The Afro-Saxon Mentality

The so called Black Experience in America has left us with an indelible record of outstanding achievement in the face of great adversity. African Americans such as W.E.B. Dubois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Dr. Huey P. Newton, and other African American men and women achieved their goals despite facing the possibility and/or reality of imprisonment, bodily injury, and even death.

However, for every Dr. King and Malcolm X, dozens of step-and-fetchits capitulated in the face of overt racism and bowed down to the alter of euro-centric values. This was certainly understandable based upon the fact that during the Jim Crow era the socio-economic status of African Americans was predicated upon their ability (or inability) to maneuver in a society that was overtly hostile to people of color. Decisions had to be made based upon self preservation and the preservation of the African American family unit. As such, one had to do what one had to do to survive and move forward. Fortunately the energy level of the Civil Rights movement was such that it completely overwhelmed the status quo of Jim Crow and brought a modicum of justice to the cause of freedom for African Americans.

Since that period we have experienced the rise of what I term the Afro-Saxon. The Afro-Saxon embodies the euro-centric mindset to the point where they reject anything related to African thought, African culture, or its value system. Not only do Afro-Saxons reject the values found in African-Centrism, they have shown a propensity to engage in a de facto war against anything related to an African-Centered value system. In other words, they have become the proverbial lynch mob of the twenty first century. However instead of lynching Africans, they now engage in the “lynching” of ideas and initiatives that are imperative to and essential for the survival of the African American community.

Quite frankly, Afro-Saxons have mentally bought into the premise of white supremacy. Afro-Saxons engage in the propagation of a value system that enthusiastically promotes the needs of the one (i.e., self) while limiting and stigmatizing initiatives and ideas that would resolve and satisfy the needs of the many. Because of its ability to easily infiltrate institutions of learning, communication, and commerce, the Afro-Saxon has brought more harm to the African American community then Jim Crow ever could.

The harm is being done in several ways. One of the most harmful things that the Afro-Saxon has done is to reject and work to destroy the idea of any type of affirmative action, even though for 340 years prior to affirmative action African Americans were locked out of freely pursuing the so called American dream. They would rather see the poor and ignorant “pick themselves up by their bootstraps” and make it just like they did even though in most cases affirmative action is what helped the Afro-Saxon to “make it” in the first place. Afro-Saxons have brought harm by rejecting and working against any initiatives that would invest capital within the inner city that could be utilized to jump start housing, schools, and business development in these communities.

The Afro-Saxon pontificates eloquently about traditional American values and romanticizes about America’s founding fathers and its founding citizens. Yet the Afro-Saxon fails to recognize or tries to disassociate them from and play down the harm done to the African and Native American by these same individuals. Just like the Europeans that engaged in the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of the African, the Afro-Saxon sees no harm in the slavery, murder, and destruction of the African. To the Afro-Saxon, these things were necessary in order to bring a civilized temperament to the African psyche. Unfortunately the Afro-Saxon is a prominent fixture in American society. Fortunately, he is easily recognized and as we all know, recognition is the first step in dealing with an issue.