African-American Book Review

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) once said that "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master”, in his famous Gettysburg Address during the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ in the year 1863. During the early stages of US history, many citizens of Native, African and Latin descent have experienced oppression, social discrimination and even slavery. In response, advocates of social equality have resorted to war, among other things to end oppression and slavery, specifically those of the African-Americans.

In this day and age, despite the fact that slavery has long been ended in US society, the old attitude and inferiority and discrimination related to slavery sadly still remain as an inherent psychological attitude of contemporary African-Americans, based on studies. From the point of view of an African-American “Afrocentric scholar” and clinical psychologist, this seems to transpire in several aspects of behavioral response that still bear the “slavery idea”.This paper will discuss and review Dr. Na’im Akbar’s `Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery` published in 1996 by Minds Productions and Associates.Chains of psychological slaveryThe Psychological Legacy of SlaveryBased on Chapter I of the abovementioned book, the attitude of African-Americans towards work, property, gratitude (the clown), personal inferiority, community division, the family, and color discrimination, among other attitudes are extensively destructive.Throughout Chapter I, I agreed with what Dr.

Akbar said about the “slave attitude”. One attitude Dr. Akbar pointed out was about property. The slave was permitted to own only small properties, compared to the property allowed for his master. Consequently, the limitation of ownership often results in the vandalism of ‘master property’ and hatred toward the latter (Akbar, 1996).

It is perceived that “hate and enviousness” entices the slave-attitude, thinking and feelings that are being given with a small ownership [by a white man or Caucasian] symbolizes the “slavery status” or correlates the socio-cultural bondage of racism. Dr. Akbar insinuated the “psycho-social phobia” that deals with slave attitude of African-American to dissociate from the white man’s community, in which inferiority complex develops from self-containment.To cite, the “destructive attitude” tarnishes the legacy of liberation that has been recognized by the white man.

As quoted, "black people in America have a much greater inner power than they realize, but they must rediscover themselves in order to use it” (Akbar, 1996).Liberation from mental slaveryThe Chapter II of the book discusses the strategies to break the chain of slavery, self-knowledge, self-celebration, courage, unity (umoja), faith, getting to work to make it happen, were referring to liberate oneself from mental slavery.Dr. Akbar quoted, “human beings are equipped with what they need to do and once they are stirred with that realization, there are no barriers.” Thus, attributes to the “mentality” of being a slave as a matter of outlook in life that creates social barriers (Akbar, 2006).

Thus, I agree in this particular psycho-social examination of Dr. Akbar to the “slave mentality” that is parallel to the “destructive attitude” discussed in Chapter I of the book.I further agree with Dr. Akbar’s description to the “virtuous self” of a human being that have a very distinctive character over nature and other living things, because humans are bestowed with the virtue of self-consciousness. Therefore, liberating mental slavery means to ‘liberate the self-ignorance from the historical phenomenon of slavery,’ being self-conscious or aware that there is no longer a slave-master relationship brought about by the “racist’s mentality”.

Racial aspects, religious inquiry and psychological confusionThe aspects of religious imagery, impact on the psychology of the portrayed race and the solution as discussed in Chapter III of the book. This chapter features religious and worship practices that develops within the “consciousness” and creates the “imagery and symbols”, affecting the social interactions, perceptions, beliefs and communication.Again, I agree all throughout the discussion and examination of Dr. Akbar in Chapter III because it is not only the African-Americans that are persuaded by religious imagery but all of the races worldwide.  Dr.

Akbar explains the phenomenon of psychological confusion or “psycho-religious-anxiety” from the Caucasian’s (white people) divinity, the personification of deity in a person which has imbued by the white American leaders.It can also be analyzed that the psycho-religious phenomenon [in the portrayal of leaders] is a pre-disposed racial identity. For instance, the Islamic, Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant religions and the like separate the “divine beliefs” from the material world. In which case, the “material self” is lost from the “objective situation”, referring to the “psychological confusion” in racial identities and determining the social change.Findings and conclusionDr. Na’im Akbar’s work has proficiently described the racial and cultural identity of African-Americans that has long been entangled by the white men’s slavery.

The master and slave ascription to the white and black people of America have eventually supplanted with the unity of races and harmonization of cultural diversity.However, the apartheid and racism still impart in the minds of the black American people that seemed to develop a psycho-social phobia, in which Dr. Akbar aims to liberate the mentality or social complex that is entangled to the chain of slavery. Thus, breaking the chain of slavery from the minds of the African-Americans will stir the realization and breakage of the racial and cultural barriers.ReferencesAkbar, N.

(1996). `Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery`. Minds Productions andAssociates, SBN: 0935257055, ISBN-13: 9780935257052, 79 pp., Edition Number 1,June 1996. Retrieved 20 September 2008.