'Slave syndrome' may still affect black behavior (Professor calls it "post-traumatic slave syndrome)

The Seattle Post -Intelligencer ^ | 10/15/05 | JOHN IWASAKI

[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]

[paulat]

In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity—a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves “friends” of blacks. An essay titled “The Real History of Slavery” presents a jolting re-examination of that tragic institution and the narrow and distorted way it is too often seen today.

http://www.tsowell.com/Rednecks.htm

I'm on my library's waiting list for this...urge you to do the same.

[Nathan Zachary]

I think you failed to note the sarcasm in post #13

[yoe]

FACT: "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."

B.S.: Her theory of "post-traumatic slave syndrome"...

A "publish or perish" piece if ever there was one. The New Orleans culture is one that the race pimps have worked hard to maintain and continue to do so in other parts of the country. Is Mayor Nagin part of that pimp culture as he pleads for "his" people to come back ------ come back to what? Katrina opened the gates to a better life for many and the questions of where did all the money for Louisiana's educational programs, levee repairs, and countless other Democratic promises to end poverty in that state. Those are the questions that should be apparent and written about to anyone interested in some of the worst 45+ years of Democratic Politics in the State of Louisiana…rather than this self serving article.

[The Red Zone]

Maroonnecks.

[wagglebee]

I just don't see how it applies to anyone who's never been a slave.

This is just another excuse masquerading as research to justify reparations.

I'm pretty sure that some of my ancestors might have been fed to the lions by the Romans a couple thousand years ago. Maybe Italy owes me some money (at the very least I should be able to eat for free in Italian restaurants).

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

"post-traumatic slave syndrome"

Come on, you can do better than that!

PIST==Post independence slave trauma.

PEST==Post Emancipation slave trauma.

Other good ones anyone? (my mind suddenly went into auto-shutdown)

[Texas Eagle]

Somebody ping Bill Bennett's critics.

Sayonara, John.

[BLASTER 14]

OK, Ladies and Gents, here is the B14 Theory of why most of the outlaws in New Orleans were black (The following points a-c are based on having raised three children and observing/helping in the raising of five grandchildren, and also teaching junior high and high school students):

a. All children, black, white, brown, yellow, green, purple, etc,etc, are born savages. They want NOTHING except that which satisfies their desire(s) at the time. They will stop at nothing within their control to get it. (Anybody ever hear a screaming child who hasn't gotten its way?)

b. It is the responsibility of the parents to civilize the little savage. Notice the the "parents" is plural, meaning that not only the mother has a responsibility, but also the child's (fulltime)father.

c. If the parents do not properly discharge their responsibility, the child will experience trouble in getting along in a civilized society.

d. Add to the above the following facts:
1. the illigitimacy rate for blacks is in the 70%(+) range, usually born to teenage mothers, and,
2. the high school dropout rate among black teenagers, particularly boys, approaches 70%-80%, thus,
black young people as a group have trouble competing in the job market or otherwise making their way in the civilized world.

e. When the bars are let down as they were in New Orleans the savages were free to do what they wanted.

[TAdams8591]

Presently, the problem stems more from the Welfare plantation then the cotton and/or tobacco plantation.

[Arrowhead1952]

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.

My theory of post-traumatic slave syndrome "Don't continue to depend on government assistance" concludes that African Americans need to adapt to survive by getting an education and a job, rather than listening to this BS

"more than two centuries of slavery, and that those adaptations are reflected in their behaviors today."

What has this professor been smoking??????

[Dawgreg]

I can see post traumatic stress from an event that happened to an individual.......but THIS???? Are there any REAL slaves alive today that we don't know about????

[Nathan Zachary]

Even worse than the jewish Holocaust was the mass government forced starvation and genocide in the Ukraine and parts of Poland during the late20's early 30's. Rarely is it even mentioned. Maybe that's why so many American's with Polish Ukrainian ancestry are overwieght- stavation syndrome. Russia should pay reparations and open free health spa's in the USA for these victims.

[The Red Zone]

DeGruy-Leary makes a compelling case for African Americans to examine why they might respond in certain ways and to consider whether that's still beneficial, said Germaine Covington, director of Seattle's Office for Civil Rights.

"What may be good adaptive behavior may be hurting us," she said. "We say, 'Be seen and not heard.' In a slavery situation, to be seen was dangerous. Maybe you'd be separated and sold."

Starts with a reasonable thought and straightway dives into a wallow pit. Being "separated and sold" was no longer possible after emancipation, so that's way too far back. Jim Crow circumstances would make more sense to look at, but how many decades of vigorous repudiation of such shameful practices ("hey black man, we don't even want to touch what you drank from") is needed before the black man can stand on his own two feet again?

[Boazo]

Hi,I'm here to take over the internet.

[mc6809e]

http://www.tsowell.com/Rednecks.htm

I'm on my library's waiting list for this...urge you to do the same.

Why not buy it?

And since I'm a FReeper regular, I have to ask, just who is this "Thomas Sowell" anyway?

[lonestar]

It seems to me that many Africans who have never been to the USA, are "suffering" from the same syndrome.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

American Blacks are still slaves to their Black leaders and the Democrat Party that has kept them at the bottom of the economic, opportunity and political ladder for the last fifty years. Actually, American Blacks have done this to themselves willingly and eagerly. What a shame for a race of people that nurtured the first true cultures of the civilized world.

[lonestar]

...just who is this "Thomas Sowell" anyway?

Surely you're kidding!

[headsonpikes]

It's called welfare dependancy syndrome and can affect anyone of any race or ethnic background.

Socialism is always either explicitly or implicitly genocidal.

There are no historical exceptions.