Lauryn Smith Created on: August 20, 2007

The Psychological Effects of Slavery The official records say slavery lasted around 300 years. The records only include the physical enslavement and not the mental. Africans bodies were enslaved for 300 years but the generations afterward are still psychologically enslaved. Going through something as traumatic as the experiences Africans had during slavery will not only affect them then but affects the future generations now. People may not know or choose not to believe that the previous statement is true. I believe in order to fix or current psychological state we must first learn how we came to be as we are. In the first section of "Breaking the Psychological Chains of Slavery", Dr. Akbar states that African Americans still carry the attitude we had towards "work" during slavery presently. He explains of the toilsome and unprofitable (towards the slave) work Africans were forced through on a daily basis. Then he explains how Saturday, Sunday, and holidays were a mini emancipation from work. So because of this attitude slaves associated work with enslavement and no work with freedom. Now African Americans are in a continual state of mind were we work comfortable jobs for other people and only wait for weekends. In this sense of work I highly agree with Dr. Akbar. For me school is like my job. I come to school to go home and go home to prepare to come back to school. Then all the while I'm waiting for five days to be up so I won't have to wake up in the morning and start the same routine again. I want to learn but at the same time I want to just socialize. And I know I can't have it both ways. I have to change my work ethic before I hit college otherwise I doomed to fail before I even begin. The next section was on property. Back in slavery slaves weren't given anything and if so it was very little. Dr. Akbar seems to be saying that African Americans associate material goods with power rather than knowledge and intellect. Then when we do get something it's bought for no reason. In essence African Americans are willing to buy a $5,000 couch we'll never sit on instead of taking that $5,000 and putting it towards books for college. As for vandalism Dr. Akbar states that unconsciously we enjoy it because it takes a little prestige away from "Massah". Unfortunately I have to agree again. More so when I was younger I'd ask for a toy before a book. I've observed how on television "the ghetto" is constantly being glorified. A few years back I really didn't care about it

so I didn't notice it. I have to admit before I became wiser to the world as it is I was more interested in how big my mansion would be instead of planning the furtherance of my education. I still want nice things occasionally but I don't value them more than an education that can take me further than a $1500 tailored suit. African Americans are unfortunately inclined to reject natural leaders. Through no fault of our own we have been programmed to reject natural leaders that could lead us to true salvation. We are held down by ourselves Dr. Akbar seems to point out. During slavery, slave masters would as Dr. Akbar stated, "...either eliminated, isolated, killed, or ridiculed", these natural leaders. In place of those leaders would "slave bodies with master heads." In other words the replacement leader was nothing more than the master's pawn. Black people nowadays will go along with a an oppressor's leader than our own. I find this section to hold truth. When I was younger my role models were rich entertainers not leaders of black people. To me the entertainers were more flashy than Malcom X or Farrahkan because of the entertainers "bling bling." I too unfortunately rejected true leaders because they weren't as flashy as the people I saw on television. Another reason I didn't accept these natural leaders within my black community was because these leaders were being put down by their very own people. Me being young, naive, and having very little independent thoughts of my own I followed the mainstream. I know better now thankfully. The clown is a big part of what is setting African American people back. In slavery "the clown" was an essential tool for survival. Being the clown saved slaves from feeling the wrath of their masters. Being the clown also somewhat gave that certain slave status because they were in the master's favor. Today African Americans now carry this identity with them. Comedy or athletics is primarily where you'll see African Americans. African Americans are more prone to accept somebody is funny/entertaining rather than somebody who has book smarts. In a previous paragraph I explained how I looked up to mainly entertainers rather than people with intellect. To me it seems we [African Americans] are programmed from birth by our parents/guardians and environments to follow funny. When you're young if you don't follow what's "in" your ultimately put outside of the group. It seems today television is a big part of people's lives. The television delivers pictures and words faster than reading something for yourself. Then behind the television the only way you'll see another African American is if they're in a comedy or playing some type of sport. The intellectuals are put down before they can even rise up.

Personal inferiority is a key issue that holds African Americans back. Slavery was degrading, dehumanizing, and took what little self-respect they [Africans] had left. The master was looked upon as being surperior because of the power he had over the slaves. Another thing that strengthened the thought white is right was that Jesus and all his disciples were all portrayed as white people. In futile attempts we today unconsciously try to become caucasion because we "think" it looks better. Little things like "My hair is so nappy. I can't wait to get it straightened" which we do unconsciously because of the stigma left from slavery. I think we are exposed to this inferiority complex when we are young. As a young child I'd watch on t.v. the commercials of the Barbies. The white Barbie always stood out and had better accessories than the other "ethnic" Barbies. I didn't know at age six that I unconsciously thinking, "I need the white Barbie because she better than the other ones." The cycle wasn't broken until the experience I had in Toys 'R' Us. I was around eight years old and looking for a Barbie. The particular Barbie I wanted the white ones were sold out. An African American saleswoman pointed out to me there were still the black Barbies there. I said I didn't want that one. Then she responded, "Why not? Isn't she just as good as the other one?" That's when I kind of realized I was unconsciously thinking white Barbie is better than black Barbie. I will forever be grateful to that one black woman who helped me to begin accepting black is just as good if not better than white. Since slavery African American communities have been divided by many factors. To divide the community as a whole was to take the unity out and turn the hate inward. This method has been effective past the 300 years of slavery Dr. Akbar explains. Anything that makes us different, we use it to separate ourselves from each other. Two of the biggest dividers are economic status and skin color. Lighter skinned slaves were taken in by the masters as house slaves. The masters (although still feeling they were surperior) boosted the ego of the lighter-skinned slaves so they in turn their noses up to the field hands. This is still prevalenttoday. I notice how all the light-skinned people are more often told they're "pretty" because of their lighter eyes and hair color. Sometimes those light-skinned people turn their noses up because I'm darker than them. When I was younger my hair was really kinky and people wouldn't say much besides, "Ooh you got thick hair", or hear them snicker "Her hair looks so nappy." Then when I got older and started getting relaxers and I heard more "Ooh she got pretty straight hair." So now this got me thinking why do you think my hair is so "pretty" when it's straight but the moment it gets a little kinky the complements stop? Quite frankly it pisses me off. Unfortunately I'm a walking contradiction because I still

get relaxers out of convience rather than necessity. Little things like that plus more, I believe will keep us divided because we aren't looking at the big picture. Slavery has had the affected the African American family the most Dr. Akbar explains. He goes into detail how during slavery the role of the father was completely destroyed. Since he couldn't do the basic things such as provide and protect his family black men have just stop caring. They go from place to place having kids and moving on to the next one. The mother role was destroyed because during slavery a mother could not properly nuture and protect her children from the slave master. So now African American women have kids at a young age and don't know how to take care of them, which just perpetuates the cycle of the missing father and lone mother. For me it wasn't uncommon for me to hear that somebody didn't know their daddy or that somebody was being raised by a relative particularly a grandparent. I myself was raised by grandma. I never really thought much of it because she raised me and my brother as best she could with what she had. I know my dad but he's not exactly "the strong father figure" I think I need. And so yeah I know my mom but she wasn't exactly "the nuturing mother" type that I think I need. My Grandma had to be both of them rolled into one. Since I know of this new information I kinda feel like not only I was cheated but so was my brother because are parents weren't really there honestly. And this situation of other people and sources are raising the children besides the paternal parents. All this information Dr. Akbar was giving was really hitting home for me and honestly it hurts to know this now. Yet another line in the sand that divides our African American people. Something as trivial as who's lighter or darker. To make slavery justifiable whites passionately preached that their God was white and said as punishment for your sins you'll get dark skin and now you must be a slave for the rest of your life. White people turned religion against us and hell they even turned us against ourselves. It is now apparent to me that the trauma of slavery still exsists! Black people African Americans in particular we turn against each other and don't even recognize it or we choose not to. I personally think it's in clear view to see. We are being trained from birth to think let's know as little as possible of slavery so we can think about for a month and then brush it off because "we've moved past it." We're made to believe nothing can affect you if it wasn't you who was the slave some 300 years ago. The system is still enforcing slavery many African Americans ignore it because that's not what's in. We are being distracted by the likes of Hollywood, CNN, and all these billion dollar business to not pay attention to our history. Basically they're saying "Don't pay attention to your history, it's in the past; focus on the

lastest fashion trend it's more important to be in style." And I hate to use this quote because it came from a Disney movie of all things but the quote was, "It is true the past can hurt but you can either learn from it or run from it." Well me I want to stop running and start learning.

http://www.helium.com/items/538565-200-years-post-the-abolition-of-slavery-how-farhave-we-really-come?page=5