“When
African-Americans accept the deprecating accounts and images
portrayed by the media, literature, music and the arts as
a true mirror of themselves, we are actually allowing ourselves
to be socialized by a racist society. Evidence of racist socialization
can be readily seen when African-American children limit their
aspirations… It can be seen when we use the accumulation
of material things as the measure of self-worth and success.
So,
in spite of all our forbears who worked to survive and gain
their freedom; in spite of the efforts of all those who fought
for civil rights… we are continually being socialized
by this society to undervalue ourselves, to undermine our
own efforts and, ultimately, to hate ourselves. We are raising
our children only to watch America tear them down.
"Today,
the legacy of slavery remains etched in our souls. Understanding
the role our past plays in our present attitudes, outlooks,
mindsets and circumstances is important if we are to free
ourselves from the spiritual, mental and emotional shackles
that bind us today, shackles that limit what we believe we
can be, do and have. Understanding the Post-Traumatic Slave
Syndrome plays in our evolution may be the key that helps
to set us on the path to well-being.” -- Excerpted
from Chapter 5, Slavery’s Children
You
know an experience has been transformational when it
repeatedly brings you to the brink of tears, and this
is exactly what transpired while poring over the pages
of Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy
of Enduring Injury and Healing. For me, reading this
sensitive exploration of the African-American psyche
was the emotional equivalent of an all-day session on
a shrink’s couch, as I felt many pangs of recognition
as layer after layer of deep-seated traumas were diagnosed
and discussed, not as personal neuroses, but as the
plausible, predictable, and shared response of many
blacks to the predicament of being raised in a racist
society.
The
author, Joy DeGruy Leary, Ph.D. is nothing short of
brilliant in the way in which she approaches the subject,
prodding you to place present-day behaviors in a proper
historical context. Plus, Dr. Leary, a Professor of
Social Work at Portland State University, draws on her
18 years of practical work in the field dedicated to
mental health and cultural resilience. For it is her
contention that the subjugation of African-Americans
did not end with slavery and that freedom only meant
the master’s whip was replaced by the illusion
of equality and opportunity.
This
was witnessed in the Jim Crow laws, lynchings, de facto
segregation, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, restrictive
covenants, redlining, gentrification and other assorted
measures which arose to maintain the status quo. In
reaction to the ongoing oppression, black people developed
an identifiable set of survival skills, some of which
were self-destructive. And it is these harmful symptoms
which Dr. Leary is interested in eliminating in order
to put her people on the road to healing.
So,
after initially expressing the notion that the dysfunction
found in African-Americans is nothing to be ashamed
of, she exhibits all the care and concern of a doting
parent in discussing the introspective path to rebuilding
one’s self-esteem. Easier said than done, this
involves many steps, perhaps the most difficult being
a long, hard look in the mirror to know oneself. For
only after confronting and exorcising some societal
demons, will one be well enough to interrelate with
one’s community from a fresh perspective, as a
tender person, fully-informed, considerate and uncompromisingly
honest.
Required
reading, or should I say therapy, for every African-American.
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