After almost 57 years of (constitutional) independence, the slave mentality persists on both a structural and individual level.
This saddens me.
It persists because socially, politically, economically and culturally — nationally, we share the idea that inequality and inequity are normal.
We believe with such strong conviction that we, the (majority) Blacks, are poor because we don’t work hard enough — that, we are lazy. And while we accept poverty as natural, we still latch on to the idea (even in 2017) that homosexuality is unnatural. We strongly believe racism is wrong, but refuse to discard the idea that sexism is right. These are some of the many things.
It is these normalized beliefs that have infested our minds. Our collective mind(set) is mediocre. It is severely underdeveloped and disappointingly underutilized.
I know we oftentimes ask, what are our politicians (interested in) doing? But we already know the answer to this is one of two things: 1) nothing or 2) waiting to be TOLD something.
This saddens me.
I ask, what are my people thinking? Are we thinking? Are we too tired to think?? It isn’t that we are incapable. It could be that we are in fact, tired AND hungry. We might also be afraid.
But, we become less afraid when we are empowered. When we become aware. And, when we become aware of our options, we realize that we have many.
That is why it is important to know — to internalize — to acknowledge and accept: that our slave mentality persists because of our dependence — our reliance on — our confidence in — the hierarchical system that is capitalism.
Until we realize this, our (collective) mindset will remain mediocre. Until we recognize this, our slave mentality will persist.
