Barkley's response drew laughter from his other three colleagues, which included Chris Webber's comment, "he needs to get some type of relaxer."After a few more laughs and comments, the camera zooms in on Ron Artest's tight, kinky hair, which invokes more laughter.
Unfortunately, these comments are hurtful and deleterious to the psychological health of millions of African Americans in this country. And if this subject wasn't so serious, I would simply dismiss it as joking, or kidding around by athletes. In other words, I would chalk it up to new school modernism. I can't, because self-hatred is a silent killer of millions of African Americans minds.
African-American self-hatred is a psychological cancer that's destroying viable, positive images of blackness. It's a malignant illusion thriving within our minds in a cesspool of misinformation. And like any cancer, it remains undetected until we become awake enough to recognize its pernicious images of misinformation and victim beliefs. Unfortunately, by then, it's too late for most of us.
While I applaud many ideas birthed by new school blacks, I believe they have been remiss in addressing their own self-hatred toward the uniqueness of black physical characteristics. And to a large degree, new school blacks have transformed this society more than blacks in any other generations.
I realize this is a powerful, thought-provoking claim. It makes you pause, cringe with incredulously fear, and fight the burning anger toward the seemingly desecration of so many famous African Americans. It might invoke thoughts about my sanity, or my intellectual capacity to understand black history. Nevertheless, after a few minutes of introspection, you might gain greater insights into the validity of my claim.
In the meanwhile, my reason for this piece is the failure of new school blacks to recognize and address the latent self-hatred beliefs that's causing them to ridicule the unique physical characteristics endemic to African Americans. It's this type of demonstration of self-hatred that causes many poor, hard-working blacks to label Barkley, and others in similar mainstream positions, as having sold-out their black cultural pride for money, fame, and mainstream acceptance.
As we know, it's difficult to define someone as being more blacker than someone else. Yet, within this difficulty, we find one, unalterable fact: African Americans have unique physical characteristics that define us. Our color and kinky hair are two. While our nose and lips are others. So are our women's round and, in some instances, big buttocks.
Similarly, I realize many new school visionaries are less preoccupied with racism, and its corollary victim beliefs of self-hatred, anger, and violence, than with making money and assimilating, unnoticed into mainstream society. For them, Barack Obama's election as president validated their beliefs that race and color are less important than assimilation into mainstream society's acceptability for its victims.
While Obama's election is historic, it does very little to ameliorate the cancerous effects of self-hatred among millions of blacks. Many black men and women remain victimized by the way they look, speak, and act in comparison to their white counterparts.
To try to compensate for these illusionisms, we spend millions of dollars on hair straighteners, whitening creams, and hair weaves to remove what we believe are objectionable characteristics. And if asked about this type of victim behavior, most of are in denial. We are totally unaware of the cancerous victim beliefs that's causing us to perceive ourselves as victims of our natural beauty and power.
For victims, when you are powerless, you seek power. When you believe you are inadequate, you seek ways to change the things that make you inadequate. And when you are black, with kinky hair, you must stop and embrace your hair with love. It's a natural part of your divine beauty. It's The Creator's (God) stamp of approval on you and your uniqueness,
Now, some thoughtful suggestions for embracing your unique physical characteristics:
1. Take the time to evaluate your judgments about the way you look and how others look.
2. Begin a new diet that includes less harmful psychological images and ideas.
3. Develop a more endearing and compassion attitude about black skin color, full lips, big noses, kinky hair, and so forth.
4. Empower your mind to perceive life beyond societal labels.
5. Trust yourself to heal your mind of the cancerous effects of victim beliefs.
I believe the new school visionaries, Barkley and others within mainstream society, are in positions that can alter the way African Americans think of themselves. They must, however, be willing to address the latent psychological victim beliefs that's causing them not to recognize the pernicious effects of black self-hatred.
Furthermore, I believe old school visionaries are in positions to contribute to the growth and prosperity of those afflicted with self-hatred. And both groups have the opportunity to do what no other generation of blacks have been able to do, and that is: to change how blacks think about our physical characteristics.
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