Psychological Slavery: Is It Still Present in the Black Community?
Racial stereotypes can be considered the sole reason why psychological slavery continues to exist. Black people are seen as part of a subservient and menial race. They were viewed as unevolved, inferior, and apelike in semblance by prominent white people in both Europe and Western countries.
The knowledge people have of Africa and its people has been shaped by misunderstandings and misjudgments that stem from viewing the world from a Eurocentric perspective. The institution of slavery has had a sever influence on today’s black community and the freedom black people know is simply an illusion. Some people are unaware of who they truly are and what they are capable of. The black community has more power and potential than they currently realize.
Skin colour has become a social status. The slaves in Africa who resembled their slave masters in skin colour were given more positive traits, while dark skin became equate to the reason slavery happened.
Today, there are many black people who continue to assume that beauty, accomplishment
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This has made it difficult for black people to emancipate themselves and their minds from the various dissenting and cynical iniquities inflicted on their race through the effects of slavery and their everyday lives. A lyric from Bob Marley’s Redemption Song states, “Emancipate yourselves form mental slavery, None but ourselves can free out minds.” The song itself is about deliverance and oppression that African slaves went through. The main theme is the great reclamation of freedom after slavery was abolished. The specific line that mentions “emancipate yourselves…none but ourselves can free out minds” explains that in order to free an oppressed person, you must be oppressed yourself and you must liberate