Black Psychology 101: "Exploring the Anti-Black Mindset"
Mba Mbulu, Instructor
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2016, 2020 ASET, M. Mbulu All rights to everything on this web site are reserved.

Class 7

Read the information that follows. In order to benefit the most from this course, you must constantly keep the following points in mind and refer to them frequently: (1) 50 years after the writing of Black Skin, White Masks, Black People in the United States still perceive of their potential and capabilities within an unnaturally or abnormally limited context. (2) The psychological molding of Black People predisposes the best educated among Us to be anti-Black: anti-Black nationalism, anti-Black centric, anti-Black whatever. (3) In addition to being victims of racism, Black People in the United States demonstrate all of the qualities of a people who have been victimized by colonialism.

This class will concentrate on excerpts from Chapters 2 and 3 of Black Skin, White Masks. Think about the following issues as you study and learn.
(1) Can a Black mate be altogether respectable in the eyes of a white mate?
(2) If you experience unconscious conflicts about an individual, can you truly love that individual?
(3) How do the individuals in a mixed relationship overcome feelings of inferiority and superiority?
(4) Why are Blacks in a mixed relationship able to experience "highs" that Blacks in an unmixed relationship can not experience?
(5) Is there a difference between the love one has for a human and the love one has for a pet?

[Home][BlackPsychology101][BuyBooks][AsetUniversityEntrance]

Lesson 7: Mixed Relationships [Audio Version]

p. 41 True, authentic love-- wishing for others what one postulates for oneself, when that postulation unites the permanent values of human reality-- entails the mobilization of psychic drives basically freed of unconscious conflicts
A. p. 42 It is our problem to ascertain to what extent authentic love will remain unattainable before one has purged oneself of that feeling of inferiority or that Adlerian exaltation, that overcompensation.
To the average white person, one of "the permanent values of human reality" is the superiority of white people over Black People, the superiority of white individuals over Black individuals. In the presence of feelings of superiority and inferiority, real human love is unattainable. Black and white individuals can develop emotional ties to each other, but emotional ties do not necessarily constitute love. The only "love" that can actually exist between them is akin to the type of love an owner would have for his/her pet, or that of a pet for its owner. The love that enamored humans normally feel for another human can not be attained, no matter how much certain individuals insist to the contrary.
Individuals can fake love in much the same way they fake other emotions, but in order for true love to exist, "psychic drives basically freed of unconscious conflicts" must be mobilized. What Black or white person in the United States does not harbor unconscious conflicts about race relations in this country? None! And, what Black or white person in the United States does not see those conflicts when s/he looks at a member of the opposing race? Again, the answer is "None."
p. 63 Her love takes me onto the noble road that leads to total realization [whiteness]... I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness
p. 71 Among certain people of color, the fact that they are marrying someone of the white race seems to have overridden every other consideration...

Fanon mentions "that Adlerian exaltation, that overcompensation." I have seen this frequently! Blacks who have a white mate feel good in a way that is unachievable when a normal individual "falls in love with" another individual. A Black person who is in a relationship with another Black person can not feel as good about the relationship as a Black person who is in a relationship with a white person. In the former case, the partner is viewed as an individual. In the latter case, the partner is viewed as a symbol of superiority and attainment. Thus, the Black person experiences an abnormal "high" ("exaltation"). The abnormal Black person does not see the individual, s/he sees what the individual represents in racial terms ("white culture, white beauty, white whiteness"). That is why "Among certain people of color, the fact that they are marrying someone of the white race seems to have overridden every other consideration."
What considerations normally go into choosing a partner? I need not go into them here, but it should suffice to say that Black individuals who tend to form unnecessary relationships with white people prefer a "poorly qualified" white partner to a "highly qualified" Black partner. Scream and yell if it pleases you, but when you are honest with yourself you have to admit it is true.
How does one purge him/herself of "that feeling of inferiority" that makes love impossible? One doesn't. That is because "that feeling of inferiority" is not rooted in the individual, but in the principles of white power and white society. The races have to resolve that issue, and until that is done, the individuals will remain trapped within limitations dictated by the racial parameters. Therefore, Blacks will continue to see whiteness instead of white individuals, and whites will continue to see inferiority and all that that implies instead of Black individuals.
Black women and Blacks in general will never be "altogether respectable" in a white person's eyes.
[Top]

[#8][Home][BlackPsychology101][BuyBooks][AsetUniversityEntrance]