Healing from ‘Mental Slavery’ Known as Maafa Syndrome
No outside actions, recovery or therapy, by this US society, has ever been employed to repair the mental abuse, of the captivity and colonization that occurred, that was inherited, and what still remains with people of African descent to this day.
Yet many African descendants are in denial of the long-lasting effects of the traumatically brutal institution, the inhumane treatment, and forced labor, used to build the United States. They often passively assert that slavery happened long ago, it has nothing to do with them now, and as melanin people, we should forgive and forget it, pull up our bootstraps, and take advantage of any ‘freedoms’ now available to us. However, the emotional and psychological damage caused by the Transatlantic war, US mass murder, genocide, land-grab, colonization, human trafficking, and rape/breeding, to the lynching, environmental contamination, redlining, food deserts, mis-education, medical malpractice/ human clinical trials, abortions, and outright terrorism, has been so severe, that many people today still struggle with psychological, health challenges, displaced families and economic disenfranchisement. So many of our People of African Descent have accepted indoctrination, assimilated, and are compliant with the WASP (White-Anglo/Saxon-Protestant) -middle-class value system of the United States.
The definition of Stockholm Syndrome:
Feelings of trust or affection felt in certain cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor. Capture Bonding.
Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.
Many people of African descent, have been targeted, terrorized, and indoctrinated by other ethnic groups, and classes, as though they are subordinate. Many people of African Descent accept and comply with this subordination, thinking they have no other alternative means... Although many African Centered scholars will use the euro reference of "Stockholm Syndrome" to attribute the symptoms of the current psychological phenomena in people of African Descent, the trauma and specific behaviors predate this euro contemporary coined phrase. So, Maafa Syndrome is specific to our people of African Descent.
1.Saving a so-called white person's life
2. Protecting a caucasian's personal property
3. Coming up with inventions in which the slave owner could profit financially and receive credit for the invention
4. Snitching on/ Reporting to authorities of any revolt of so-called Blacks
Many of our people sold themselves out and their own people, out of desperation. Many of us still do...
Another coined phrase is Uncle Tom syndrome, where a person of African descent appears to have completely acculturated and assimilated with the dominating society.
Maafa Syndrome is not to be mistaken with *POST TRAUMATIC SLAVE SYNDROME
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom_syndrome
Jackson, Yo; Yolanda Kaye Jackson (2006). Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology. SAGE Publications. p. 509. ISBN 1-4129-0948-1.
Another example of legislation for the Assimilation and Integration of people of African descent, occurred in the late 1950s with psychologists, by the name of Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, who established an experiment, called the Doll study, which documented the effects that separate and unequal segregation and Jim Crow Laws had on the African descendant community. Many ethnic and class groups, including people of African descent, isolated dark complexed dolls as undesirable, and un-preferred over other dolls of lighter complexions. This created a precedent for the integration of Americans of African descent into work and living situations around the descendants of those who colonized and disenfranchised them. The outcome of this integration mitigated the major obliteration of Schools, businesses and whole communities owned by Americans of African descent.
https://nuta-ankh.blogspot.com/2017/10/children-of-african-descent-unsung-in.html
Dr. Amos N Wilson, the renowned author who penned books such as “The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child,” and "Blueprint for Black Power," posed five simple questions.
If Wilson’s questions are answered truthfully, they reveal and monitor Maafa Syndrome as the enslaved mindset, still within many People of African Descent.
These questions are meant as a call to consciousness, to recognize the core of the Assimilation/ Indoctrination process in a person, and how we can be able to transform and heal from mental enslavement.
Black people obviously were not able to wear their traditional garments under captivity. Instead, they were provided European styled rags of clothing, often the cheapest and least durable available.
We must return to our own industry and production, growing and processing our own Cotton, Flax, Hemp, Indigo, Wool and Leather.
Rather than being called by the traditional and beautiful names that recorded who they were and where they were from, Africans were given names that presented them as chattel property. I recall the infamous scene from the movie ROOTS by Dr. Alex Haley. A young African was captured and brought to the Americas, known as Kunta Kente. He was severely beaten until he excepted the name "Toby." If there were more than one slave with the same name in any given group, they were assigned various identifiers such as “little” or “big,” so each would know who was being called for.
https://amen-parankh.blogspot.com/2017/01/ancient-naming-ceremonies-return.html
Since slavery was officially abolished, some Blacks have shed the European names that were once forced upon them and have adopted African Names.
Catholics, Christians, Islamic, and Jews sanctioned the enslavement and Christian/Islam Indoctrination of people of African descent. In the process, African peoples were forced to abandon their own spiritual systems, to adopt the European version of Christianity and Aryan Islam.
Africans had their own religions and concepts of God. Today many of the fears and negative feelings we have towards spiritual systems of our ancestors are a direct result of the anti-African ideology, that was taught and harshly enforced on the plantations.
One of the most egregious acts committed by the racist system of religious thought was the formation of the image of a caucasian man as the ‘son’ of God and later transformed as God in the flesh and spirit. This caucasian male image, which is referred to as "Christ" and is still worshiped by many ethnic African Diaspora cultures of people around the world today, helps to foster a belief that implies that the Caucasian man is white, innocent, just, perfect, good, supreme and the only source of blessings.
So, the shackles of chattel slavery seems to have been removed over a century ago by legislation that had been passed to relinquish the legal chains that bound People of African descent, to the Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Islamic, Dutch, French, Spanish, and British Caucasian slave owners and their balance sheets, along with their, stolen land, oxen, horses, cows, farm equipment and other tangible assets in Europe and the Americas. Yet, the inequality, of the likes of sharecropping, Jim Crow Segregation Laws, and Redlining, replaced this abolition. People of African descent were specifically targeted and discriminated against, by the color of their skin, to be perpetually enslaved economically, not only by caucasians, but by every other minority classification. Still, our People of African descent- Men, children, women and elders are currently set-up for the School-To-Prison-Pipeline, that feeds the Military Industrial Pipeline, with Racial Profiling, and a War-On-Drugs, (which was really a war-using-drugs) ie., lynching, alcohol, narcotics, guns, debt slavery, wage slavery, criminal injustice, systemic inequality, racism, hate crime and outright terrorism. As People of African descent, we remain to live within enemy territory, among an apathetic, insensitive often psychopathic people, under a state of racial profiling and stereotyping. Living in the United States is like living with a Narcissistic Alcoholic domestic abuser. So we are constantly maneuvering and negotiating with terrorists, who have held our lives hostage and would not think twice in our genocide!
No outside actions, recovery or therapy, by this US society, has ever been employed to repair the mental abuse, of the captivity and colonization that occurred, that was inherited, and what still remains with people of African descent to this day.
MAAFA SYNDROME
I call this enslaved mindset, Maafa Syndrome. Maafa is a KiSwahili word which means chaos and "terrible disaster." Maafa is an African term, like the word Holocaust, that is used universally for the trauma and economic disenfranchisement that was exacted particularly against people of African Decent, by identifying them, according to the color of their skin for discrimination. This term refers to the periods of time, when Indigo People, or People of African descent, were invaded by Arabs and Aryan societies as well. This Maafa has occurred within the Americas, and globally, by Invaders, imperialists, and colonizers that sought the expansion of their power and way of life, against Indigo people, who choose to live in harmony with creation.
In summary, Maafa Syndrome: Total Identification with your terrorist/tormentor/assailant/abuser for the hope of favor... Capture Bonding
Living in the US as people of African descent is like negotiating with terrorists. It's like remaining in an escalating domestic violent situation. This phenomenon or syndrome predates the term that is known as "Stockholm Syndrome" by 500 years.
Living in the US as people of African descent is like negotiating with terrorists. It's like remaining in an escalating domestic violent situation. This phenomenon or syndrome predates the term that is known as "Stockholm Syndrome" by 500 years.
The definition of Stockholm Syndrome:
Feelings of trust or affection felt in certain cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor. Capture Bonding.
Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.
Many people of African descent, have been targeted, terrorized, and indoctrinated by other ethnic groups, and classes, as though they are subordinate. Many people of African Descent accept and comply with this subordination, thinking they have no other alternative means... Although many African Centered scholars will use the euro reference of "Stockholm Syndrome" to attribute the symptoms of the current psychological phenomena in people of African Descent, the trauma and specific behaviors predate this euro contemporary coined phrase. So, Maafa Syndrome is specific to our people of African Descent.
One of the early incentives to divide and conquer the organization and unity for people of African Decent, outside of Religious indoctrination and the Willie Lynch syndrome, of divide and conquer, is the Meritorious Manumission Act.
The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 are principles that controlled the thinking and relationships between Caucasians and People of African Descent then and now. This is how racism/white supremacy functions, and how this Act affects us today. The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 was a legal act of freeing a slave in exchange for his or her "good deeds" as defined by the national public policy:1.Saving a so-called white person's life
2. Protecting a caucasian's personal property
3. Coming up with inventions in which the slave owner could profit financially and receive credit for the invention
4. Snitching on/ Reporting to authorities of any revolt of so-called Blacks
Many of our people sold themselves out and their own people, out of desperation. Many of us still do...
Another coined phrase is Uncle Tom syndrome, where a person of African descent appears to have completely acculturated and assimilated with the dominating society.
As a result of twelve years of quantitative and qualitative research, Dr. DeGruy has developed her theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, and published her findings in the book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome – America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing”. The book addresses the residual impacts of generations of slavery and opens up the discussion of how the black community can use the strengths we have gained in the past to heal in the present.
WHAT IS P.T.S.S.?P.T.S.S. is a theory that explains the etiology of many of the adaptive survival behaviors in African American communities throughout the United States and the Diaspora. It is a condition that exists as a consequence of multigenerational oppression of Africans and their descendants resulting from centuries of chattel slavery. A form of slavery which was predicated on the belief that African Americans were inherently/genetically inferior to whites. This was then followed by institutionalized racism which continues to perpetuate injury.
Thus, resulting in M.A.P.:
- M: Multigenerational trauma together with continued oppression;
- A: Absence of opportunity to heal or access the benefits available in the society; leads to
- P: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom_syndrome
Jackson, Yo; Yolanda Kaye Jackson (2006). Encyclopedia of multicultural psychology. SAGE Publications. p. 509. ISBN 1-4129-0948-1.
Another example of legislation for the Assimilation and Integration of people of African descent, occurred in the late 1950s with psychologists, by the name of Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, who established an experiment, called the Doll study, which documented the effects that separate and unequal segregation and Jim Crow Laws had on the African descendant community. Many ethnic and class groups, including people of African descent, isolated dark complexed dolls as undesirable, and un-preferred over other dolls of lighter complexions. This created a precedent for the integration of Americans of African descent into work and living situations around the descendants of those who colonized and disenfranchised them. The outcome of this integration mitigated the major obliteration of Schools, businesses and whole communities owned by Americans of African descent.
https://nuta-ankh.blogspot.com/2017/10/children-of-african-descent-unsung-in.html
SOLUTIONS
5 Questions for Gauging African Consciousness, by Dr. Amos Wilson
Dr. Amos N Wilson (February 23,1941 – January 14, 1995), was a former Professor of Psychology at the City University of New York. He would argue that "only a systematic correction in consciousness can help people, who were taught to think as slaves, and to truly escape bondage."
Dr. Amos N Wilson, the renowned author who penned books such as “The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child,” and "Blueprint for Black Power," posed five simple questions.
If Wilson’s questions are answered truthfully, they reveal and monitor Maafa Syndrome as the enslaved mindset, still within many People of African Descent.
These questions are meant as a call to consciousness, to recognize the core of the Assimilation/ Indoctrination process in a person, and how we can be able to transform and heal from mental enslavement.
1. What Language Do You Speak?
Language is critical to the expression of culture because it’s a way to express the values, beliefs, and customs of a people. It is fundamental to cultural identity, and if people forget their native tongue, they lose an important aspect of their culture and a piece of who they are. This is fundamental to why people must keep their own languages alive.
When Indigo people were forced to adopt the languages of the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, etc., in the United States, in essence, they were forced to abandon their own worldview and accept a foreign one, that regarded them as subordinate, and that they were only present, to support the interest and economy of colonist. To think that many People of African Descent were forbidden to read and write! The mentality that allowed this relationship to happen still exists among us today. It is imperative, that Indigo people pursue their own thoughts, expressions, and Communities. Within the Diaspora of our Ancestors of African Descent, we developed many forms of Potwa and Ebonics for our own rhythm and harmony to append these Latin derivative languages... Yet, our rich African languages are alive and are the mother tongue of all other languages. learning to speak multiple languages at a young age, enhances the intelligence and capacity for social interaction and successful communication. It also reduces senility in older ages.
2. What Kind of Clothes Do You Wear?
Fashion has always played an important role in African culture. The styles, patterns, and weaves of clothing often held spiritual, mythical and political social status and significance. In addition, some of the most beautiful garments in the world were created by the hands of African crafters. Many of them brought their skills to the Americas, like weaving, leather craft, Indigo dye, and even Patchwork Quilting. These skills were often exploited as another source of income for those who incarcerated people of African Descent.Black people obviously were not able to wear their traditional garments under captivity. Instead, they were provided European styled rags of clothing, often the cheapest and least durable available.
Today, for the most part, Black people have held on to their instinct for elaborate fashion, but for many, Black people have been colonized in their thinking through plagiarized, and alien religious beliefs of Aryan, Asians, and Europeans. So traditional African clothing is thought of as strange and undesirable as Europeans perceived it hundreds of years ago. In addition, we are loyal to clothing brands originating outside our communities. These Artificial polyesters and acrylic fabrics are very toxic and dehydrating on our skin and hair.
We must return to our own industry and production, growing and processing our own Cotton, Flax, Hemp, Indigo, Wool and Leather.
3. What Names Do You Answer To?
After Indigo people were kidnapped from their lands in America or brought to the Americas from Africa, they had to continue to endure terrorism, cruelty and a number of brutal crimes against them. One was being stripped of the names they were given in their native languages and communities. This was a genocide of forced abandonment of their family and heritage which destroyed a vital link that tied people of African descent to their countries of origin and disconnected them from their cultural history that dated back further than that of their enslavers.Rather than being called by the traditional and beautiful names that recorded who they were and where they were from, Africans were given names that presented them as chattel property. I recall the infamous scene from the movie ROOTS by Dr. Alex Haley. A young African was captured and brought to the Americas, known as Kunta Kente. He was severely beaten until he excepted the name "Toby." If there were more than one slave with the same name in any given group, they were assigned various identifiers such as “little” or “big,” so each would know who was being called for.
https://amen-parankh.blogspot.com/2017/01/ancient-naming-ceremonies-return.html
Since slavery was officially abolished, some Blacks have shed the European names that were once forced upon them and have adopted African Names.
4. What Food Do You Eat?
During the Trans Atlantic War, those who incarcerated our people as prisoners of war would work captured Africans with long work hours, cramped quarters and harsh punishments. They lived their lives from day to day in desperation and hunger. They were stripped of their cultural ties, sunshine, and tropical nutrients.
When a pig was slaughtered, the entrails, feet, hide, and head “from the rooter to the tooter” was all that was left. This included pig’s feet, skin- Cracklins, and intestines- chitterlings. In modern times, people still partake of this type of food, even though it has been determined to be unhealthy.
Homicide is the 6th leading cause of death in People of Afrikan Descent. The leading cause of death is food choices, stress and environment related: Strokes, Heart Attacks, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Cancers.
The Traditional diet of people of African descent was predominantly Mediterranean, and rich with tropical fruits and vegetables.
Homicide is the 6th leading cause of death in People of Afrikan Descent. The leading cause of death is food choices, stress and environment related: Strokes, Heart Attacks, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Cancers.
The Traditional diet of people of African descent was predominantly Mediterranean, and rich with tropical fruits and vegetables.
Catholics, Christians, Islamic, and Jews sanctioned the enslavement and Christian/Islam Indoctrination of people of African descent. In the process, African peoples were forced to abandon their own spiritual systems, to adopt the European version of Christianity and Aryan Islam.
Africans had their own religions and concepts of God. Today many of the fears and negative feelings we have towards spiritual systems of our ancestors are a direct result of the anti-African ideology, that was taught and harshly enforced on the plantations.
One of the most egregious acts committed by the racist system of religious thought was the formation of the image of a caucasian man as the ‘son’ of God and later transformed as God in the flesh and spirit. This caucasian male image, which is referred to as "Christ" and is still worshiped by many ethnic African Diaspora cultures of people around the world today, helps to foster a belief that implies that the Caucasian man is white, innocent, just, perfect, good, supreme and the only source of blessings.
There are many African Spiritual systems. These systems marked the Origins of the contemporary patriarchal belief systems that the western world operates under.
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I am available for Lectures, Libations, Griot Spoken Word Presentations, KMT Wedding, Birth and Ascension officiant, Salutations and Blessings for new beginnings, Home and Businesses, Afrikan Storytelling, Conferences and Workshops Contact: amen.parankh@gmail.com or amen.ankh@live.com Phone: 816-281-7704
As a Minister and Director at Amen Par Ankh and Ankh Amen Ankh Academy, we offer Ancestor Libation Ceremony, Consultations and Life Coaching for Destiny, Name, Health, Career, and Relationships. Afrikan Wedding planning and officiate services, Home and Business Blessings, Naming, Birth Blessings, Domestic Engineering, Ascension services, Lectures, and edutainment- Storytelling, Music, Dance, Youth Outreach and Economic Literacy, Travel agency, Insurance Referrals and STEMM(science technology engineering mathematics medicine) Career introduction called You GROWW Girls- Teach a Girl, Heal a Nation GROWW means (Gaining, Resilience, Opportunity, Wellness and Wisdom) Call for your appointment: 816-281-7704 Feel free to Contact the Amen Ankh Urban Farm... amen.ankh@live.com or amen.parankh@gmail.com
Please like our facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot
https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH , https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities/
