I read Na'im Akbar's book "Visions For Black Men" late in the 90's. This is an extract from his official biography, which I include to give you some background before we proceed:
He is what they call a Black Psychologist, an Afrocentric Scholar, sharing his thoughts on national issues with the entire population through books, articles, lectures, seminars, radio talkshows and Internet chatrooms. His message is clear and simple, yet provocative and well grounded: Black people in America are "crazy." Not so much individually, but culturally. This scholar, psychologist, author, business owner, and lecturer was acclaimed by Essence Magazine as “one of the world’s preeminent psychologists and a pioneer in the development of an African-centered approach in modern psychology."
His name is Dr. Na'im Akbar and his ideas have penetrated most aspects of progressive thought affecting the minds of African people throughout the world. His insight and his analysis of the social concerns affecting African-Americans in particular and humanity as a whole is soul stirring, superbly rational and highly informative. Actively quoted and interviewed in print media, broadcast media and the Internet; and celebrated on five continents, Dr. Akbar is one of the greatest Thinkers and Orators of our time.
Background
Dr. Akbar was born and received his early education in the segregated South prior to the desegregation of public and educational facilities. In his late adolescence, he left this exclusively African-American social environment to become a college student at the University of Michigan. He remained at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan for the completion of his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D., degrees in psychology.
Upon completion of his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, he was invited to join the Psychology faculty at prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He rapidly progressed from an Assistant Professor to the position of Department Chairman within two years and remained at Morehouse as a model teacher and administrator for a total of five years. In 1975 he left Morehouse College to become the Director the Office of Human Development for the (then) Nation of Islam in Chicago and gained international prominence for his publications and ideas which were projected from this post. He subsequently served on the faculty of Norfolk State University and eventually joined the psychology faculty of Florida State University where he has remained since 1979.
Now: In "Visions For Black Men" Dr. Akbar made a cryptically prophetic observation about the rise of Jim Crow and the potential for the resurgence of this nefarious and viral mindset. He accurately described the history of African Americans immediately after the civil war as comparable to our political and economic situation today. Strong African American business sector, college educations, high representation of politicians in both State and Federal government. Before Jim Crow! He then states the prophetic which I loosely paraphrase:"If Jim Crow happened once, it can happen again."
I agreed with him absolutely then but somewhere in the back of my mind I put such a time far, far into the future. That time is now. It is growing like mold behind walls that seem otherwise pristine. You don't see much of it, and when you address what you see, what you don't see will shock you.
There is a lot of handwriting in that mold all over the walls that surround African American life in this country. It is no longer possible to ignore that African Americans are once again revisiting the reconstruction scene of post civil war America. I tend to think that history repeats itself to give us an opportunity to correct a life lesson that needed a re-test. So here we go:
In 2008 African Americans have the potential to see-in Barack Obama-the most electable African American presidential candidate in the history of this country. The high optimism many feel about this, including an overwhelming level of support from nearly every sector of ethnic America, is exciting to watch unfold. Still, my money is on Na'im Akbar. His rationales were entirely too seamless to take apart and his understanding of race hatred in America, combined with the silence otherwise well intentioned Caucasian Americans respond with when the evil among them go riding in the night make me certain that it is time for African Americans to think seriously about strategies to prevent such a dangerous and imminent retrenchment into Jim Crow-ism.
So Mr. Akbar what would you suggest we do about this threat?
Hmmmm! He's not here right now, so I will, with what I've learned from his most incisive understanding of both sides of this issue suggest in his stead
1. Dialogue: Launch pro-active initiatives that target, not the criminal justice system as the solution for individual acts of race hatred, but that we sit down in town hall like meetings with the organizations whose members perpetrate race crimes. Neo-nazis, KKK, and others. People who act out of ignorance typically do so because ignorance produces fear. If you don't know what is in the dark, fear becomes the predominant emotion. The fact is racists become more agitated when they feel helpless to change their own circumstances, especially their economic circumstances. The economic climate in America is very definitely scaring the crap out of all of us. However, therein lies a solution. We must find and share the commonality of our problems, our worries, our fears with each other. We must humanize each other immediately so we can work together to solve these problems.
2. Preparation-Don't think for five seconds that a newly elected African American President will make all our problems suddenly vanish. This is a recipe for disappointment. It took, not 8 years, but close to half a century for the current economic plight of Americans to develop. It is the result of a failed and irreparable foreign and domestic policy which will take a lot of sacrifice and a lot of work to change. Barack Obama as President will be taking charge of a runaway train loaded with passengers, all screaming for their lives. He will have the unenviable job of cleaning up messes that don't want to be cleaned up. Entrenched interests will attempt to thwart him at every turn, especially when it comes to the entitlements we share, like welfare. The entrenched bureaucracy will fight every change with fangs bared, including the DOD, civil service and others. Already the subject of death threats, he will have no more protection than did JFK when the forces of darkness decide he has to go. Immediately following a successful assassination attempt will come the ugliness we'd best work to avoid, while preparing for it. Preparing for the worst while working for the best is always prudent .
I hope Na'im Akbar is wrong. He hasn't been so far. Not about anything I've read of him. We would be wise to listen to thinkers like these.
