Opinion

Resistance to the Idea of Reparations May Be Simply Psychological

Published

7 years ago

September 5, 2019

Part I

The newly wide-ranging discussion of reparations is being stimulated by the recognition of the 400th anniversary of the introduction of kidnapped captive Africans at the birth of the American colonies (1619) to later become the United States (1776).

This new/old discord has been re-enlivened. The call to be “repaired” from the damage caused by white enslavement has been openly and covertly rejected woth a resounding ‘no’ by most of the white population and some misguided and memetically infected Black people.

The reason why may be found within my own dictum in Black psychology that “power is the ability to define reality and to have other people respond to it as if it were their own.” It is also the thinking of the great Black psychologist, Dr. Bobby Wright.

Dr. Wright suggested that the ideology of white supremacy is supported by a pathological fear and hatred of blackness; and, by implication, the rejection of the idea of reparations for Black people may be found in the racist core of the white American psyche.

In utilizing diagnostic categories found in white psychology (mis-labeled as general psychology), Dr. Wright notes that many white people suffer from a “psychopathic personality disorder.” He notes that a psychopath is an individual who is constantly in conflict with other persons or groups; is unable to experience guilt; is completely selfish, callous and has a total disregard for the rights of others; has an inflated sense of self-worth; is manipulative, and refuses to accept responsibility .

He argues that in relationship to Black people, white people have historically reflected most, if not all, of these attributes, ergo a Psychopathic Racial Personality Disorder.

This psychopathic condition was, in fact, created by white people. One must remember that, for most of modern history, the entire known world held Africa in high regard as the place of high civilization.

Yet, strangely enough, with the onset of the age of Enlightenment and Exploration (invasion) came the advent of the American slave trade (racially based commercial human trafficking) and the need to redefine the meaning of Africa and people of African ancestry (think: “power is the ability to define reality”).

The cancerous idea of white superiority and Black inferiority was not accidental, genetically ascribed nor divinely ordained. It was created and socially constructed. Though endemic to American life and living, several sources can be identified as contributing to white psychopathic disorder and mental madness.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC)

The establishment of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in 1894 (less than one generation after the end of the Civil War) signals the beginning of a premeditated attempt to change the narrative and create the indelible story of African savagery and White honor and dignity.

Growing to about 17,000 members at the turn of the century (1900), by World War I, the UDC had over 100,000 white women as members. What is important to note is that the UDC’s mission and purpose was to “Tell of the glorious fight against the greatest odds a nation ever faced, [so] that their hallowed memory should never die.”

They even went so far as to create a commemorative Southern Cross of Honor medallion and distributed almost 80,000 to Confederate veterans. It is important to note that the secessation of the Southern states was an act of treason. Power is the ability to define reality and the UDC attempted to “redefine” treachery as honorable and the “Lost Cause” (the right to murder and enslave Black people) was lauded as the genteel South with ‘happy’ slaves; and to identify Confederate soldiers as deserving unquestionable respect.

The UDC’s goal to preserve white supremacy was masked (redefined) and strategically supported by the erection of monuments to honor the Confederacy; to publish biographies and history textbooks about major southern figures (aka traitors); to influence educational curriculum; and to immortalize the heroism and valor of the KKK and the Southern way of life.

The Association of Black Psychologists, Bay Area Chapter (ABPsi-Bay Area) is committed to providing the Post Newspaper readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. The ABPsi-Bay Area is a healing resource. We can be contacted at (bayareaabpsi@gmail.com) and readers are welcome to join with us at our monthly chapter meeting, every third Saturday at the West Oakland Youth Center from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Wade Nobles, PhD is co-founder and past President, The ABPsi, Professor Emeritus, Africana Studies and Black Psychology, SFSU.

Wade Nobles, PhD

Posts by Wade Nobles, PhD

Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

3 days ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.