The Falsification of Black Consciousness

8/11/2019 The Falsification of Black Consciousness

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The Falsification of African Consciousness

Dr. Amos Wilson

Know Thyself Study Group

www.kemetrise.org


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Who Was This Man?

!IMO, Dr. Amos Wilson was the greatest psychologistof all time

!Born in 1941, Hattiesburg, MississippiDied in 1995, New York City

!Educated at Morehouse College and FordhamUniversity (Ph.D. in Psychology)

!Social Worker, Probation Officer, Trainer, Counselor,

and Professor at CUNY

!Applied Fields: Developmental Psychology, ChildPsychology


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What Were His Goals?

!To contribute to our knowledge of self by studyingtwo aspects of our psychology: (1) our levels ofconsciousness and (2) the connection between ourpsychological development and our progress as apeople

!To provide information on our psychological history

!To analyze the ways in which we can re-structureour psychology in order to change our political, social,

and economic circumstances


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Our ConsciousnessAn Introduction


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What Is Consciousness?

!Consciousness is a type of power

!We use consciousness to solve problems through ourwill

!Our level of consciousness determines our behaviors

!Consciousness is affected by social interactions

!African consciousness has been tremendouslyaffected by our relationship with white people

!Contains 3 elements


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Three Elements of Consciousness:

1. Contents

2. Instrumentalities

3. Directional Organization

Contents: Beliefs, Opinions, Knowledge, PerceivedKnowledge, Self-Perceptions, Worldview,Conditioned Responses

Instrumentalities: The way we use the contents of ourmind

Directional Organization: How we show ourconsciousness through the goals we pursue, thevalues we hold, and the reasons behind ourthoughts


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How Has White Supremacy FalsifiedOur Consciousness?:

1. By giving us false contents: a false history, falseknowledge, false fantasies

2. By impairing our ability to think: We have becomeconfused about what knowledge is, who it belongsto, and how it should be used

3. By Falsifying our Values: Causing us to value thewrong things, desire the wrong things, pursue the

wrong thingsthings that are contrary to our well-being and our interests as a people


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The Falsification of Afrikan ConsciousnessThe Book


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What Is The Purpose of The Book?

1. The book was written to satisfy many requests tomake the information in his lectures available inprint format

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The book draws on 2 lectures: (1) EuropeanHistoriography and Oppression Exposed and

(2) European Political Dogmatism

2. In both of these lectures, Dr. Wilson talks about

how history has shaped our psychological make-up,has caused us to be in a perpetual state of amnesiaabout who we are and what we should be doing


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How Is the Book Organized?

The book is organized into 3 parts:

Part 1:

European Historiography and Oppression Exposed

This part of the book discusses the relationshipbetween history and psychology. Specifically, hefocuses on the aspect of oppression that has leadto cultural amnesia, a loss of power, and economicinequality


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Part 2:

Eurocentric Political Dogmatism

This part of the book discusses how our mental healthhas been affected by our political circumstances.He ties in important concepts such asindividualism, sanity versus insanity, repression,and self-transformation


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Part 3:

The Political Psychology of Black Consciousness

This part of the book discusses how we have beentaught to normalize ideas that are not ours butalso how white psychology ideas have mis-labeledus as deviant and abnormal. This is all part of theplan to falsify our consciousness


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What Should We Get From This Book?

For the most part, this will depend on what yourebringing to it. But, we should at least be able tounderstand these things:

! How the system of white supremacy has affected

and continues to affect our minds

! The process that was used to create apsychological nightmare for African people. Weshould see some parallels to Naim Akbars concept

of alien identity.

! What factors we must consider as we re-structureour minds, our thinking, and our values so that wecan improve our condition.


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A Final Note:

This is not necessarily a book geared towardsolutions. For that, youll have to take a look atsome of his other works (mainly Blueprint For

Black Power). Instead, this book offers anexplanation and analysis of psychological conditionso that we can better understand where we are atthis point.

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The Falsification of Black Consciousness