The colonized mindset: The enemy within African communities

The writer puts forward the argument that unless the slave/colonial mindset is recognized as the active enemy within African communities world-wide, attempts to understand the social and economic dilemmas faced by the race will be useless. It is this mindset more than anything else that has been negatively affecting the Afrikan individual/family /organization/community and nations alike.

African adults tend to refer to others in whom they think they have detected the mindset as "being colonial or slave minded" in a most benign way. It is as if having this mindset is similar to having a flue. You treat the symptoms and eventually it should go away if the immune system is acute and alert. In reality however, it is the most virulent psychological condition any group of people can have, and is prevalent amongst African communities worldwide. The damage it inflicts is too enormous to consider in this essay, too enormous for the condition to be taken as lightly as it currently is. It has and is still destroying from individuals to revolutions to states; good examples being Patrice Lumumba's Congo, Thomas Sankara's Burkina Faso, Walter Rodney of Guyana, Cabral, Malcolm X and Bantu S. Biko, to name but a few.

When foreign money, the lust for power and the colonial mindset meet, destruction is sure to follow. The mineral rich Democratic Republic of Congo remains the most tragic example of what this state can do to a country today. Another example is Angola before the timely death of Savimbi, " Washington's kept man". Failure to confront and systematically deal with this enemy is equivalent to failure to live and/or thrive.

History

The disastrous effects of slavery and colonialism on the physical aspect of the Africans in the Americas, the Caribbean and mainland Africa have been well documented by a host of European and African historians such as Basil D. Davidson, Walter Rodney and Professor Jeffries. However, few writers have focused on the devastating and debilitating effects of the mindset on the emotions of the bearer as Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950). He is in most probability a pioneer in this field of enquiry seen in the manner he addresses this condition in his book "The Mis-Education of the Negro". Later, Dr Na'im Akbar would follow in his footsteps when he painstakingly outlined the same psychological effects in his book "Chains and Images of psychological slavery". Professor Joy Leary recently attempted to put the psychological trauma concept in the public domain during a recent lecture tour in London, but then few Africans wanted to even contemplate this concept as an explanation for some of their behavior towards each other and others, let alone their state.

It is of paramount importance for Africans to understand the disastrous reality of the sate accurately described by Woodson and take action to treat it. Those with the particular affliction are in reality no better than indentured slaves in this system since they are in no position to make choices for themselves, but are led by the nose to their detriment, in servitude to the system. Survival on the long term is impossible. "When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand there or go yonder. He or she will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary". Woodson showed a lot of insight and foresight in his early detection of the destructive side of the slave/colonial mindset. It is a pity that most Pastors and other self-appointed "community" leaders seem not to know of Woodson's teachings, and if they do then they do not recommend this book to the many families who come through their doors as the positive impact on our communities would be far-reaching. Other than that, due in large part to ignorance of the state, non even bother with a plan of action to treat this mindset.

Examples

This mindset certainly has as much a blindfolding effect as it brainwashes. Above all, it induces an inferiority complex where Afrikans end up hating blackness and anything that relates to it. Good examples are African girls aspiring to be like their "blonde Barbie dolls", African men dreaming of marrying "a Barbie doll" type of woman as soon as they arrive in Europe and/or UK/USA/Canada, so as not to have children who are "too black". Michael Jackson’s obsession with his costly body- altering project is another sad example. It also causes US Africans/Afrikans to focus on the body, material gadgets, short cuts. The physical environment of the home is often out of balance with the people who inhabit the space. Homes always have a blonde type Jesus on the walls but no other famous Africans like Bantu Biko, Thomas Sankara, etc. The African educationalist and parents both on the mainland, Caribbean and the Americas have avoided including or making the early and middle years curricula more relevant to our developmental needs. This opportunity to change our course of history is missed again and again.

At the organizational level, colonial minded but super qualified committee members are often afraid to put decolonization strategy and/or Pan-Africanism into the constitution of their organization. This also affects the type of name or identity they take on. Take as an example the NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of "Colored" People). We do not exist in isolation from others, and even small things eventually connect and affect us all. One would have thought the society's apartheid South-Africa like racial policies would have caused this organization to re-think it’s chosen name, for example make a change from NAACP to NAAAP, but of course shifting as close to the aspired ideal race was more important. One could only guess when you start your organization with white liberals or Jews in leadership roles the de-colonization agenda never became a priority for this organization. The OAU/AU is no different in this respect. It has been in existence for over 50 years and still cannot bring itself to be known as a Pan-African organization. As a result, it remains a toothless nationalistic organization.

Even when organizations put Pan-Africanism at the forefront, for example PAC in South-Africa, the de-colonization process and project, which is necessary for health and longevity of the organization, is not a priority either. Well meaning or naïve activists continue to take a gamble by hoping against hope that a few committed and reliable people could suddenly change 400 years of psychological damage facing Africans locally and worldwide. Things could have been different if the PAC was able to capture the interest and support of the majority of the 24 million native South-Africans and their Rands, to keep the movement financially buoyant and turn it into a politically powerful force in South-African society. The mindset nurtures self loathing, self-hate , self-destruction and a lowering of self-confidence.

This is also evident in the practice of self-harming through bleaching the skin, straightening the hair and looking to Europe and European institutions as saviors. It also makes killing each other almost acceptable. The eminent African-American Bobby E. Wright (1984) explained in his book: "we have never been trained to kill Europeans" but, "we seem to be able kill each other (black on black violence) instinctively. It also makes us have a warped and unrealistic view of our reality. It may cause some, like Dr Kenneth B. Clarke to say 'race is irrelevant'". Even the African American Dr Alvin Poussant used his qualification to avoid addressing the current colonized condition of the race. He used his stint in Ebony Magazine to deal with a few middle class anxieties.

What a shame!

The Slave/Colonial mindset: the Trojan Horse

The Europeans understand how important the psychological warfare project is to their continued hold on Africa, which is why they got their missionaries to influence chiefs and other leaders in Africa to send their young children to their missionary schools. At these missionary/faith-based schools, young children were indoctrinated on a grand scale. These young children come from cultures where almost all adults are feared and or certainly not questioned, which made the work of the European teachers easier. This is why it should not alarm us or surprise us that Mobutu, Savimbi and their cronies behaved in the way they did to their own people and their own resources.

The mindset, the lust for power and foreign money mainly from the USA kept them destroying their respective countries, in the name of capitalism and the other G6 powers. The USA officials who paid Savimbi through Mobutu millions and millions of American tax-payers money to literally destroy a revolution and 2 countries, have never been brought to justice. If both of these colonial minded individuals did not die, they would still be destroying their countries of birth and squandering their resources for self-aggrandizement, with Washington’s approval. The foreign powers/handlers knew millions of people were being torched, tortured, killed, maimed, punished and starved of food and other life necessities, in their interest. Whilst all this was happening in full view of other Africans, many of them, including Diaspora Africans in the Caribbean, continued going to the states "to make it". Meanwhile Africans affected by these individuals and American money and foreign policy eventually started heading for the UK and the USA seeking "refuge".

It should not surprise us at the way the Europeans view certain individuals. The American state had to get rid of Malcolm X by any means necessary. The Belgian/USA/UK governments saw Patrice Lumumba as an uncompromising character when it came to his understanding of independence. France could not stomach an independent minded Thomas Sankara who wanted to transform Burkina Faso in the interest of it's people. The apartheid South-African regime did not dare allow Bantu Stephen Biko to live: he was too clear about his position and his understanding of the social/economic/political situation. He wanted all or nothing. Walter Rodney exposed the hypocrisy of Europe's role in Africa. It became a real annoyance in European academic circles. The under-development was the strategy and the means to achieving this outcome was to nurture their own "loyal Africans". Off course the "loyal Africans" are another name for the colonial minded.

Rich men and women often have their "kept women/men". Well, rich Europeans also have their "kept Africans". France has Francoise Compoare of Bukina Faso. The USA has theirs in the form of Paul Kagame. Spain/USA has Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Africa's third largest producer of oil. Shell and the UK and other oil companies operating in Nigeria have been keeping the Hausa dominated army and government in power since 1970. The CIA/USA/France had army man Hissen Habre, a man who was overtly less than friendly to USA's imagined enemy Gadaffi. Chad named him "Africa's Pinochet". USA supported the Duvalier family for 30 years, and of course Savimbi in Angola, etc., etc. See William Blum (2001) "Rogue State". Chapter 17.

The Consequences

If African thinkers and educationalists alike continue to neglect the content of early and middle years curricula, they would be fighting a losing battle against the slave/colonial mindset, capitalism, fashion and mass-media. The same way one cannot expect to put new wine in an old wineskin so too one cannot expect the slave/colonial minded to suddenly change his or her learnt behavior. This behavior has been around for the last 350 years. It was induced as a strategy of control and might also have started as a means of coping in strange and often hostile societies in the Caribbean and America in the late 17th century. Joy Leary would argue African communities must admit the existence of post traumatic syndrome before the treatment could be sought. No admission means that this major debilitating psychological condition would linger and fester away.

Of course when a few like Ngugi wa Thiongo' (1938-) changed his behavior in his adulthood by going back to his Gikuyu name and writing in his own language rather than English should be inspirational to the rest who remain in this regressive state of mind. He used his book "Decolonizing the mind: the politics of language in African literature" (1986) as a platform to encourage Africans challenged about their attitude towards Africa. Ngugi wa Thiongo' encourages African writers to write in their own language to make their books more meaningful to Africans on the continent. It is not only about writing in one's own language though that is a positive start. It is about having a core teaching curricula that could be used world-wide. Even if people write in their own indigenous language but continue to see Europe as the solution to their problems, the colonized mindset remains untouched. The writer applauds the work of Haki Madibuti and Dr Karenga and Molefi Asante. Africans need more people like the above if we are to progress and be taken seriously.

Why are members of NJAC (National Joint Action committee) and their 36 year old organization in Trinidad still viewed as not worthy of support from the majority of African-Trinidadians? It is the slave/colonial mindset which makes people ridicule others for re-claiming their African heritage by taking on African names. One can often hear African-Trinidadians and other Africans born abroad saying in a most offensive voice, "I am not African" when asked about their identity. That is the colonial mindset affecting their common sense, expressing their ignorance.

Where do we begin?

The logical place for decolonization to begin is in the home, with parents taking the lead. The early years 0-11 is the crucial time to inculcate the Afrocentric values. It means that we have to be prepared to build our own nurseries and create our own culturally inclusive and sensitive curricula. The parents must be re-educated. It is almost pointless waiting until a child becomes an adult, when he may or may not be exposed to Pan-Africanism. All the research available would agree that the pre-natal and early years are the most important educating years. Ideally, the decolonization ideals should be embedded in the early years curricula. The Community leaders and families should make attempts to discuss post trauma syndrome and it’s effects openly and proactively put into place some short term and long term remedies.

African American writers who wrote the "The Black Parenting Book" did not pursue the de-colonization project in their book either. There are 17 chapters in this book yet Pan-Africanism and/or the issue of the slave/colonial mindset were not addressed in a very active way. Three chapters on Family Traditions and Spirituality without making mention of the importance of Kwanzaa. There was a chapter on " Black and Proud", not African/Afrikan and Proud. There should have been a chapter on how and why Africans came to the condition of self-hate and hate of all things African. Where did it all begin? The book tackled particular parenting approaches that are used by African American parents but they did not attempt to give the psychological or economic reasons why most African parents worldwide use the authoritarian model rather than the authoritative model.

Authoritarian: Parent is powerful, assertive/aggressive (verbally or physically). Adult leads or makes all the decisions, which are imposed on child. May be highly critical and exacting. Parents may be likely to use shouting and hitting. Parents may even talk about "I want you to fear me".

Authoritative: Parents use reciprocity and a democratic style, which allows child to lead but establishes safe limits and boundaries. Parents are likely to use encouragement, provide choices and highlight consequences and positive feedback and use time-out and put penalties in place as part of their disciplining package.

It might have been helpful to explain why some African parents use the former than the latter? It would have been more useful to write the book in some African languages and use a work book with exercises to involve all members of the family. This book could be described as the product of well meaning, qualified, but obviously apolitical professionals. The writers tackled all the symptoms but never ventured near the core causes. They missed an opportunity to focus on the link between the type of the society which produces such parents focusing on a post-colonial/slave/capitalist/racist society such as the USA.

Conclusion

The Decolonization project and treating post trauma syndrome are as necessary to Africans as oxygen and water are to humankind's existence. Neither can be avoided any longer due to it being "too sensitive" an issue. The message to all the Pan-Africanists/Humanist individuals, families and organizations that are always short of committed; reliable and disciplined foot soldiers is this: put some of your efforts and money into the 0-11 years olds and an African Parenting project based on an Afrocentric model and treatment for psychological trauma and other self-harming behavior. If any individual/family or organization is interested in the future well being of Africans, the aforementioned approaches are vital. Otherwise, a plethora of colonial minded and dishonest Pastors from diverse Christian sects, the mass-media, fashion, cars and short term attractions and whatever other European cultural left-overs will forever grab the minds of the majority of Africans.

The slave/colonial mind is dangerous to Pan-Africanists and African humanists alike. Those African "kept men" or Europe's trojan horses will continue the pauperization policies of a very rich continent. They will repeat policies and slogans without even analyzing them. They will be the major obstacle to progress, changes, self-empowerment and unification of African peoples. Instead of enabling and building capacities and re-skilling people, they will disable, de-skill and pauperize people. The colonial minded knows no better. The Europeans using their white skins as authority continue to pamper and encourage their "kept men" to the detriment of the majority of Africans, who continue to suffer and to be killed with the weapons made in the USA/UK/Israel and other European countries.

References

Akbar Na'im (1992) Chain and Images of psychological slavery- Winston-Derek, Nashville, TN

Blumm W. (2003) Rogue State: Chapter 17. Zed Books London UK

Brittain V. (1998) Death and Dignity: Angola's Civil War. Chapter 2. Pluto Books. London UK

Woodson C.G. (1937) The Mis-education of the negro. Africa World Press NJ USA

Wright B.E. (1984) The psychopathic racial personality and other essays. Third World Press Chicago, Illinois USA

Yep Ive always thought this aspect of our culture kills resistance at source and stunts our growth. All the economic theories in the world wont help unless this problem is addressed.

Good read.

Mansamusa wrote: Yep Ive always thought this aspect of our culture kills resistance at source and stunts our growth. All the economic theories in the world wont help unless this problem is addressed.

We have addressed this problem from time immemorial and its a waste of time and effort to continue to address it. The durable solution to this problem is to get sorted out enemies within us. Other races have done this and it worked perfectly for them. We cannot reason with them in Africa, West Indies, South America, North America and elsewhere.

obal85 wrote:
How has it been addressed in the past/ post slavery and colonialisation. Surely not through education.

I wonder how the refugees who fled the ancient Kemetic and Ethiopic empires toWest Africadealt with this. Surely they were under the same stress.

I am guessing Obal5 means something similar to necklacing, leashing of the dumb or breeding them out as seenin some black communities, in apartheid SA to mention one case. is this what you imply, Obal?

Yeah black people have been talking about the colonized mindset for some time now. I don't think that we've gotten anywhere with these talks. Things have not changed and seem to be getting worse. Education won't change our predicament. For one, we don't have the means to educate the black masses especially in the West. And even if we were able to do this, our people still have to live with white supremacy; even on the continent we are not free of Europe's strong influence. Without a culture that enforces our ideals, many of us will still be vulnerable to white ideals. Hence what we really need is to make changes to our culture, to make sure that we have a culture that is not only strong but that extols our values and not theirs. Right now, black culture is more like an off shot of European culture. We take what their culturesay, tweek it a little and then proceed to follow these norms as if they originated with us.

The reason why we have been unable to get rid of self-hatred is not from a lack of available information onthe subject. It is our own "culture" which is holding us back. For instance, with the hair situation, how are you going to get the majority of black women to wear their natural hair, when our culture tells them that afro hair is bad hair and that getting a relaxer is more normal than going natural? I don't even find it strange that black women are more comfortable withdying their hair the lightest shade of blond than they are with wearing an afro. Not only does white culture see the former as better but our own culture, tells us that what is white is best and therefore we should be more ready to go blond while steering clear of afros. Many black women who try to wear natural hair will face resistance from not only hair dressers but sometimes their family members as well. How many blonded up black women will ever face that kind of resistance?

The physical environment of the home is often out of balance with the people who inhabit the space. Homes always have a blonde type Jesus on the walls but no other famous Africans like Bantu Biko, Thomas Sankara, etc.

[align=center]clp)[/align]
[align=left]Also agree with A's comment as well though, its gotten into our homes to the extent where for example my parents have to decide if I can give my young cousin a book about Egypt as though its a problem, like it might hurt her in some way when I can see that her favorite subject is history and thats somethingwe're not taught in schools now a days which is probably enough to put her off the subject.[/align]
[align=left]To further that, and I feel to apologise forpointing it out,you've then got the distrust of people who speak englishto a certain degreeand who could be of a colonial mindset but aren't.All this can spread mistrust andslow things down. I've been looked at in the wrong wayquite a few times, quizzed about where I liveas though if its in a certain area I'm, ''Petty Burgeoise'' or something confused3.lol.Like a colonial mind set witch hunt or something. [/align]
[align=left]Not good.[/align]
[align=left][/align]

Rebel-Lion wrote: I have family like this too. There is anxiety when these things are discussed and they will screwtinise any books on our history or politics but think nothing when their child brings home a European written history book on Cecil Rhodes.

Alot ofblack peopleare like that. Among manyin our communities globally I would saythe feeling verges on paranoia.

I agree with others that we already know about our colonized mindset. And for anyone who needs to catch up, then I recommend reading the following...



What we lack is action. Our words mean absolutely nothing without action. I remember when Malcolm X saw that a Black man had been severely assaulted by the police and was detained without medical attention. A sister asked him what he was going to do since the Black Muslims talked so much about self-determination. What we need is establishment of our own networks of business. If we actuate our own capital, then that is the only way to filter out the parasitic Blacks from our own built up communities. I see no other way.