“The race has great possibilities. Properly awakened, the Negro can do the so-called impossible in the business world and thus help to govern rather than merely be governed.”
-Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a long time, and I finally got a chance to read it this month, and while it is “Black” History Month, and it has been documented that it was Carter G. Woodson’s idea to acknowledge it in February, it’s more ironic than incidental that I read it this month because it didn’t dawn on me until a couple of days after I started reading it.
As I read this book, I found myself shaking my head quite often. Not because I thought the book was boring or stupid or anything, it’s because a lot of the things Carter G. Woodson discussed in that book nearly 100 years ago is still going on today.
He mentioned that a lot of the self-debasing, defeated way of thinking that most “Black” people have stems from the social engineering and conditioning that they’re “inferior” to the alleged “superior” Caucasians, however, he also points out that “Negroes” have to take the responsibility and accountability of the breaking the mental chains at some point.
I’m of the opinion that nearly everything starts in the mind, and this is where Dr. Woodson suggested that we start. We must thoroughly and diligently reverse engineer and change that way of thinking and how we were taught.
He talked about the “Negroes” who, again, mainly due to how they were educated or mis-educated, tend to think they’re better and/or smarter than those of their ethnicity who don’t have what they have. They tend to parrot the same bullshit narratives and side with the same people who view them as beneath them, just like the others in their race.
You have the Negroes who try to one-up the other versus working together, or they will try to sabotage them (AKA The Crab-in-the-bucket mentality), and there are those who are limited in their ability in some cases to teach those of their ethnicity.
In their minds, other races’ ice is colder, specifically the Caucasian. I’ve encountered this a few times in my life, and have seen it many times. They ask you a question--keep in mind, they asked you--and you give them an answer, and they will look at you as if you tried to explained Calculus or Mandarin. A Caucasian will come along and say the very thing you just said, and it’s good as gold. It’s as if “God” himself said it.
I’ve also seen this type of thing on the job. They will give the “Black” manager or supervisor all types of hell, and if a white manger comes along says, “Jump,” these bastards would yell “How high?” I’m not talking about the ones who, if you make them supervisor of a broom closet, they don’t know how to act. They lose their minds and let it go to their head.
In sports, in a lot of cases, I see where the white coaches is usually more respected than the “Black” ones. He (the white coach) will take over that same team that the “Negro” coach before him had--who encountered rebellion, groaning and bitching--and all of a sudden, the players straighten up and fly right, as the old saying goes.
He even talked about the church and these grifting, con-artist preachers who talk a good game, but they’re nothing but talk. They’re ripping off their congregation, selling them lies and pipe dreams, inducing fear/scare tactics (Ex: If you do such and such, “You’re going to hell!”), that makes them fearful, docile, and passive, for personal gain.
He mentioned that because of the inferior doctrine that was taught and programmed, the “Negro” has been conditioned to accept anything. I’ve heard some say “We should take whatever we can get.” I hate that saying. A lot of Negroes ones who are, say, in a high-ranking position, tend to allow whites or others to disrespect them just to get ahead, just to get a seat at their table, hell, just to eat the crumbs they waste.
He also mentioned the deliberate removal of scientists, philosophers, astronomers, and even deities of Africa, for those of European origin. He stressed that contrary to popular belief, there were those of African origin who made a significant impact in areas such as math, science, astronomy, etc., before Europeans.
As far as deities go, they’re all mythical to me, but to show the effect of the mis-education indoctrination, in most cases, if you told a “Black” person about the Orishas of the Yoruba religion, most of them would look at you sideways and probably laugh at you, but will accept God, Jesus, and other deities without question.
Although he wasn’t against learning the history of other cultures, the problem was those of the African diaspora being intentionally kept form “Negroes,” and being force fed the history and culture of Europe, continuing the false claim that “Blacks” are inferior, insignificant, and have no value in society or place in history, outside of slavery, which I think is one of the biggest lies ever told.
“Blacks” for the most part, still have that same way of doing things, and still have that same way of thinking, and what it tells me is, after all this time, not much has changed. Perhaps, it’s not quite as bad as when Woodson wrote this book in 1933, but unfortunately, for the most part, this mentality is still prevalent today.
Long before I read this book I said that we as “Afro-Americans,” “Blacks,” “African-Americans,” whatever you want to call it, have to do some serious introspection. It starts with changing the way we think. As long as we--of course, I’m speaking in general--have that inferior, defeated, self-destructive, sabotaging, other-races’-ice-is-colder mindset, the bottom of the barrel is where this race will always be.
This book is a written reminder of the importance of “Blacks” controlling their narrative, and the danger of what happens or what could happen when someone else tells your story. I agree with Dr. Woodson. The race has great possibilities, but it’s up to us to see it. I’m not quick to give a book 5 stars, but this one definitely gets a 5 from me.
