THE SOLUTION IS THE NEW AMERICAN IDENTITY.

There is a renowned professor of developmental psychology at Howard University in Washington DC whose lectures, that I was privileged to attend nearly 40 years ago, continue to resonate with me. Among other lessons taught, professor Wade Boykin imparted that in America, the variegated complexities of outcome on the educational development of black children are products of fluctuating experiential variables.

The professor posited that the magnitude and quality of exposure to a dynamic of three interrelated realms of ethnic and cultural experiences determines the learning style and corresponding pedagogy best suited for academic outcome: the three realms being 1) the minority experience {i.e. the experience of being a minority in America} 2) the black experience {experience germane to a repertoire of time perspective, spirituality, verve, and a traditional process of ongoing refinement of such} 3) the dominant experience {exposure and experience of black children to and with dominant American culture}.

Dr. Boykin labeled these three interrelated realms for the educational development of Black American children, The Triple Quandary:

At the time brother Boykin was ‘throwin down’ and making his imprint on this writer’s fertile mind, assumptions of what comprised the “dominant experience” derived exclusively from algorithms defining the American White middle-class. That was 1981. But in 2020, this “dominant experience” is no longer accepted as the absolute.

The White American middle-class hegemonic society of 1981 is fast becoming an amalgamation of ethnicities and cultures. The “dominant experience” is transitioning as a burgeoning dynamic that incorporates a world community.

So, will White American middle class culture define the minority experience?

The Britannica Encyclopedia defines Minority, as a culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct group that coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant group. As the term is used in the social sciences, this subordinancy is the chief defining characteristic of a minority group. As such, minority status does not necessarily correlate to population.

In some cases one of more so-called minority groups may have a population many times the size of the dominating group, as was the case in South Africa under apartheid (c.1950–91).

A minority may disappear from a society via assimilation, a process through which a minority group replaces its traditions with those of the dominant culture. However, complete assimilation is very rare. More frequent is the process of acculturation, in which two or more groups exchange cultural traits. A society in which internal groups make a practice of acculturation usually evolves through this inherent give-and-take, causing the minority culture to become more like the dominant group and the dominant culture to become increasingly eclectic and accepting of difference.

As indicated by the American demographic transition, the dominant American experience will be defined by a “norm” of global cultural eclecticism. This forces a reckoning of a “White identity” that continues to manifest a “White” supremacist ideology; it will not only be seen as un-American, but an inheritance of mental deviance as it bears behavioral expressions, language and motifs that exists outside the new norm.

There is no such thing as “black”, “white”, “red” or “yellow” people in terms of skin color.

At the crux of the matter is what makes “White” nationalism/supremacy pathological; it is pathological because it’s formulation stems from a construct invented for the sole purpose of systematically dehumanizing, in every way imaginable to human creativity, Homo sapiens with higher levels of eumelanin relative to Homo sapiens born with greater pheomelanin.

Our skin color is determined by a pigment called melanin. Everyone has melanin (both fair and dark skinned people) and it exists in us in different forms and ratios. The two forms of melanin are called eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin comes in brown and black hues while pheomelanin appears as red and yellow hues. Both forms of melanin are produced by a specialized group of cells called melanocytes.

There is no such thing as “black”, “white”, “red” or “yellow” people in terms of skin color. People are simply mixtures of colors and variations, depending on your genetic makeup. For example, a person with dark skin would primarily produce eumelanin while a pale-skinned European may produce a majority of pheomelanin. People who naturally produce less melanin from melanocytes have less pigment and appear with lighter skin. Other people have fewer melanocytes and this also results in less overall pigment and lighter skin. Clumps of melanocytes in fair-skinned people often appear as freckles.

Indulgence in the illusion of a Homo sapien supremacy renders a reality defined by malignant stagnation.

The disease of “White” supremacy is symptomatic of a pervasive state of psyche-dysfunction; that is, failure to recognize that one is a constituent, element/component of a greater living body or whole.

Education is the cure for this chronic state of pathology; “White” supremacy is a learned state of dysfunction, therefore education, incorporated into American schools and into counseling or psychotherapy, is the treatment. The goal of the treatment is to de-program through a process of de-constructive falsification; that is, rendering the perception of a Homo sapien hierarchy, particularly based on ratios of melanin, a false narrative. Indulgence in the illusion of a Homo sapien supremacy renders a reality defined by malignant stagnation.

There is nothing “un-American” about teaching the genuine historical development of the American nation. No society can remain “static” and hope for future survival. Designed, purposeful, intentional maintenance of a “low informed” populace secures political, hence policy, stagnation. Anything that doesn’t move, dies. Social political and policy maneuverings created out of desperation to preserve a manufactured “White” identity, hold in place, a low informed populace. But why do we see this occurring time and time again?

Because an informed, educated populace would be knowledgeable about the creation of a “White” identity and its purpose, knowledgeable about the lie of “White” supremacy and it’s pseudo-scientific base of support. And armed with that knowledge, this democracy would un-stagnate as it accommodates a multi-ethnic and cultural advance. Mental health professionals must prepare for this inevitable reality for the fallout will be overwhelming; considerable segments of less melanated populations will act-out from fear.

In the new and emerging America, reference to one as “biracial” or “multiracial” will be considered obsolete or outdated fragments of a previous nomenclature perceived as pathological.

Unchained from a manufactured American identity (i.e. artificial elevation of status determined by skin color crafted solely for the purpose of divide and conquer) “White” people would finally be free to reconnect to an identity rooted in one’s organic ethnic, cultural, anthropologic heritage, and like all other groups residing within America’s borders, acculturate that new found organic into the greater evolving American ethos.

In other words, your rediscovered true identity is incorporated and fundamental to a multi-dynamic formulation that now defines what it means to be American. Put another way, “White” people need to lose the manufactured “bullshit” identity, and all its underpinnings (i.e. concept of multiple races, race science, White Preservation Media, etc.) and find their roots. That’s how America moves forward and that’s how racism ends.

All racial terminology and the concepts associated with their use, heretofore, represent a conditioned state of human mental pathology.

Race, racism and the notion of multiple races are derivatives of the same genesis. The sustained use of these terms, particularly by White Preservation Media, sustains a “racial” divide. The construct of multiple races was created for the explicit purpose of dehumanizing those with higher ratios of eumelanin and racism itself is the operationalized process for dehumanization.

The vernacular of racism derives from the pathological core of the manufactured “White” identity created for the explicit purpose of dehumanization. All racial terminology and the concepts associated with their use, heretofore, represent a conditioned state of human mental pathology.

Skin color must be perceived as descriptive, not as identity.

In the new and emerging America, reference to one as “biracial” or “multiracial” will be considered obsolete or outdated fragments of a previous nomenclature perceived as pathological.

The first step in shifting the paradigm is eliminating the notion of multiple races. A belief in a “master race” will remain until the language and corresponding concepts are deemed egregious in nature and removed. You are not multiracial. You are not biracial. There is only one race, it’s called human.

The paradigm shift will also demand that one refute identity as a “White” person. That is an artificial construct created to socially elevate people with less eumelanin ratios. That identity manifest a self-righteous indignation triggered by phenotype characteristics of distinct others. This animus is prevalent, and its foundational nature within the American psyche aligns with the requirement for designation as “real” mental health pathology.

Designating racism as a mental pathology does not render White American identity safe and secure by excusing its behavior, rather, it unveils the grotesque underpinnings of a pathologized culture, while at the same time, challenging one to confront that identity.

For people who identify as White Americans, charting a therapeutic course for confronting the personal effect of White supremacy requires a focus that navigates one through interrelated realms of intellectual, emergent and anticipatory awareness using education while, at the same time, communicating a sense of personal responsibility along with support and respect for self in relation to distinct others.

Designating racism as a mental pathology cancels a World Order where personal and authoritative interactions, presumptions on intelligence and genetics, legislation, economics, housing, poverty, science, politics and the distribution of wealth are predetermined by an identity with skin color.

I offer the following:

In a world where racism is a mental disorder, there is no racism nor are there concepts of separate “races.” It is a world where future generations see each other as simply human. Yes, with distinct and shared cultural values, and yes, a world of multiple ethnicities and forms of spiritual worship … but above all, human. A world where concepts of inferior and superior are relegated to the description of objects.

Imagine that.

We are one race, not multiple. We are ethnically and culturally diverse, not biracial or multiracial. Our cultural heritage is steeped in archaeological and genetic realities, not man-made artificial constructs. When I interact with another human being I am interacting with a distant relative, albeit one that may require education. Phenotype does not determine behavioral or intellectual proclivity. The color of one’s skin, the shape of their eyes, is no more significant than the length of their hair or the shape of their nose. Skin color must be perceived as descriptive, not as identity.

The American transition to a multicultural/ethnic reality will indoctrinate future generations in manners consistent with the transitional demands; it will change the educational curriculum which alters concepts and vernacular; it will lead to the creation of a framework and structure of governance and social policy resulting in systemic resource allocation for all American citizens within its borders. Some may argue that “White” supremacy will remain systemic. I disagree, while a democratic structure will remain in place, it’s operation will be modified to reflect the populace in order to accommodate, in a more fair, just and equitable manner, all citizens of the nation.

The New America itself, as world leader, is the solution; it’s identity not defined by a dominant experience associated with skin color, but rather, defined by a working model of civil and moral ethics, informed education and government fueled by a multi-melanated ethos of humanity.

In September 2000, a manuscript was published; A Report of the Project for the New American Century. The authors, a group of ultra-right wing conservative ideologues, bloviated a militarized scenario of American dominance the world over and along with it, a fusion of American principles and values (code for “White” American identity). To quote the late James Brown, the Godfather of soul, they were “talking loud and saying nothing.” Indeed, there is a “New American Century” on the horizon but it will manifest as a global panacea comprised of cultural values far exceeding a minority white middle-class perspective.

This new American identity will be the forefront of a worldwide reckoning of consciousness followed by social policy renewal, particularly considering that nations throughout the world are becoming increasingly Brown. The New America itself, as world leader, is the solution; it’s identity not defined by a dominant experience associated with skin color, but rather, defined by a working model of civil and moral ethics, informed education and government fueled by a multi-melanated ethos of humanity.

Evolution to a New America, brings it’s citizens closer to the ideal that under-girds the Old America; best captured by Thomas Jefferson’s preamble to the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men* are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

*all people are created equal (personal amendment).

© 2021 Andrew P. Brown III, PhD. All rights reserved.