Deeply ingrained in the psyche of slaves was the belief, the
unshakeable BELIEF that Black people were meant to suffer. They grew to believe, shackled under the
oppressive physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual chains of slavery, that
their life was intended to be painful, that they had to sacrifice, that there
were destined to accept second, third, and fourth best. Slaves were beaten, raped, held captive,
tortured, and worked like animals and told that their rewards would only come
when they accepted white Jesus and got to heaven. And with no hope for wealth and affluence,
with no hope of dignity or justice, they held on to the notion that their pain
would end when they were washed by the blood of their lily-white savior once
they got to the pearly gates.
White people, not only just slave owners but all white
people, had no such debilitating belief beat into them. They believed, just as they do now, that the
world is their oyster, that they can do and say anything without
repercussions. They have never known the
concept of pain and suffering being intrinsic to their identity. Sure, they have known pain, but it’s not tied
to their identity, it’s not because of their whiteness. They believe that they are the best, that
they deserve the best, that they don’t have to do a damn thing to deserve the
best, that they are entitled to their hearts’ desires simply ‘cuz.
Black people today, in 2015, still largely believe that we
must suffer, that pain is part and parcel of our identity. The messages passed down, the lessons taught
to us from our parents and grandparents who brutally beat us, who silenced us, who
stifled our creativity, who tried their best to protect us from disappointment
and injustice, is that we have to be long-suffering, that we have to settle,
that we are inherently undeserving of fairness, wealth, respect, and just plain
ole happiness because of our skin color.
We are conditioned to believe that we have to accept second best, that
we must swallow our anger, we must not offend the white man, that we aren’t
worthy of luxury or wealth, joy; we overwhelmingly belief that we are
undeserving of something as basic as love.
Some of us in the last few decades have broken the chains,
we have changed our beliefs and we are beginning to believe, deep down in our
souls, that we are deserving of wealth and abundance, that we are not
inherently unworthy creatures like our forefathers and mothers were forced to
believe. Regrettably, we have also acquired a gross
materialism and capitalistic narcissism, a replication of the pathologies of
the greed and the obliviousness of white people who think the universe owes
them, that they are deserving for no other reason than having breath in their
lungs. I’m working diligently on
changing my own core beliefs, I’m determined to see myself as worthy of the
best that life has to offer. The psychological
chains of slavery are still not broken, they are heavy and burdensome and
suffocating. Most of us still are
imprisoned by the chains that we are only as good as the crumbs that have been
thrown to us, that we will only know peace and joy when we die. WE MUST CHANGE OUR CORE BELIEFS. We must FEEL worthy deep down in our hearts
and souls. We must start to believe that
we are inherently deserving of wonderful things, of success and peace and
abundant and over-flowing blessings.
And so it is.