psychological state of independence, by killing of the protective male image, and by creating a submissive dependent mind of the nigger male slave, we have created an orbiting cycle that turns on its own axis forever, unless a phenomenon occurs and re shifts the position of the male and female slaves. We show what we mean by example. Take the case of the two economic slave units and examine them closely.
The Nigger Marriage
We breed two nigger males with two nigger females. Then we take the nigger males away from them and keep them moving and working. Say one nigger female bears a nigger female and the other bears a nigger male. Both nigger females being without influence of the nigger male image, frozen with an independent psychology, will raise their offspring into reverse positions. The one with the female offspring will teach her to be like herself, independent and negotiable (we negotiate with her, through her, by her, we negotiate her at will). The one with the nigger male offspring, she being frozen with a subconscious fear for his life, will raise him to be mentally dependent and weak, but physically strong, in other words, body over mind. Now in a few years when these two offspring's become fertile for early reproduction we will mate and breed them and continue the cycle. That is good, sound, and long range comprehensive planning.
Warning: Possible Interloping Negatives
Earlier we talked about the non economic good of the horse and the nigger in their wild or natural state; we talked out the principle of breaking and tying them together for orderly production. Furthermore, we talked about paying particular attention to the female savage and her offspring for orderly future planning, then more recently we stated that, by reversing the positions of the male and female savages, we created an orbiting cycle that turns on its own axis forever unless a phenomenon occurred and resift and positions of the male and female savages. Our experts warned us about the possibility of this phenomenon occurring, for they say that the mind has a strong drive to correct and re-correct itself over a period of time if I can touch some substantial original historical base, and they advised us that the best way to deal with the phenomenon is to shave off the brute's mental history and create a multiplicity of phenomena of illusions, so that each illusion will twirl in its own orbit, something similar to floating balls in a vacuum. This creation of multiplicity of phenomena of illusions entails the principle of crossbreeding the nigger and the horse as we stated above, the purpose of which is to create a diversified division of labor thereby creating different levels of labor and different values of illusion at each connecting level of labor. The results of which is the severance of the points of original beginnings for each sphere illusion. Since we feel that the subject matter may get more complicated as we proceed in laying down our economic plan concerning the purpose, reason and effect of crossbreeding horses and nigger, we shall lay down the following definition terms for future generations. Orbiting cycle means a thing turning in a given path. Axis means upon which or around which a body turns. Phenomenon means something beyond ordinary conception and inspires awe and wonder. Multiplicity means a great number. Sphere means a globe. Cross breeding a horse means taking a horse and breeding it with an ass and you get a dumb backward ass long headed mule that is not reproductive nor productive by itself. Crossbreeding niggers mean taking so many drops of good white blood and putting them into as many nigger women as possible, varying the drops by the various tone that you want, and then letting them breed with each other until another cycle of color appears as you desire. What this means is this; Put the niggers and the horse in a breeding pot, mix some assess and some good white blood and what do you get? You got a multiplicity of colors of ass backward, unusual niggers, running, tied to a backward ass long headed mule, the one productive of itself, the other sterile. (The one constant, the other dying, we keep the nigger constant for we may replace the mules for another tool) both mule and nigger tied to each other, neither knowing where the other came from and neither productive for itself, nor without each other.
Control the Language
Crossbreeding completed, for further severance from their original beginning, we must completely annihilate the mother tongue of both the new nigger and the new mule and institute a new language that involves the new life's work of both. You know language is a peculiar institution. It leads to the heart of a people. The more a foreigner knows about the language of another country the more he is able to move through all levels of that society. Therefore, if the foreigner is an enemy of the country, to the extent that he knows the body of the language, to that extent is the country vulnerable to attack or invasion of a foreign culture. For example, if you take a slave, if you teach him all about your language, he will know all your secrets, and he is then no more a slave, for you can't fool him any longer. For example, if you told a slave that he must perform in getting out "our crops" and he knows the language well, he would know that "our crops" didn't mean "our crops" and the slavery system would break down, for he would relate on the basis of what "our crops" really meant. So you have to be careful in setting up the new language for the slaves would soon be in your house, talking to you "man to man" and that is death to our economic system. In addition, the definitions of words or terms are only a minute part of the process. Values are created and transported by communication through the body of the language. A total society has many interconnected value system. All the values in the society have bridges of language to connect them for orderly working in the society. But for these language bridges, these many value systems would sharply clash and cause internal strife or civil war, the degree of the conflict being determined by the magnitude of the issues or relative opposing strength in whatever form. For example, if you put a slave in a hog pen and train him to live there and incorporate in him to value it as a way of life completely, the biggest problem you would have out of him is that he would worry you about provisions to keep the hog pen clean, or the same hog pen and make a slip and incorporate something in his language where by he comes to value a house more than he does his hog pen, you got a problem. He will soon be in your house.
[The way the speech seems to break off and the inconsistency/typos surely means this version has been altered. In the following, Professor Ampin states it is not the "longer version".]
"DEATH OF THE WILLIE LYNCH SPEECH", Part III:
12 Reasons to Stop Promoting the Fake “Willie Lynch” Speech ~ Prof. Manu Ampim
It is well-documented that slavery was a brutal anti-Black institution organized by Euro-Americans, and thus there is no reason to add silly myths to this fact. However, many people are lazy and do not want to research and read important works on slavery, but rather they want a Ripley’s Believe It or Not version of history to summarize the entire 400 year experience of Black people in 1 page! Even the alleged forger of the Willie Lynch “document” (see #2 below) has stated that the speech “will not show you how to control a population, you have to go deeper” than this. No one has ever found the location of the *original copy* of the “Willie Lynch speech.” Likewise, in the longer version of the fake Lynch speech Frederick Douglass’ name is mentioned as the author, but the 20th century fabricator never considered the fact that the Douglass Papers are in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC), and there is no such document related to “Willie Lynch” in these files. This can be verified by either visiting the Library of Congress or searching the files online (www.loc.gov). As I documented in Part I, the fake Lynch “document” first appeared in an online database in 1993. The person who gave the “document” to the librarian who posted it online at the University of Missouri at St. Louis asked to remain anonymous. Authentic documents do not just magically appear in a cloud of secrecy.
2. Since writing the first two Willie Lynch essays, the man who claims to have created the first version of the fake Willie Lynch “speech” contacted this author to confess his actions. The forger wrote a confession letter to this author to indicate that he fabricated the “speech” in 1979, and that he willingly, but reluctantly, admitted his actions to me because I pinpointed the profile of the person who wrote the modern speech.
In Part I, I stated the following, “It is clear that the ‘Willie Lynch Speech’ is a late 20th century invention because of the numerous reasons outlined in this essay. I would advance that the likely candidate for such a superficial speech is an African American male in the 20s-30s age range, who probably minored in Black Studies in college. He had a limited knowledge of 18th century America, but unfortunately he fooled many uncritical Black people.” When the forger read my above comments while he was surfing the net, he indicated that he simply said, “Damn, the brother got me!” because of my accurate description. In my next communication, I will give the full details of the forger’s identity and his confession statement, but he asked that I not reveal his name until he finishes his next book. I will respect his request and give him a short amount of time before presenting all of the details of this entire story. Suffice it to say that the alleged forger is an established African American member of a noted university, he has a Ph.D. in psychology and specializes in brainwashing, and he is a long-time member of a Black psychological group.
3. There has been complete silence from all of the noted historians, anti-slavery abolitionists, and pro-slavery advocates alike regarding the “slave consultant” Willie Lynch or his alleged 1712 speech. There is not a 2 single mention of this alleged consultant or his influential “speech.” (Many Willie Lynch followers incorrectly state that it was a “letter” that he wrote, instead of a speech given).
4. There are many who know (and admit) that the “speech” is fake but they want to “wake up” Black people. In other words, they consciously lie to Black people when it is convenient. What else are these people willing to lie to us about if it serves their interest? Besides, the racism (white supremacy) and lack of response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the flooding of New Orleans is the biggest “wake up” call that any of us have seen in the 21st century. Never before have we witnessed an entire urban Black population permanently dislocated from a modern U.S. city. Black people have had many real life wake-up calls in America and the Willie Lynch supporters can take their pick of the shocking real life historical speeches, documents, and events that have “waken up “ the Black community. They could choose from this list if they are short on historical facts: David Walker, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829); Henry Highland Garnet, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States” (1843); William Wells Brown, “Slavery As it Is” (1847); Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the 4 th of July” (1852); Paul Finkleman, Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South (A Brief History with Documents), 2003; James Allen, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America (2000); Frances Cress Welsing, The Cress Theory of Color Confrontation and Racism /White Supremacy ( 1989); Cheikh Anta Diop’s “Two Cradle Theory” in The Cultural Unity of Black Africa (2000); Michael Bradley, Iceman Inheritance (1991); the assassination of Black leaders in the 1960s; and the 1991 videotaped beating of Rodney King.
5. Since the publication of my first two essays in this series the argument has shifted from the Willie Lynch speech being “real” to the position of “the speech may be a myth, but the tactics outlined in the speech were real.” The major problem with this position is that the tactics outlined in the Lynch speech were not used by slavemasters. There is no evidence that there was any system by slavemasters to divide Black people based on male vs. female, young vs. old, or tall vs. short, etc. The Lynch promoters have no concern for the fact that these are late 20th century issues. The actual historical tools of control were to use violence, instill fear, and force Black people to adopt the slavemaster’s values and belief system in order to keep them subservient and docile. The specific tactics that were used are clearly documented in the first-hand texts of Frederick Douglass, David Walker, and Olaudah Equino, etc. and these included division by language, ethnicity, occupation, class status, etc. Also, Paul Finkleman’s work, Defending Slavery (2003), contains the most influential first-hand documents used and promoted in the 18th and 19th centuries by the defenders of slavery, and there is no mention of Willie Lynch and his alleged “tactics.”
6. The information in the 1712 “Willie Lynch speech” is false and based on historical ignorance. Here are a few facts: (1) In 1712 Queen Anne was the ruler of England, and King James I (1566-1625) had long been dead for almost a century. In this 100 year period, there were no less than six rulers of England since the time between James and the alleged speech, and very few people would have still seen James as an “illustrious king.” By comparison, as proud as many people are to be “American,” yet very few of them have any idea who was a U.S. president 100 years ago. (2) Hanging Black people from trees was a practice that began in the mid-1800s and was not a method of murder used in 1712. (3) The term “Black” as an ethnic indicator with a capital “B” was not used in the 18th century. The capitalized term “Black” did not come into usage until the emergence of the Black Power Movement in June 1966. (4) There was no such region as the “South” in 1712. This regional designation did not occur until after the American Revolutionary War (1775- 1783). Before this time there was simply the “13 American colonies” without any distinction between 3 “North” and “South.” (5) If Willie Lynch was a slaveowner of British descent, then he would have certainly used the British spelling of “colour” (instead of “color”).
7. “Willie Lynch” and white people are not omnipotent gods which gives them the power to make a single speech and somehow control 40 million Black people 300 years later. Black people should leave the cult and stop worshipping Willie Lynch and the powers of white people because they are not gods!
8. The fake Lynch speech keeps Black people in a mode of ignorance, and believing in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” kindergarten myths. Rather than teaching critical thinking skills and how to access primary sources to learn about their history, the Willie Lynch cult followers are more focused on promoting urban myths. This cult following keeps Black people in a perpetual role of simple-minded people who are constant victims that simply focus on their victimization, and can do nothing because Willie Lynch has such omnipotent authority. The use of a fictional kindergarten “document” instead of original first-hand materials is completely unnecessary and teaches Black people to believe in fairly tale myths, rather than learning legitimate research methods. The Willie Lynch fairy tale has no more historical value than the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Mary Poppins, or Santa Claus to the progress of African Americans.
9. Even if the fake “Willie Lynch” speech were a legitimate document, it does not give Black people anything to do. There is no agenda or plan of action, but only to be in awe of Willie Lynch’s power. Like most urban legends, the Lynch speech is simply designed to create shock without any action plan. Black people are presented as helpless victims, who are hopelessly paralyzed by a 300 year old speech, and unable to solve social problems because of Lynch’s mighty authority. This is a perfect excuse for the lazy person who has no real interest in working to solve the problems in the African American community.
10. Knowledge of the “Willie Lynch speech” has done absolutely nothing to improve the materials conditions of Black people in America, and it has not improved marriage rates, divorce rates, murder rates, or any other social problem. No intelligent argument could be made that Black people are better off because of the “discovery” of the Willie Lynch speech, so there is no practical value in promoting it.
11. The fake speech completely disregards the great tradition of African American resistance to enslavement. Herbert Aptheker in American Negro Slave Revolts (1965) documents numerous uprisings and this is only one form of this tradition of resistance. There were other forms of African cultural resistance to social disintegration. For example, Sterling Stuckey in Slave Culture (1987) documents the African cultural retentions through rituals such as the ring shout, which is a traditional African community sustaining practice that became central to the cultural transmission of African traditions into Black life in America. However, many Willie Lynch promoters falsely believe that if it is pointed out that African social structure held the dominant influence on Black life even in the midst of slavery, then somehow it is being argued that slavery was not a brutal institution. They incorrectly believe that it is either one or the other, but it is actually both/and, meaning that both slavery was a vicious institution, and the traditional African social structure provided an effective defense against complete social disintegration. The Lynch supporters should be proud to come from such a strong heritage that was able to sustain itself through one of the greatest tragedies in human history, rather than thinking that Euro-Americans are being “let off the hook” for slavery. To assume that na?ve Black people were simply controlled and manipulated by the all-wise slaveowners would require a total dismissal of the evidence of plantation and city life during slavery. The fact must be acknowledged that African culture was resilient enough to sustain itself throughout several hundred years of the vicious slave system. In the words of the poet Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise.”
12. The “speech” promotes ignorance of the negative impact of the 20th century on Black family and community life. For years the works of E. Franklin Frazier and Stanley Elkins had been accepted as the definitive history of Black families, and both writers concluded that slavery destroyed the Black family and decimated Black culture. However, this thesis about the Black family was first challenged by John Blassingame, The Slave Community (1972), whose use of slave narratives indicated that in the slave quarters Black families existed as functioning institutions. Other studies also challenged the Franklin-Elkins thesis, but it was the landmark study by Herbert Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom: 1750-1925 (1976), that put to rest the enduring myth that the Black family was destroyed during slavery. Through the use of plantation birth records and marriage applications, Gutman concluded that the two-parent household was the dominant family form during slavery. Using census data for a number of cities between 1880 and 1925, Gutman found that the majority of Black people of all social classes were living in nuclear families as opposed to single-parent homes. Their family forms evolved from family and kinship patterns that had originated from African extended family values and communal behavior patterns. As sociologist Robert Staples states, “[T]hese historical studies demonstrate that the Black family was a stable unit during slavery and in the immediate postslavery years. [I surmise this is where whites who claim Black lives were better while enslaved base their argument. I see it as an accomplishment by Black people to have adapted to their bondage and making the most of what they could of a terrible situation. Perhaps Sally Hemings (The mother of Thomas Jefferson's children) had Stockholm Syndrome?] The rise in out-of-wedlock births and female-headed households are concomitants of twentieth century urban ghettos” (Staples, The Black Family, 6th ed., pp. 4-5). It was the triple negative factors of migration, urbanization, and integration during the “Jim Crow” era which brought about the disintegration of the Black community in the mid 20th century, and to ignore these potent factors is misguided. (See Part II for a detailed discussion). The divorce rate was never an issue in the Black community until the 1960s, and in fact it was California’s Family Law Act of 1969 (went into effect on January 1, 1970), passed by Governor Ronald Reagan, which created the “no fault divorce” that has caused a great deterioration of the Black family. The vast majority of us born in the South can still remember that our grandparents and great grandparents were in a married relationship and a two-parent household. Further, there were no Black gangs, black-on-black violence, disrespect of elders, or abuse of women in the Black community until the 20th century. [No more arguing with my elders about that!] The triple negative factors of migration, urbanization, and integration have had a far more destruction impact on the social fabric of Black community life and marriage than did slavery, despite the savagery of the U.S. slave system. To dismiss the 20th century origin of these problems as unimportant would be foolish to say the least. Any solution-oriented person knows that to solve a social problem, one must first determine the true source of the problem, rather than invent silly myths about its origin.
Manu Ampim is a noted professor of history and Africana Studies. [email protected] www.ManuAmpim.com 510.568.3880"
INFORMATION REGARDING THE EXPOSURE OF THE "LETTER":
The Willie Lynch Letter is mentioned in the movie The Great Debaters [starring Denzel Washington]. The notions of the letter became popular after Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan quoted parts of it during his speech at the Million Man March in 1995. Farrakhan later used the letter to support his claim that slave owners used the letter to control slaves.
The letter purported to be a verbatim account of a speech delivered by Willie Lynch to an audience gathered on the bank of the James River in Virginia in 1712 regarding the management of slaves. Lynch, a slave owner, tells other slave masters that he had discovered the secret to controlling black slaves by setting them against one another.
[Dr. Kwabena Fasheem] Ashanti claims that he wrote the letter in 1970 as a way to present his theory related to the current division inherent in the black community. The document was assumed to be an authentic account of slavery during the 18th century, and was used by members of the academy, ministers and activist to draw attention to the ongoing implications of slavery.
The letter advises slave owners to take advantage of the differences among the slaves – dark skin versus light skin, straight hair versus nappy hair, house slave versus filed slaves. The philosophy of the letter fit already existing assumptions within the black community. The letter gave credibility to the notion that deep division within the black community is a carryover from enslavement.
Malcolm X used the same thought process in his speech Message to the Grassroots. Malcolm spoke about the two types of enslaved blacks: the “house Negro” and the "field Negro”. The house Negro lived in his owner’s house, dressed well, and ate well. He loved his owner as much as the owner loved himself, and he identified with his owner. If the owner got sick, the house Negro would ask, "Are we sick?” If someone suggested to the house Negro that he escape slavery, he would refuse to go, asking where he could possibly have a better life than the one he had.
Malcolm X described the field Negro, who he said were the majority of slaves on a plantation. The field Negro lived in a shack, wore raggedy clothes, and ate chittlins. He hated his owner. If the owner's house caught fire, the field Negro prayed for wind. If the owner got sick, the field Negro prayed for him to die. If somebody suggested to the field Negro that he escape, he would leave in an instant. [I take issue with this belief because ALL "house Negroes" and "field Negroes" could not possibly have been solely one or the other. I'm believe Malcolm X was saying so for impact and did not mean for his descriptions to be taken so literally.]
Malcolm X said that there are still house Negroes and field Negroes. The modern house Negro, he said, was always interested in living or working among white people and bragging about being the only Black in his neighborhood or on his job. Malcolm X said the Black masses were modern field Negroes and described himself as a field Negro.
The Speech to the Grassroots has been used to define and celebrate authentic black identity. It led to the usage of the label “Uncle Tom”. Malcolm’s words were rendered within the context of a revival to define blackness in a way that repudiated thoughts and actions that mirrored a celebration of white identity.
Ashanti has authored at least ten books that focus on the importance of an Afrocentric culture and the education of African beliefs. His book Psychotechnology of Brainwashing examines what he calls the system of White Supremacy’s niggerization process. He concludes that all areas of our society conditions Black people to fear and seek acceptance from White people, while degrading Black lives. His work seeks to reverse that process.
A librarian at the University of Missouri-St, Louis, posted the Willie Lynch Letter on the library’s Gopher server in 1993. The librarian later revealed that she obtained the document from the publisher of the St. Louis Black Pages, a local newspaper. Although she was convinced the letter was a forgery, she elected to leave it on the Gopher server because she believed that “even as an inauthentic document, it says something about the former and current state of African America.”
Roy Rosenzweig and William Jelani Cobb, two respected historians, have been on record that the letter is hoax before Ashanti’s confession. The opinion of the academic community has not tainted the relevancy of the letter in the eyes of many. Like the librarian at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the assumptions of Ashanti’s hoax are real enough to transcend his hoax into the realm of truth.
The questions related to Ashanti’s game are many. What does it mean when you formulate a philosophy based on assumptions that are not validated by true scholarship? What are the dangers connected to teachings lessons tied to historical pain devoid of a clear connection between the past and the present.[?]
It can be assumed that Ashanti’s hoax is relevant to the discussion involving the psychology of black people. We could assert a high level of continued brainwashing and niggerization. All of that may be true, but can we make that claim simply because it feels that way?
With that being said, what are the consequences of embracing any theory based on thoughts created by the person who uses the hoax to justify their claims?
Sounds like brainwashing to me, but it could be argued that I’m brainwashed.
~ Carl W. Kenny, II Rev-elution blog March 21, 2013
About Carl W. Kenney II
Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”. He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina
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RECOGNIZE AND REVOKE PASSIVE PERMISSION
The Monster YOU Create
by Karen E. Dabney
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