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'Slave syndrome' may still affect black behavior (Professor calls it "post-traumatic slave syndrome)
The Seattle Post -Intelligencer ^ | 10/15/05 | JOHN IWASAKI

Posted on 10/15/2005 10:21:03 AM PDT by paulat

Saturday, October 15, 2005

'Slave syndrome' may still affect black behavior Professor's theory set for talk today

By JOHN IWASAKI SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The troubling images of African Americans displaced by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans' impoverished neighborhoods didn't startle researcher Joy DeGruy-Leary.

"All Katrina did was reveal what was already there. I wasn't confused, wasn't surprised," she said. "I knew what the 9th Ward was about. The difference was, (before the disaster) everybody was OK about it. It was business as usual."

DeGruy-Leary, an assistant professor in Portland State University's Graduate School of Social Work, will discuss her theory of the relationship between race, culture, poverty and history today at the third Seattle Race Conference and tonight in a separate talk.

Her theory of "post-traumatic slave syndrome" concludes that African Americans needed to adapt to survive more than two centuries of slavery, and that those adaptations are reflected in their behaviors today.

Even though slavery symbolically ended after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, DeGruy-Leary said, African Americans were "virtually re-enslaved" through legislation reflected in peonage such as sharecropping, black codes and convict-worker leasing, all of which restricted blacks and allowed white-owned businesses to have cheap labor, and Jim Crow laws, which enforced segregation.

Add the horror of lynchings -- more than 3,400 from 1882 to 1951, according to records of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama -- and African Americans in the United States have undergone tremendous trauma, she said.

She contends that no one acknowledges that trauma, much less has allowed African Americans to heal from it.

[SNIP]

(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: africanamericans; dependency; psychology; slavery
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To: firebrand
This sounds so obvious. There must be a lot more to it.

I'm not sure what you're referring to....

101 posted on 10/15/2005 12:32:04 PM PDT by paulat
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To: kipita
Well, having had the "pleasure" of growing-up in the 9th ward in New Orleans, I'd have to agree that there were (are) problems that white America may never understand.

It would seem, for you to be interested in participating in Free Republic, that there were positive influences in your life that allowed you to grow and learn and not be dragged down by negative influences. Perhaps you could share with us what the good influences in your life were ... and then perhaps we could better understand your experience. It seems that you followed the example of earlier white folks from the 9th Ward ... and worked your way out of it. That has always been the American dream ... to rise above our origins. Unfortunately, too few seem able to do it now.

102 posted on 10/15/2005 12:32:16 PM PDT by caryatid (In the land of dreamy dreams . . .)
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To: paulat

Re: Thomas Sowell's book

I'm wondering if Sowell's theory is the same one I heard on a documentary about a year ago, one about Chicago, comparing the poor white south to the black inner city, tracing back to a large influx of black workers into Chicago from certain areas in the rural South where EVERYONE (black and white) had nothing and the same way of living.


103 posted on 10/15/2005 12:34:28 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: The Cuban

Serious question....Do you know what "keeping it real" actually means? I have a guy at work that wears this emblazoned on his shirt....i'm curious.


104 posted on 10/15/2005 12:36:26 PM PDT by teldon30
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To: mc6809e
And since I'm a FReeper regular, I have to ask, just who is this "Thomas Sowell" anyway?

Dr. Sowell is the most brilliant black, intellectual conservative of our time. He is at the Hoover Institute. When Dr. Sowell speaks, all should listen.

105 posted on 10/15/2005 12:40:05 PM PDT by caryatid (In the land of dreamy dreams . . .)
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To: paulat

I remember seeing a political cartoon years ago.

A simon Legree character with a whip is preparing to beat a slave. The slave on his knees says, "You may owns my body but my soul belongs to, uh, to, uh, to youall, massa!

I do believe this Simon Legree character best represents the Democratic party in the US.


106 posted on 10/15/2005 12:40:43 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (When someone burns a cross on your lawn, the best firehose is an AK-47.)
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To: paulat
I just don't see how this is helpful.

I don't either, but its not far off from some of the comments made by white Southerners on another thread discussing why the South lost the Civil War. "The South shall rise again" and the "slave syndrome" are two sides of the same coin. It gets tiresome.

However, to be fair to both sides, the USA was born with a birth defect in the Southern part of its anatomy, slavery. It still requires corrective surgery for both black and white, North and South.

107 posted on 10/15/2005 12:41:27 PM PDT by elbucko
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To: paulat
This article caused me to write another entry for Newsbusters.org The professor's thesis is, of course, nonsense, but neither the reporter nor the editors noticed that. Click below.

I also wrote to, and left a phone message for, the writer of this article. From his name, he may be an American of Japanese descent. If so, it is particularly pathetic that he did not spot the errors in the professor's arguments. I gave him two hours - didn't hear from him - posted the article up.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Racially-Based, Academic Nonsense"

108 posted on 10/15/2005 12:45:50 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob (Quoted by Rush, again, this Thursday. Hoohah.)
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To: Ninian Dryhope

You are a real PISSER!

I'm not sure that sounds good.


109 posted on 10/15/2005 12:46:15 PM PDT by LoudRepublicangirl (loudrepublicangirl)
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To: William Creel

youve never heard of "Neverland"


110 posted on 10/15/2005 12:47:36 PM PDT by bdfromlv (Leavenworth hard time)
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To: paulat
Her theory of "post-traumatic slave syndrome" concludes that African Americans needed to adapt to survive more than two centuries of slavery, and that those adaptations are reflected in their behaviors today.

I, too, am suffering. I am suffering from the legacy of my great-great-great grandfather, who died of scurvy in the horrible Andersonville POW Camp in the Civil War. I am tormented by the horrible conditions at that camp, and ultimate sacrifice by my ancestor of that "last full measure of devotion," as Lincoln characterized it, so that the slaves might be free.

You could say that I'm suffering from "Post-Traumatic Andersonville Slave-Freeing Syndrome," and I and all the rest of the descendants of those who served and died in Andersonville, so that slaves might be free, deserve to be compensated for our troubles. We are owed it!

So, as soon as the slave descendants get THEIR slavery reparations payments authorized, I and my fellow sufferers of "Post-Traumatic Andersonville Slave-Freeing Syndrome" will expect the checks to be endorsed over to us, because we are traumatized by the experience of our ancestors, who died to free the slaves, so it is only fair and fitting that the reparations for slavery be transferred to us..... because we suffer; we are victims; and we are owed.

< /satire mode>

111 posted on 10/15/2005 12:48:26 PM PDT by longshadow
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To: kipita
Thank you for adding a specific and personal perspective to a general discussion. Images like you described do have an effect, especially when they are used to create a false conclusion.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Racially-Based, Academic Nonsense"

112 posted on 10/15/2005 12:50:40 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob (Quoted by Rush, again, this Thursday. Hoohah.)
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To: McLynnan

What about babs striesand and madellin notsobright and the first honorary jewish president BJ Clinton


113 posted on 10/15/2005 12:51:21 PM PDT by bdfromlv (Leavenworth hard time)
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To: teldon30

A state of being, wherein the person, normally an african-american, lives a hyper-real ghetto existence, where all efforts at education, legal employment, nuclear family, advancement, and solidarity with the larger community are spurned as "white". For example, no wife, but a Ho, no formal schooling, but the school of hard nocks, not a father but a baby daddy (i.e. child support provider) constant cursing, illegal employment (usually in the drug or sex trade), etc. These are akk considered to be authentically black.


114 posted on 10/15/2005 12:52:10 PM PDT by The Cuban
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To: paulat

What's that phrase...an idea so foolish only an intellectual could believe it?


115 posted on 10/15/2005 12:55:16 PM PDT by gogeo (Often wrong but seldom in doubt.)
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To: The Cuban

Thanks for the answer....is that what the thump thump on the chest indicates? Know what i mean?


116 posted on 10/15/2005 12:55:45 PM PDT by teldon30
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To: mc6809e
Dr. Thomas Sowell is one of the nation's best philosophers, historians, and writers. He's at the Hoover Institute at the age of 75, and still a leading figure in all three fields. I encourage you to keep your eye out for his byline, and read his works every chance you get.

Then, when you are continually impressed with his abilities, you will pass the recommendation along to others.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Racially-Based, Academic Nonsense"

117 posted on 10/15/2005 12:56:18 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob (Quoted by Rush, again, this Thursday. Hoohah.)
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To: Dawgreg

even in this country wherever saudis and rich Muslims live not to mention those with latino housekeepers.


118 posted on 10/15/2005 12:57:24 PM PDT by bdfromlv (Leavenworth hard time)
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To: paulat
I have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Algonquian Indian Syndrome.

Do I qualify was millions???

119 posted on 10/15/2005 12:59:41 PM PDT by Osage Orange (I'm caring less, more and more....................)
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To: Congressman Billybob

Pls read the threads before you post. This is amply covered earlier.


120 posted on 10/15/2005 1:00:17 PM PDT by paulat
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