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\African-centered Psychology, Education and the Liberation of \African-centered Psychology, Education and the Liberation of

African Minds: Notes on the Psycho-Cultural Justification for African Minds: Notes on the Psycho-Cultural Justification for

Reparations Reparations

Karanja Keita Carroll CUNY Bernard Baruch College

DeReef F. Jamison Savannah State University

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Daudi Ajani ya Azibo

Daudi Ajani ya Azibo

Daudi Ajani ya Azibo

KaranJa Kella Carroll and DeReef F. Jamison

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SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY AT NEW ORlEANS UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORlEANS

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A) Reparations

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AFRICAN- CENTERED

.PsYCHOLOGY, EbUCATION AND THE

LIBERATION OF AFRICAN MNDS:

NoTES ON THE PsYCHO-CULTURAL

JuSTIFICATION FOR REPARATIONS

Karanja Keita Carroll Black Studies

SUNY New Paltz

DeReef F. Jamison Africana Studies

Savannah State University

Abstract: One means through which reparations can be provided to communities of African descent within America is through the creation and institutionalization of culturally enriching after-school programming, African-centered Saturday schools and independent Black educational institutions. Rather than looking to reparations as merely financial compensation for the descendants of the formerly enslaved, we can look to reparations as they relate to the building of educational infrastructures that will impact future generations of African descendants in America. This essay outlines the psychological and epistemological consequences of miseducation that many students of African descent experience within the Eurocentrically orientated education institutions they attend; The reclamation and revitalization ofan African epistemology situates African people within their own cultural reality and allows them to stand firmly grounded in their cultural truth. We propose that reparations allocated through African-centered cultural enrichment programs that refute, counter and correct historical and cultural amnesia are critical as viable means for providing African descended people with the necessary tools needed in order to exist and flourish within the 21st century and beyond.

"­

Keywords: African-centered psychology; reparations, education

Karanja Keita Carroll is an Assistant Professor & Coordinator ofBlack Studies at SUNY New Paz. His teaching and research interests include the disciplinary

PsychO-Cultural JustifICation for Reparations

structure of Africana Studies, intellectual history within Africana Studies, AfricanlBlack Psychology, African-centered Social Theory and African-centeredTheory & Methodology.

Address: SUNY New Paltz, Faculty Office Building - West 4, New Paltz, NY 12561. Ph.: (845) 257-2721, Fax: (845) 257-2768, Email: carrollk@newpaltz.edu

DeReefF. Jamison is an Assistant Professor & Coordinator ofAfricana Studies at Savannah State University. His research interests are AfricanAmerican culture and gender identity, community activism among Black psychologists, the psychological aspects of oppression and liberation, and the intellectual history and diasporic connections ofAfricana Psychology. He has published articles in The Journal of African American Studies, The Griot, and The Journal ofPan African Studies, Address: Savannah State University, Social Science Building 208, Savannah, GA

N ican-centered psychological theorists are concerned with the .. dev~lopment of models that accurately .describe the reality of . fncan descended peoples and prescnbe culturally relevant

solutions to our lived conditions; all the whil¥ lfxistingwithin !l society based on a conceptual system that is at odds with the Way in which African people see the world. Leading scholars within this field have formUlated numerous arguments, models, constructs and measures that all function as important mechanisms for the proper assessment of African life and culture (Akbar 1984, 1991; Azibo, 1989; Hilliard, 1983,1987,2003; Kambon, 1992, 1996, 1998,2004; Myers, 1988, 1991; Olomenji, 1996; Owens Moore, 1996; Wilson 1993,1998; Wright, 1984). Building upon the arguments of these scholars and others, Daudi Ajani ya Azibo has advanced his conception of African-centered psychology as a "Liberation psychology" (Azibo, 1994;· unpublished manuscript). Azibo contends that liberation psychology involves transforming the African out ofoppression-induced psychological states, and achieving proactive natural development by actual participation in African survival thrust, as indicated by authentic African culture (Azibo, unpublished manuscript). This African survival thrust can be defined as "the condition and process of survival maintenance that is indigenous to and thus characterizes a racial-cultural· grOUP's genetic and geo-historical pattern undergirded by their cosmology" (Kambon, 1992:217). In other words, the African survival thrust manifests through thought processes, actionSlbehaviors and institutions that purposely and proactively operate in the best interest of African

.people and serve to improve their quality of life. Azibo also posits that in order to understand what Africana liberation psychology encompasses, it is important to

. consider four critical points:

(l) Africana liberation psychologists must be aware of the assumed universality of Eurocentric psychology;

55

54 Karanja Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison

(2) tho im,d,quOCY of "elusively using tho principles th.t c!orivo from tho theory, research and practice ofEurocentric psychology;

(3) tho probl • issUe of combining Eurooentric-thnugh! b"od .long with om tic

a superimposed African cultural perspective; and

(4) the fundamental premise that liberation psychology for people of African descent is and can only be African psychology (1994, unpublished

manuscript).

Martin~Baro .advances his own conception of liberation psychology. According to Martin~Baro (1996) liberation psychology is predicated upon the establishment ofanew epistemology and a new praxis. This new epistemology and p"",is is centr.1 t<> the important task ofreeovoring historic.1 m,mn<Y· For Martin­Baro (1996) "the recovef)i of a historical memory supposes thc reconstruction of models ofidentification that, instead ofchaining and caging the people, open up the horizon for them, toward their liberation and fulfillment" (p. 30). However, in articulating the importance ofthe relationship between liberation psychology and historical memory, Martin~Baro (1996) cautions that "It has to do with recovering not only the sense ofone's own identity and the pride of belonging to a people but also a reliance on a ttadition and a culture, and above all, with rescuing those aspects ofidentity which served yesterday, and will serve today, for liberation" (p. 30). Which is to say that those aspects of traditional African worldview(s) that are not applicable and relevant to our contemporary social, political and economic reality should be placed within their proper cultural and historical context, but the beliefs and values that can be modified and made practical in the liberation of African people should be encouraged, embraced and employed (Jamison, 2009). These various articulations of how psychology can be used in a liberatory fashion are echoed by Wilson (1998) when he suggests that African~centered psychology must be "a psychology ofpower...It does not merely describe the traditional nature ofAfrican people, or the orientations ofAfrican peoplebased on traditional African

··

These

culture. It is a psychology that is prescriptive as well as descriptive. It is a psychology of liberation" (p.7). African~centered psychology as a liberatory psychology thus musthave a transformative function in the lives ofAfrican people, by functioning as a mechanism of social change and it must also attack all that which is an affront to African existence and reality (Jamison,.2009; Kambon, 1992, 1996,1998,2004; Olomenji, 1996; Wilson, 1993, 1998; Wright, 1984).

Eurocentrically managed and oriented educational institutions systematically worked to undermine growth and intellectual potential of African descended people. In fact, many ofthe leading African-centered psychologistsand psychological theorists have been concerned themselves with engaging the interrelated relationship between psychology, education and self~knowledge(Bell, 1994; Hilliard 1987, 2003; Nichols, 1972, 1986; Wilson, 1993, 1998). scholars recognize education as a fundamentally cultural phenomenon that must contribute to the longevity of a people. Akoto, as a key theoretician ofthe African·

Psycho-Cultural Justificationfor Reparations

centered· education movement, correctly asserts, "Education is, by. definition, culturally referenced. Education in its truest form is indistinguishable from the process of enculturation" (Akoto, 1992:45). In acknowledging the cultural nature ofeducation, these scholars have correctly outlined the disproportionate number of African children in special education, along with the minimal numbers ofAfrican­descended children in gifted educational programs, as symptom of a cultural disconnect rather than an intellectual disconnection from education (Bell, 1994; Hilliard, 1987; Kwate, 2001; Losen & Orfield, 2002; Nichols, 1986; Williams & Land, 2006). African~centered psychologsts, along with many within the African­centered education movement (Arijotutu & Pollard, 2001; Akoto, 1992, 1994; Gordon, 1982, 1992; Benson, 1986; Lee, 1992, 2008; Lee et. aI., 1992; Lomotey, . 1992; Murrell, 2002; Perry, 2003; Shujaa, 1994) have worked tirelessly in clearly articulating the relationship between culture and education. Culture functions as a binding construct in that it influences all aspects of one's life and given the primary role of education in the development Of psychological healthy human beings, it is only logical that an educational psychology that is at odds with the cultural values and assumptions of its constituents will leave them only miseducated and/or deculturated (Hale-Benson, 1986). Given these consequences cultunilly relevant educational institutions hold a: number of the keys to freedom and have the potential to a form a firm foundation that African youth can utilize as they grow and development into psychologically healthy people ofAfrican descent.

This essay outlines the psychological and epistemological consequences of miseducation that many students of African descent experience within the EliToceJ;ltrically orientated education insti~tions they attend. The reclamation and. revitalization of an African epistemology'situates African people within their oWn cultural reality and allows them to stand firmly grounded in their cultural truth. We· propose that reparations allocated to and through African~centered cultural enrichment programs that refute, counter and correct historical and cultural amnesia are critical as viable means for providing African descended people with the necessary tools needed in order to exist and flourish within the 21 st century and beyond.

· RACE, EDUCATION AND REPARATIONS

Historically, race and class have been defining factors in determining the quality of education received by people in the United States (Gordon, 1990; Williams & Land, 2006). This has particularly been the case for people of African descent. From chattel slavery to jim crow and beyond, the education ofAfricans in theAmericas has been consistently torn with strife. Slave codes prohibited enslaved Africans from learning to read (Clark-Hine, 2010; Franklin, & Moss, 1994).

·.Enslaved Africans that were caught learning to read or learned to read were often severely punished. The denial ofeducation was an overt attempt to keep people of African descent from thinking and thus acting for themselves. Frederick Douglass's experiences highlight the yearning and desire of enslaved Africans to

57

56 Karanja Kei/a Carroll & DeRee[F. Jamison

become educated. Douglass valued reading and education so much that he used . cunning and conniving as means to learn how to read. Douglass literally tricked his. enslavers into engaging him in the educational process (Douglass, 2002). The role ofeducation in contributing to liberation was also exemplified in the slave revolts ofNat Turner, Denmark Vesey, and Gabriel Prosser (Clark-Hine, Hine & Harrold. 2010; Franklin, 1994; Kelley & Lewis, 2000). The leaders of these revolts all had one thing in common. They could read and therefore think for themselves. This critical consciousness resulted in liberational acts of resistance that attempted to free themselves and their people from bondage.

The African American quest for education has been discussed by several scholars (Akoto, 1992; Hilliard, 1987; Shujaa, 1992; Woodson, 1993). More recently the work of Theresa Perry (2003) and her discussion of an "African American philosophy of learning" has become a useful means of outlining this process. Relying upon the African American belief of "freedom for literacy and literacy for freedom," Perry correctly outlines the fact that African Americans have consistently connected education with their ability to change their current state of oppression. These links can be found through the era of enslavement, post­reconstruction,jim crow, civil rights and within this current post-modemfpost-racial moment. Perry (2003) suggests.that "this indigenous and operative philosophy of

. learning and schooling was capable of developing and sustaining the desire [to.· learn] ...primarily because education was so tied to the identity of African Americans as free people" (p. 12~ 13). Furthermore, Perry also argues, that for the enslaved "literacy was more than a symbol of freedom; it was freedom. It affirmed their humanity, their personhood. To be able to read and write was an intrinsic good, as well as a mighty weapon in the slave's struggle for freedom" (p. 13).· Similarly, Harris (1997) traces the historical trajectory of the education of Black folk and asserts:

From the end of Reconstruction until the late 1960s, Black Southerners existed in a social system that virtually denied them citizenship, the right to vote, and the voluntary control of their labor power. They remained an oppressed people. Black education developed within this context political and economic oppression....Black Southerners were formally free during the time when American popular education was transformed into a highly formal and critical social institution, their (African descent people) schooling took a different path (p. 144).

Psycho-Cultural Justification/or Reparations

for the education domain. One of the· organizations in the forefront of the reparations. movement is the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA). . N'COBRA operationalized five reparation domains: education, economic development, personal reparations, political prisoners and prisoners in general (Aiyetoro, 2003). Within the education domain, N'COBRA is calling for a ten billion dollar reparations down payment for ten regional campuses to provide 21 >' century undergraduate education and motivation for aspiring persons including those without high school diplomas (Azibo,2008;Coates, 2004).

As Ya Asantewa Nzingha recognizes, "Reparations should be used to finance educational institutions that restore cultural consciousness, wholeness, and academic excellenCe to people of African descent. These institutions should be totally controlled by African people and staffed with scholars committed to the reajricanization ofAfricans" (Nzingha, 2003:309). Franklin (2009) assumes the position that there lias been an intentional diversion ofschool funding away from African Americans and other disadvantaged groups. The main argument undergirding this diversion is that disadvantaged groups, African Americans in particular, are not teachable even though there is evidence ofSuccessfuJ academic programs that have contributed to improving the academic performance ofAfricanAmerican children.

Based on the· intentional diversion ofschool funding away from African American children, Franklin (2009), charges the American educationaJ system with educational malfeasance. Educational malfeasance is claimed "on the basis ofthe seven decades of misappropriation of federal and philanthropic funds by state departments of education and school districts" (p. 151). Educational malfeasance is also based on:

(I) educational research establishme . and other children from individ :;ts f~J1ure to ~rotect African American ofmoney to demonstrate th t uki s anI c~mpan!es that receive huge sums

. as. n co or IS destmy and

(2) companies that receive huge sum f ofcolor do not deserve to have ~eo money to ~emonstrate that children (Franklin, 2009:15 i). . same educatIonal resources as whites

. T~e tension involved in the pro~ess of educating African people has]rr Historically, ':educational researchers and their .. contm~ed m the 21't century. The relaltonship between race, education and~t> . cultural practIces to rationalize and im lemen sponso~ consistently engaged in reparatIOns has been discussed and debated in various circl~s (Aiyetoro 2003:.. t·,.,. ensure the racial status quo but to' IP h.tl educatIon programs not only to

, , it .. , pace c I dren of E Azibo, 2008; Robinson, 2001; Westley, 1998; WorrilJ, 2003). While questions&;tadvantaged position" (Franklin 2009'15J . uropean descent in an ~nceming the feasibilit:>-: and practicality.ofreparationsabound.and are often mired f~;/{ In tr~ci~g the ~hronology of ed~catio~al ~a~~:: non-Europe~n descent children: m heated.debate, the Idea of. reparatIons through education has been less~li "begmmn~ WIth the introduction of the Bi sanc: Franklm (~009) states that c?ntroverslal. ~or example, AZlb? ~2008) ~o~ducted ?study ofundergraduate~)\ psychol?gl~tHenryGoddardin,1910, educationnet SImon Intelhgen~e Test by vIews ofreparatIOns and found statIstIcally slgmficant hIgh levels of endorsement~\'i tests to JustifY the opening of separate sch I ~ resea~chers use~ vanous mental

00 s or Afncan Amencans and other

58

59

.

Kara,ya Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison

children ofcolor, and the introduction ofan industrial education curriculum in those segregated schools" (p. 151).

The disproportionate number of African American children placed in special education indicates that over one hundred years later, the detrimental practice ofmis-educating African American children still exists (Losen & Orfield, 2002). Black psychologists such as Robert Williams (1974) and Asa Hilliard (1987) recognized the abuses and misuses of measures of intelligence (Kwate; 200 I). Through the organizational structure of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi), Black psychologists vigorously attacked the limitations of the testing game. The ABPsi attempted to deconstruct the practice ofeducational malfeasance by:

(I) participating in the Larry 1:'. case that determined that intelligence test scores cannot be the only criteria for placing children in special education;

(2) declaring a moratorium on intelligence testing until the construct validity and cultural biases involved in intelligence testing are researched and resolved; and

(3) constructing a Consumer Bill ofRights that educated Black parents about the intricacies involved in the testing process (Hilliard, 1987; Kambon, 1998). .

Whether it is through the misappropriation of funds andlor the mislabeling of children based on intelligence scores, educational malfeasance, in all (ts various forms, "has been one of the practices necessary for the maintenance of white supremacy in the past and currently, but it was and is unjust, unfair, damaging and hopefully criminal" (Franklin, 2009: 153).

AFRICAN-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATION AND AN EPISTEMOLOGY OF LIBERATION

~:

In order to offset the nega rI~e 1m. pact ofeducational malfeasanc~, we m~st~kh' h it develops. ConSIstent WIth 1';,'/I I fi undatJons from w Ie . h b . r i,

fi," unde"tand the eu wra ~.can een....ed psychology. we pos>ttrnu' e ""~ 0 t: 'henry and ""emch w,thmAnd .n the worldVlew and ep'''CI'MlogocaJ f"

Psycho-Cultural Justi/icationfor Reparations

understanding of the universe (cosmology), being (ontology), values (axiology), reasoning (logic) and knowledge (epistemology), all contribute to the ways in which a people make sense of their lived reality and are essential components necessary in order to diagnose proper psychological functioning (Dixon, 1976; Akbar, 1984, 1991; Myers 1988,1991; Carroll, 2008, 2010).

The varied manifestations of an African worldview produced and developed by African people thrOUghout the African world have functioned as the basis ofthe African survival thrust (Kambon,1992, 1998). As it relates to education and knOWledge production, epistemological questions come to the forefront and reflect the Core components ofthe African worldview that stress the importance of spirituality, community, interrelatedness and interconnectedness (Ani, 1994; Kambon, 1992; 1998). Furthermore, these components function as the basis ofan epistemology of liberation grounded within the cultural values ofAfrican people. Our discussion of an epistemology of liberation posits that ways of knowing are CUlturally-specific. In doing so, we see the liberation of African people as contingent upon not only relying upon a unique way ofseeing and/or being within the world, but also relying upon an alternative way of coming to know reality. Thus to know and acquire knOWledge about reality based Upon one's own cultural values preserves African existenee and contributes to the liberation ofthe African mind, body and soul. .

Discussions of African; African American and African-centered epistemologies _are viable means for African-eentered thinkers to revisit the

.culturally specific ways of knOWing which· Africana people have relied upon throughout space and time. The Varied discussions of worldviewand its relationship to epistemology center on an African epistemology that recognizes:

(I) the fallacy ofobjectivity;

(2) the interrelation/interconnection between various areas ofknOWledge;

(3) knOWledge acquisition beyond the five senses; and

(4) the fundamental role of self kllo\.Vledge•.

Furthenno'C. BcvCl'ly GOnlon (1990) describes aMfrican A~CI'lcanepiste~l?gy " bemg"be"d npon selt'help. sel f'CI,,,",~ se""oe. cconom" autonomy. poh"cal

educmiounl malf",,:,anee IS mote 'd within western educali"!'al ms"'u'mnsjp po- ..d nationalIsm" (p. 95). Toge'hCl' the., subcomponen's of an Afrie," assumptions ,ceogrozel! "."d en::::"':J.a, are geounded witlun Euro<:en·"l!'i 'Pi,'emology CO?'c1bu'e to ~dCl'standlngthe ;!"po_oe ofpotential rcparntio", AmCl"ca? educm'onal ''''t':;' II the philosophical ""umP"?'" OfEun>J>:"~i.. fO'lreople ofAfne:m desoe", '0 Amenca, espec'ally " Urelate"o the.oe"",,htyof unive",!hsm and more Specl :~l. cesmanifested amougAfucan eh,ldren.mo l';'. olucatton ..d the ,mpo_oe of knowledge of self ro.. people of Amcan descent worldview. h~ve tomed ~Iwra 'h:::::'cational advaocamentofAfuean Amoo!"'¢::oiuemed io a society b"od upon global witite supremaey. eultu,,! defi"ts that on!y.'mpode ~videnttlrrough the "pphca"on ofthe worldvt"It . ". .

studonts. These conel"',o", "':s within ,he African Amenean commumty. ~ it .. Both the fallacy ofobJe<:Uvuyand'he mterrelaledn"s/mte~nne<:"'dnessworldvicw framework (Kam n ,framewock '0 educa"onal 'ss;;., 1992 1998) "'gues that a cultuml group '." of""" ofknOWledge proVlde the foundat,on foc und",,'andmg th"mportance of

60 Karanja Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison

an African-centered epistemology. Objectivity as an outgrowth of the European epistemology determines the manner in which one comes to know and/or attain information about phenomena within western institutions ofeducation (Ani, 1994; Carro112008, 20 I0; Richards 1979, 1980). Dona Richards discusses objectivity and its impacts upon the way people come to know phenomena. Richards states,

The knowing subject must disengage himself from that which he wishes to know. He must become emotionally uninvolved-detached. Indeed, he must become remote from it. By doing this, he successfully controls that which he wishes to know and thereby makes of it an object. The object has been created by the distance ofthe knowing self from the thing to be known (Richards, 1989:24).

Therefore, an African-centered epistemology questions such assumptions and approaches to the acquisition ofknowledge. In reality, the assumption ofobjectivity is an affront to an African cosmology and does not provide the foundation for the development of a truly African-centered epistemology. But more importantly as' Richards (1989) continues,

the African worIdview immerses us in a vibmnt universe. It seeks to close gaps-to do away with discontinuity-to bring us close to the essence of life. The epistemology it generates does away with distance. Since there is no distance, there are no mediators.' the mode ofour epistemological method is that ofparticipation, and relationship rather than separation and controL (p. 3 I)

Given the importance ofrelationships within the African worIdview, objectivity is rejected as a viable means to come to an understanding ofany phenomena, whether human or social.' At the same rate, It is necessary that when investigating human and social phenomena, we not look at them as singular entities but rather as multifaceted and multidimensional entities. This necessitates understanding phenomenon on multiple levels from multiple angles. Edwin Nichols agrees when he argues that children ofAfrican descent in America first see the whole and then the parts, while the Eurocentricaily orientated institutions that children ofAfrican descent attend primarily see parts separate from the whole. Thus, Nichols (1986) argues that "[t]eachers in American...primarily teach from the European model of parts to the whole. The difficulty for Black students is to make the tmnsition from one epistemological framework to another" (p. 13). The African-centered notion of wholeness thus impacts an African epistemology and reflects the stress upon recognizing the interrelatedness and interconnectedness of areas of knowledge production. ~.

An African epistemology also posits one can come to beyond the five senses. This should not suggest that the five senses are invalid and thus empirical methods are irrelevant.. Rather this suggests that knowledge comes through and beyond the five senses. Vernon Dixon's initial discussion

Psycho-Cultural Justification for Reparations 61

epistemological differences between African and European peoples contextualized this idea in relation to an "Affect-Symbolic Imagery Cognition" as a reflection of an African epistemology (Dixon, 1976; Bell, 1994; Moore, 1996). Dixon argues that, "Affective-oriented persons know reality predominantly through the interaction ofAffect and SymbolicImagery, i.e. the synthesis ofthe two factors ... ."Furthermore,

Affect personalizes the phenomenal world. It is one factor in the affect mode of knOWing. Affect, however, is not intuition, for the latter term means direct knOWledge or immediate knowledge (instinctive knowledge) without resource to reference from reason or reason about evidence. Affect does interact with evidence, evidence in the form of SymbolicImagery. (Dixon, 1976:134)

ClarifYing the concept of symbolic imagery, Dixon states it "is the use of phenomena (words, gestures, tones, rhythms, objects, etc.) to convey meaning" (p. 134.) Symbolic imagery, therefore, refers to occurrences that can be ascertained on the material level of reality. However, symbolic imagery is made sense of through its relationship with affect. Edwin Nichols reached similar conclusions arguing that '~Africans and Europeans also know knOWledge differently. Africans know through symbolic imagery and rhythm, while Europeans know throughcounting and measuring" (Nichols,1976: 134).

Yvonne Bell (1994) and Owens Moore (1996) build upon ear~ier discussions ofworldview ~nd epistemology, especially as it relates to the work of Vernon Dixon (p. 1976) and his notion of affect-symbolic. imagery. Bell's interpretation and utilization of the ideas ofDixon supports the previous discussed notiOn of epistemology as it develops out of the African worldview. As culture, worldview, epistemology and education intersect Bell correctly' argues that "Western behavioral science operates in an oppressive fashion for African Americans, in particular for African American students who receive their education in a system that mostly predicates its pedagogical standards and practices on the knOWledge acquisition process ofEuropean worldview" (Bell, I994:49). Thus one means of alleviating this travesty is to rely upon "pedagogical standards and pmetices" based upon "the knOWledge acquisition process" as exemplified above, all ofwhich are grounded within the African worldview.

Relying upon the fallacy ofobjectivity; the interrelation/interconnection between various areas ofknowledge; and the importance ofknowledge acquisition beyond the five senses, Dixon summarizes the epistemological assumption ofthe African worldview by stating "I feel phenomena; therefore I think; I know" (Dixon, 1976:136). Where as a European epistemology posits that, "1 step back from phenomena, 1 reflect; 1 measure; 1 think; I know; and therefore 1 am and 1 feel"(p. 133). Edwin Nichols reached similar conclusions when he argued that "In (B]lack culture, the orientation for the acquisition ofknowledg~ is: Iftel, I think; therefore,

63 62 Karanja Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison

According to Kambon (1998), descendants of enslaved Africans throughout the diaspora must "travel through this traumatic historical African experience and examine its undoubtedly powerful impact on the continuity of African historical memory (the disruption of it) and the contemporary psychological recovery movement" (p. 69). Central to Ani's and Kambon's understanding ofthe Maafa is the idea of the Maafa as a continuing dehumanization. Ani and Kambon view the Maafa as an ongoing and enduring process that has yet to end. In fact, it has now become a condition with particular psychological traits and behaviors that extend above and beyond the limited boundaries ofhistorical dates and eras.

I am. In white European culture the method ofacquisition is: I think, therefore, I am in the Cartesian reference" (Nichols, 1972:18). Thus Nichols correctly argues that "[e]pistemological models wherein subject-object questions remain primary, serve only to confuse ... The Afro-American epistemology must also be viewed with understanding [an] ascribed value-feel-think-being" (Nichols, 1972:20), Both Dixon and Nichols provide the foundation for discussions of an African­centered epistemology.' However, it was the authors of "Voodoo or IQ: An Introduction to African Psychology," who provide the final subcomponent of an African-centered epistemology.

In their seminal work, Cedric X. (Clark), D. Phillip McGee, Wade Nobles and Luther X (Weems) (1975) discuss epistemology in relation to self-knowledge arguing that "self-knowledge [is] the ultimate source of all knowledge" (p. 19). African psychology. thusly differs in its epistemological position from western psychology, by "recogniz[ing] the supremacy of internal (self) knowledge, as opposed to external knowledge" (p. 19). While external knowledge stresses the acquisition ofknowledge determined through factors outside ofoneself, it is only internal knowledge that is concerns with spiritual, psychological and mental health. These authors go on to further argue that self-knowledge through the development ofhigher consciousness is an essential component to their understanding ofAfrican psychology and byextension'anAfrican epistemology. Linda James Myers (1991) adds clarity to the importance ofself-knowledge. Relying upon the work ofEdwin Nichols, Myers posits that self':knowledge is the highestfom1 of knowledge and that all knowledge generates from a sociocultural context.

Together the fallacy of objectivity; the interrelation/interconn~tion between various areas ofknowledge; knowledge acquisition beyond the five senses; and the fundamental role of self knowledge, all work to provide the foundation for understanding the basis' of an African epistemology. Unfortunately, the epistemological assumptions that inform and guide American public education do not stem from the African worldview, leading to a conflict of epistemologies for students of African descent. .

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF THE MAAFA .

The conflict between African and European people is evident at the level ofworldview, however critical to understanding the intimate connection between the past and contemporary aspects of the psychology ofpeople ofAfrican descent it is necessary to investigate the experience ofenslavement. Ani (1994) refers to the enslavement and the continuing dehumanization of Africans throughout the diaspora as the Maafa or the great disaster. Kambon (1998) argues that "the Maafa must stand at the center of any analysis of the contemporary African psycho­cultural condition in the diaspora" (p. 69). Kambon (l998)also asserts that the Maafa is critical for understanding the psychology ofpeople ofAfrican descent for several reasons. Paramount among these are the following:

Psycho-Cultural Justification for Reparations

(I) It addresses and clarifies the psychological corridor oftime through which the masses of Africans entered the American context;

(2) It represents the essential process through which Africans in America became consciously disconnected from their core African cultural reality;and .

(3) The psycho-historical trauma of this horrific experience created a ctitica.l void and left behind a profound distortion in the (collective-cultural) psychological existence/identity of Africans (p. 105).

The ultimate purpose ofthe psychological deleterious effects ofthe Maafa was best articulated by Bobby Wright with his construct of mentacide (Azibo, 1989; Olomenji, 1996; Wright, 1984). Wright (1984) defined mentacide as "the deliberate and systematic destruction ofa group's minds with the ultimate objective being the extirpation of the group" (p. 19). Olomenji elaborates on the concept of mentacide:

Mentacide is the silent rape of a people's collective mind by the penetration and perpetuation of alien culture, values, belief systems, or . ideas for the purpose ofgroup destruction or for political use ofthe victim group. Mentacide's method is to control the behavior ofthe victim through mind control. Mentacide systematically utilizes the institutions which projectimage~, values, beliefs, and opinion. (Olomneji, 1996:73)

According to Wright, mentacidal attempts on Africans are part and parcel of WOrldwide phenomena designed to affect the African diaspora and is supported by institutions that seek to control all areas that impact the quality oflife experienced by people ofAfrican descent. In fact, Wright argued that the operant conditioning associated with the process ofmentacide has become "so effective that their victims accept their plight as being God's will" (Wright, 1984: 19). Once mentacide has reached this level ofseverity, it could be argued that the psychology ofoppression creates a condition in which African people internalize a false consciousness that implies that to fight against the oppressor is to fight against God (Akbar, 1990). Through the process of mentadde, the ultimate manipulation and modification of behavior takes place, which is the control of the mind, body and soul.

65 64 Karanja Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison

Psycho-Cultural Justification for Reparations In a similar vein, Kambon argues that cultural misorientation is the over

identification with European culture among people of African descent (Kambon 'maintain and perpetuate African inferiority. Robinson (2001) asserts "they have 1992, 2003). The construct ofcultural misorientation (eM) is also referred to as .taken my tax dollars and bought only what they need" (po 54). The idea that psychological misorientation (Azibo, 1989, 1994; Kambon, 1996). It is a schema . Africans, like all humans, have the need to acknowledge their ancestors in public ofbasic Africana personality disorder (Kambon, 1992). According to Kambon, the . spaces 'has been placed on the periphery and oft-times excluded from public cultural misorientation. paradigm postulates three levels or degrees of .discourse. However, according to Robinson, all people have a need to worship their misorientation: (I) minimal cultural misorientation, (2) moderate cultural .. ancestors and state-funded parks and museums are subtle yet blatant forms of misorientation and (3) severe cultural misorientation (Kambon, 1998,2003). The ancestorworship. Thus, contrary to popularized notions ofunderdeveloped heathen' minimal level of cultural misorientation reflects some aspects of a Eurocentric and pagan non-Europeans being the only people who engage in ancestorveneration, worldview orientation, although it is too weak to dominate the personality. Ye~' is "larger-than-life evidence of its industrialized-world variants ... .in every this condition also manifests many authentic African worldview expressions . public park in America" (Robinson, 2001 :54).

. strong African self-consciousness). Moderate cultural misorientation refers to a ' psychological orientation in people of African descent that reflects many For Robinson (2001), an important aspect of repairing the long-term internalized Eurocentric cultural values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, while at psychic damage incurred during the Maafa is for people of African descent "to the same time manifesting some pro-Black and African-centered cultural values, ' remember who we are, not remember with others who they are" (po 56). A major beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The severe level ofcultural misorientation refers .component of the psychological recovery movement in education is an attempt to to a psychological orientation in people ofAfrican descent where very few redress and reconcile psychic damage thrOUgh the reconstruction of historical pro-Black or African-centered values are evident, while still exhibiting an • memory. Along these same lines, Wilson (1993) states that "when we become overwhelming predominance ofpro-Eurocentric values and beliefs (Kambon, 1998, socially amnesic we forget our location in time arid space, because history is about 2003). The imposition ofpsychological slavery has produced these various forms. . locating one's selfin time and space (p. 41). He opines that "the historical amnesia ofcultural misorientation that manifest indifferent ways and continue to negatively' imposed on the collective Afrikan psyche by the repressive White supremacist affect people of African descent. . regime results not only in the sheer forgetting of their past but also in their failure

to learn from it...It leaves them without an historical/cultural basis for engaging in Mentacide and cultural misorientation, by-products ofthe lingeringeffects . · realistic and beneficial assessments Of others" (Wilson, 1993:123). If historical

of the chains and images of psychological slavery (Akbar, 1990), both have a · amnesia is to be refuted, a proactive historical memory that counters and corrects damaging impact on a group's cultural sense of self relative to their colleCtive '. histl,lrical amnesia is needed~ Historical memory is the 'intellectual cement that historical experiences. Robinson (2001) argues that it is important to consider allows a cultural group to stand firm and grounded in their cultural truth. It is the long-term psychic damage that people of African descent have inherited from the conceptual glue that ties and cortnects a cultural group's past, present and future. legacy ofenslavement. Bombarded with images that celebrate the cultural and historical contributions of others with little to no mention of their oWll

AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION AS REPARATIONS contributions, African people are left to ponder what their contributions are where are their seats at the table of humanity? This type of cultural racism, the belief that a panicular group has made no contribution to civilization, is most As this present analysis has shown, an examination of the contemporary evident in government funded public spaces. These public spaces leave people of. miseducation of African American youth has lead many to the conclusion that African descent wondering, perhaps unconsciously: the content, form, and implementation of the education of a people is

controlled by another people, that education serves no other purpose than the Who am I?...surrounded by the statuary ofothers, the sentinels ofothers, subordination of the less powerful group, and maintenance of control by the which were put there to comfort them and mock him, to take them to their · dominant group" (Akoto, 1992:44). Furthermore Clarke ~dds, powerful people truth and deflect him from his, to encompass those others and imprison · .never educate powerless people in the strategy of taking their power away from' him. Inevery central park. Posturing on pedestals. Atop rearing steeds. · them" (Clarke, 1991:419). Both. Clarke and Akow make accurate assessments of Majestically seated. Could it be that they are chanting? This is who we the politics of education for African descendants in America and suggests the are. This is who we are. Standing there as high as buildings in some . necessity of reparations applicable to the education of African descendant youth. , unending spasm of state-funded narcissism. (Robinson, 200 I:46) This has led some, such as Yaa Asantewa N'zingha, to argue that "reparations

shOUld be used to finance educational institutions that restore 'cultural Far from being objective, a-political historical markers, these public spaces are in. consciousness, wholeness and academic excellence to people of African descent"

(Nzingha, 2003:309).fact state-funded and constructed monuments to white supremacy that promote,

67 Karanja Keita Carroll & DeReefF. Jamison.66

There are three avenues through which cultural enrichment can be used as reparations and as a mechanism to advance the educational success of African descendant students within. the American educational. system. First, culturally enriching content can be infused within the current American public school curriculum (Gidding, 2001). Second, cultural enrichment programs can be developed as extra-curricular through afterschool and Saturday school programming (Kifano;1992; Ratteray, 1992; Shujaa, 1992). Finally, a network of. independent schools from K-12 can be created all of which are centered on culturally-relevant education (Arijotutu & Pollard, 2001; Akoto, 1992; Foster, 1992; Hoover, 1992; Lee, Lomotey & Shujaa, 1990; Lee, 1992; Lomotey, 1992; Murrell, 2002; Ratteray, 1992).

While the infusion of cultural content within the current public school system's curriculum is honorable, doing so does not disrupt the politics of education for people of African descent within America. Thus the lack of total control over the curriculum, pedagogical practices and overall institution, continues to place the student body at a disadvantage and only provides band-aid style .modifications. Infusion schemes have been created and implemented in the Philadelphia Public School and Florida Public School systems. In all of the discussed schemes the lack of total control over the academic institution is of greatest concern.

Wesley (1998) and Robinson (2001) have suggested that a priv.ate truSt be established to promote the educational advancement of African American youth. The trust would provide educational assistance to at least two successive K-12 college education generations and establish K-12 schools throughout the United States with residential facilities fof those Black children found to be at risk in unhealthy family and neighborhood environments. Robinson (2001 ) also argues for special purpose schools that supplt~ment public school offerings similar to the role performed by weekend Hebrew schools. Although the rigorous curriculum would focus on English, science, mathematics, and foreign languages, it would also emphasize a cultural specific approach that studies the diverse histories and cultures of the African diaspora. Educational initiatives such as these, that attempt to focus on integrating the study of Africana history and culture, are critical aspects of reparations since they encourage the 'intergenerational transmission of knowledge and embrace the need to understand the wisdom ofthe ancestors as important tools for creating a sense ofagency and empowerment for African people.

We take the position that the best means to disrupt educational malfeasance among African descendant students is through control over the content of the curriculum and pedagogical practices within independent educational institutions that offer full-time instruction from grades K-12 or supplemental

'~ educational programs through afterschool and Saturday schools, all of which are under the control of people of African descent (Foster, 1992; Ratteray, 1992; Nzingha, 2003). Since the 1970s, the Council for Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) has been the leading organization concerned with the creation ofculturally­

Psycho-Cultural Justification for Reparations

. centered, socially conscious and academically rigorous educational institutions for students of African descent. Schools within CIBI are unashamedly African­centered given the positive impact that African-centered education can have on African desCendant students. According to Kofi Lomotey (1992), "African­centered education enables African American students to look' at the world with Africa as the center. It encompasses not only those instructional and curricular approaches that result in a shift in a student's worldview, but engenders a reorientation oftheir values and actions as well" (p. 456).

Central to the success ofAfrican-centered education is the theorization and implementation of an African-centered pedagogy (Arijotutu & Pollard, 2001; Akoto, 1992; Lee et. aI., 1990; Lee, 1992; Lomotey, 1992; Murr.ell, 2002), one that must be advanced by culturally conscious administrators and instructors (Akoto, 1992). As Akoto (1992) clearly articulates,

The objective of an Afrikan centered pedagogy is the illumination and bequeathal ofthe amassed wisdom and cultural legacy ofone generation to the succeeding generation. To ensure the .continued and expanded viability ofthat culture, that process must occur within a context ofmutual discovery, inspiration, creativity and reciprocity. An Afrikim centered pedagogy, a pedagogy derived ofthe Afrikan world historical continuum and cultural dynamic, endeavors to stimulate and nourish the creative and critical consCiousness, and through study and application, to inculcate a firm and conscious commitment to the restoration of true Afrikan nationhood, ahd to the restoration of the Afrikan historicallCultural continuum. (p. 98-99)

An African-centered education that guides after-school programs, Saturday schools and full-time independent educational institutions has the ability to greatly impact the future ofAfrican descended students who are current victims of the American public education system. Independent African-centered education provides cultural consciousness, commitment to socialresponsibility, and academic excellence while simultaneously teaching knowledge of selfand self-love. Reparations for African descendants in America cannot heal all of the damage of the Maafa nor should it, however, reparations through education can be used as the means to put African descended youth on their continued path toward excellence (Hilliard, 2003).

CONCLUSION

In Carter G. Woodson's classic text The Miseducation of the Negro he makes the often quoted statement:

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 here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not have to send

69 Karanj(J Keita Carroll & DeRee/F. Jamison68

him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact ofthere is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Woodson, 1993:xiii)

Woodson's manifesto concerning the role and function of education relative to people of African descent exemplified a sentiment that was brewing during the 1930s concerning a "New Negro" with a new consciousness (Locke, 1997; Perry, 2003). This call for a new consciousness is similar to Azibo's (1994) call for a New African. It is a call for a New African that combines and continues in the tradition of Carter G. Woodson, Anna Julia Cooper, Arthur Schomburg, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Hubert Harrison, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Du Bois, Claudia Jones, John Henrik Clarke and Queen Moore Audley Moore. The approach to education . implemented by the new African scholar draws from an organic intellectual tradition (Marable, 2003) that actively seeks to fill in the missing pages ofhistorical memory that have created conceptual and epistemological gaps in the education of African people. If it is true that the ultimate task of education is to bring out thai which is within (Browder, 1989), then the vocation ofthe African-centered educator is to facilitate the historical remembering and psychological recovering of the shattered and scattered fragments of the African self.

As this essay has expressed, African-centered psychology concerns itself with the liberation of African minds, bodies and souls. In doing so, it argues that .. only through the usage ofthe"authemtic worIdview ofAfrican people, can one truly grasp the nature of African reality and thus be able to change the oppressive con!Jitions in which African people exist within. As it relates to issues of education, African-centered psychology has advanced culturally-specific interpretations ofthe educational realities QfAfrican descended peoples. African· .

.centered psychologists, psychological theorists and educators have worked together in order to accurately describe the current educational conditions of African descended peoples. This description has led to culturally-specific' prescriptions, aU ofwhich are rooted within an African worldview. By focusing on questions of epistemology, African-centered scholars have argued that dUe to . the nonrecognition of the culturally-specific learning styles of African people in American educational institutions, African descended youth are victims of educational malfeasance.

Through an understanding of the cultural foundations at the root of the . educational malfeasance which African descended youth within American public educational institutions experience, we posit that only culturally-specific modeb ofeducation can provide solutions for its constituents. These culturally-specific

. models of education are not new and have been used within the historically rich.. Black Independent education movement. In order to support the content and

'i structure of independent Black educational institutions, we posit that reparations' be provided for African descended youth to attend these autonomous educational institutions. African-centered education, best exemplified by the institutions oL CIBI, can be used as the model to create future independent educational

Psycho-Cultural Justification/or Reparations

institutions which are committed to the development of cultural consciousness, social responsibility and academic excellence. Through usage of an African­centered pedagogy, African-centered educational institutions have the ability to disrupt the educational malfeasance that African descended students currently experience. Thus we posit that reparations can best be provided to communities of African descent within America through the creation and institutionalization of African-centered Saturday schooling and independent Black educationalinstitutions.

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w

. Race, Gender & Class: Volume 18, Number 1-2, 2011 (73-94)

Race, Gender & Class Website: www.rgc.uno.edu

FROM SLAVERY TO

CONTEMPORARY GENOCIDE:

A LITERARY AND LINGUISTIC

ANALYSIS OF WHy AMERICAN BLACKS

DESERVE REPARATIONS

Regina Jennings Author of Malcolm X and the Poetics of Haki Madhubuti

Abstract: Literary and linguistic investigations reveal that people of African descent continue to suffer a plethora of psychological damage from historic and contemporary White racism and terrorism. Consistent police killings of young Black males and females and the horrific spike in. Black-on-Black homicides together show a community in terrible distress. The culprit ofmultiple centuries ofenslavement is the primary reason that Blacks deserve reparations. Yet, a study ofliterature proves the mental debilitation that continues within the collective Black community,making it plain that reparations are long overdue.

Keywords: slavery; genocide; African-American; reparations; raci$m

Regina Jennings, Ph.D., has taught African-American Literature and Resistance and African-American Creative Writing at several colleges and universities including Temple and Rutgers. A widely published scholar, her articles include: "The Solar Imagery in the Poetry ofPhillis Wheatley," "Maleness in the Fiction of Toni Morrison: Motherless, Fatherless Men," "Poetry of the Black Panthers: Metaphors ofMilitancy." Race, Rage and Roses is her recent poetry book and Poetry of the Black Panther Party and the Post Hip Hop Generation is her academic manuscript in progress.

Dr. Jennings can be reach at power2people@gmx.com