AFRO MENTALITY

Translation to Today's Racial Psychoanalysis

"The Negro was to accept the biracial system and his subordinate status. He was to seek advancement within the confines of his segregated black world. He was to develop the friendship of influential whites and use their assistance.

By cultivating habits of hard work, thrift, and honesty, he was to demonstrate his claim to wider acceptance and better treatment. Above all, he was never to present any organized challenge to the existing order of things or engage in movements which might be regarded by whites as detrimental to their economic and political interest."
...Booker T. Washington

The previous statement was written more than 90 years ago in the context of an explanatory analysis of how blacks were expected to behave as citizens within the world of white supremacy. The writer displays an extraordinary understanding of the white mentality and distributes this knowledge equally well to any curious black mind. He pen-pointed the entire black-white experience from a historical and ironically modern perspective, and as he put it so very well to the generation of his time, we will thus take his understanding and apply it to today's black-white relationship, which can be easily done.

The Negro was to accept the biracial system and his subordinate status.

The biracial system today is vastly different from the writer's day, and of the generation before his. Lacking blatant and open bigotry, the biracial system today has toned down to a whisper of prejudice fueled by political correctness and mainstream cultural stereotyping. Nonetheless, blacks have deemed this new biracial system as culturally acceptable, which has, in turn, contributed to their continued subordinate status in mainstream society.

He was to seek advancement within the confines of his segregated black world.

Not in the confines of the segregated white world, but in the segregated black world. If this stipulation was not meant literally then, it has validity today. The way blacks strive hard for positions of authority within the white world and within their own communities are intense. A prestigious position in the white world is a mark that black leaders are fiercely fighting for to this day.

Equal rights in different places of society: employment, education, and social events. Equal rights in every activity offered to the American citizen, from entertainment to sports (not necessarily sports) to police protection and political representation. Though the concept is to encourage racial integration and affirmation in society, facts and statistics confirm that racial equality is far from accomplished.

He was to develop the friendship of influential whites and use their assistance.

It was a good thing to know a white person in a position of authority then, and for that matter, even now simply because it is whites who have the high positions. The appointment of blacks to equally high positions within organizations and legislative areas are not because the blacks have developed a friendship with the whites, but because by law these organizations and legislative areas are required by law to promote racial equality. Other than that, the above statement still goes.

By cultivating habits of hard work, thrift, and honesty, he was to demonstrate his claim to wider acceptance and better treatment.

Blacks had to prove their worthiness to whites that they could function in society as responsible citizens, or more preferably, civilized human beings. Once proved, blacks earned the right to be treated as citizens and humans. The basic premise then, remains a fact now. The only way blacks, or anyone for that matter, in a capitalist society to have anything is to prove themselves responsible. However, hard work, thrift and honesty are not prerequisites anymore, its credit.

Above all, he was never to present any organized challenge to the existing order of things or engage in movements which might be regarded by whites as detrimental to their economic and political interest.

This has been proven by the murder of influential and effective black leaders such as MLK and Malcolm X. To this day, there are no real black leaders who are a threat to the existing order of white society because the media will give no attention to anyone who voices and opinion contrary to the inequalities and injustices in America. Blacks have fallen to an acceptance to this tactic of restraint and are convinced that all is good.

The passage captured the mindset of whites during the time of blatant racial bigotry. The signs are not physically displayed in store windows and institutions of learning and places of employment, but the psychological signs remain. Deep within the psyche of many whites lies this mind set. Blacks are viewed indiscreetly as having to prove their worthiness. They are stereotyped continually as leaches and burdens to society whether they are successful or not. They are mocked, undermined, excluded and targeted by various social areas of mainstream America.

The question is how should blacks approach this type of treatment and/or whether they should approach it at all. Is fighting for social acceptance among whites worth it? If this was the attitude 100 years ago and the residue lingers in society today in similar forms, is progress being made? Or, should blacks ignore this call for social acceptance and live according to their own sense of humanity and God-given culture. Solution, live according to the God-given culture and ignore a social status quo, let whites wrestle with their own civilized worthiness.