The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey… Choices and Decisions at the Crossroads

Part III

“My name is Donald Rivers. I am a man. I am a black and beautiful man.”

  –        Donald Rivers, Smart Justice Leader, ACLU of Connecticut, LinkedIn 05.23.23     

“I love you, Donald Rivers.”

– Dr. Micheal Kane, Clinical Traumatologist & Forensic Evaluator, (Writing aboard on the SS Nautilus, in the harbor of Split, Coartia- along the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea.)

“Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?”

–        Ademien Murray, 11, shot on 05.25.2023 by police after calling 911 at his mother’s request.

My Dear Readers,

It is early on Saturday morning, I sit on the bottom deck feeling both the softness of the rocking, caress of the blueish waters and the calmness of the wind brushing both my face and my spirit. I have made this oasis, amid the Adriatic Sea, home for the last seven days and now it is time to depart for the third leg of another fantastic adventure to the city of Zagreb, which has served as capital of Croatia since the 9^th Century.  I will be staying at the historic Esplanade Hotel, the setting for many Agatha Christie novels and the residence of several well-known African American celebrities including Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis.

Following a one day stay, I will depart for the fourth and final leg of my fantastic journey, flying to Amsterdam where again following my work as a clinical traumatologist, I shall visit the house of Anne Frank, who at the age of 15 perished in the Nazi concertation camp of Auschwitz. She was one of the approximately 270,000 children sent to Auschwitz, only 700 survived.  Eight years ago, in my visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, I vividly recall two observations that are permanently etched within my “psychological self.” Please take note that I did not state “etched within my memory.”

These observations included being in a large room that was engrossed with the fullness of a life size “railway cattle car.” This was an actual full sized railway car and not a replica or a small or shortened model.  It clearly provided an understanding of the psychological terrors these people faced as they were forcibly taken from their homes, treated inhumanely tossed into these very cars to face a fate that often ended in death.  The second observation was being in a large room filled with little shoes, not just simply shoes for sizes of all types of feet. These shoes, hundreds if not thousands were specifically those of children ranging from infants to middle childhood. Standing there in the silence of the room, staring at the tiny shoes, and imagining the horrors that these young children suffered has created a wound that to this day remains unhealed.

Since my visit in Washington DC, I have been to the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, France and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany. In 2019, I participated in the “Year of the Return” traveling to Ghana, African, marking 400 years of the Atlantic Slave Trade.  While I was there, I visited Elmina Castle. The castle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is a former slave trader outpost, where the “Door of No Return” was located.  It was through this door that millions of Africans were forced onto slave ships bound for the United States. I viscerally recall the tears streaming down my face and being psychologically impacted as I held onto the “Door of No Return.” I also recall the actions of a fellow traveler, prying my hands off the door as I became lost in my psychological self, refusing to let go.  My soul screamed out in agony.

I love you, Donald Rivers

Earlier in this writing, I mentioned Donald Rivers as someone I love due to his passion for the children; our African American children, a population that are more than not intentionally ignored, consciously overlooked, and mistreated in many American educational systems.  Mr. Rivers’ passion to educate, nurture and make sure that there are male role models within our communities there to stimulate young Black minds.

Today our children are being directly exposed to and psychologically impacted by shootings that are nonsensical.  These would include the 16-year-old in Kansas City, MO child who was shot for the mistake of knocking on the wrong door; the 10-year-old and his father in Tallahassee, FL, who were shot while returning a rental truck to a mall and most recently an 11-year-old in Indianola, MS who was shot by the responding police after calling 911 at his mother’s request.

Mr. Rivers recently published an article on LinkedIn (5.23.23) where he states the importance of young Black men considering entering the educational arena to make sure that our children have mentors they can look up and talk to about life issues that, we in our communities across America, face today. How can one love this man, a person I have never met? Simple, he awakens the “child within” the little Black boy who never experienced the teaching, mentorship, or commitment of a Black male teacher.  He clearly states “I am a man” without arrogance. He affirms that “I am a black and beautiful man”.  In the essence of vulnerability and exposure, he offers hope to young Black children, items that were far and few in James Baldwin’s day as suggested in the following words of his essay to his nephew.

Remembering Pain, Tears & Invisibility

James Baldwin writes:

“I remember, with pain, his tears, which my hand or your grandmother’s so easily wiped away.  But no one’s hand can wipe away those tears he sheds invisibly today which one hears in his laughter and in his speech and in his songs.”

Baldwin is eloquent in addressing the outcome of his brother and yet he does not bring into his focus the fullness or understanding of the psychological impacts that brought his brother to the state of “existing death”. It is important to remember the relevance of his writing is bringing an understanding to White America the experience of what it was to be Black in America. He did not seek to bring to African Americans meaning or clarification of their psychological impacts.  Baldwin left this to be figured out or discussed by others. Below is a personal story of psychological impacts for an “adultized” Black child, the choices and decision that lies ahead.

The Long-Awaited Outcome: Are These the Niggers?

Being born in the ghettoized North and raised in the segregated South, at the age of 10 I ascended to adulthood quickly learning the difference between the illusion of white time and the meaning of “doing black time”. Whereas white time was magical, imaginative, and fun, colored time was real, in black time, one’s actions and movement may have resulted in life changing events.

I can recall an experience occurring 60 years ago when walking on a country road on a hot summer day with another black boy. A police car pulled up. The police officer got out of the car, ordering us to get in his vehicle.  We obeyed without question.  He never told us the reason why he had stop us, nor did he utter any words while he was driving. Again, we did not speak as we were extremely fearful of what was to come.  He drove five miles where he stopped at a small country store, the type that was common that time but has disappeared in modern times being replaced by AM/PMs and 7-11 connivence stores. 

Upon arriving at this country store, without saying a word, he got out, called to the store owner, who upon coming out of the store, the police officer asked, “are these the niggers?” The old store owner whose neck was reddened from the burning sun, stared at us for several moments, time that seemed to be an eternity before stating “nah, these aren’t the niggers.” The police officer nodded to the store owner, got into his cruiser and just… drove away, leaving us standing there in the hot sun staring at the store owner who left, returning to his store. It was a long walk home for both of us. 

My friend and I never spoke about it as we walked.  I never told my parents of the incident out of fear of being punished. To this very day, 60 years later, I still don’t know what happened or the alleged crime.  Today, I recognized that at that moment, I stood at the crossroads. Whatever I could accomplish in life would depend on the decision made by a white man whose neck was clay pot red from the heat of a summer. Specifically, “Are these the niggers?”

Choices …. The Decision at the Crossroads

As Donald Rivers seeks to reach out to young Black men the importance of teaching of Black children, he offers a variety of reasons:

• Serving as male role models impacting a child’s self-esteem and sense of identity.
• Combating negative stereotypes and prejudices that young Black children may face.
• Breaking down barriers and challenges harmful ideas about race and masculinity.
• Providing guidance, support, and encouragement to help young Black boys navigate the challenges of school and life.
• Helping to shape the next generation of Black leaders, thinkers, and innovators.

 The Unforgiveable Crime… The Psychological Destruction of a Black Life.

In writing to his nephew Baldwin states:

“I know what the world has done to my brother and how narrowly he has survived it.  And I know, which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it.”

Late. Late. Late. and yet …Today can be that day.

Baldwin’s brother is dead; as Baldwin stated, “he had a terrible life; he was defeated long before he died because at the bottom of his heart, he really believed what white people said about him.” Today, men of Baldwin’s era including myself, carry psychological impacts such as intergenerational trauma that are being unconsciously transferred to our loved ones.  Perhaps if we had mentors and models such as Donald Rivers, we would have stood at the crossroads of life with solid foundations, able to make healthy decisions, and be able to live the lives we wanted and not live the lives we had.

Walking one’s landscape….

Well, it’s late into the night; this is a good as ever a place to stop. Tomorrow I am leaving for Amsterdam.

Tomorrow I will reemerge with Part 4 The Perilous Journey: The Psychological Pains of Forgiveness.

A good night, safe travels, and calmness in walking your landscapes.  I bid you peace and emotional wellness.  Until tomorrow.

Dr. Kane

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.

The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey… The Less We Forget, The More We Remember.

Part II

“For sixteen years, her husband beat her…. but after 16 years of cruelty, she finally walked out on Ike Turner.”

–        Tina Turner, 11/26/1939 – 05/24/2023

My Dear Readers,

As always, I bid you greetings and wellness.  Currently I am resting off the island of Hvar on the Croatian coastline in the Adriatic Sea which is the northern most part of the Mediterranean Sea. I am aboard a small ship of approximately 36 passengers and 8 crew members including women and men.  With great sadness I learned earlier last night that Tina Turner had passed away at the age of 83.

In my previous writing, I indicated that I would continue the five short segments of The Perilous Journey by exploring the concept of being imprisoned.  However today, I am weighed down with immense grief and sadness about the passage of Tina Turner. 

There is often the criticism of overt focus on psychological trauma.  There is also the consistent recommendation of examining a new direction and focus my writings on other issues such as family, male-female relationships or educational, social and developmental issues impacting the African American community.

Joe Louis, the African American Heavyweight Champion, clearly stated “You can run but you can’t hide”.  It is estimated that 70% of African Americans are suffering from clinical depression and anxiety disorders.

These unresolved childhood traumas if they remain unattended to will inflict havoc on family dynamics, male-female relationships, educational or social and emotional developmental issues throughout life.  Tina Turner provides a clear example. She endured 16 years of domestic violence, sexual, physical, emotional, and psychological abuses in a marriage with Ike Turner who, like Tina Turner, had unresolved histories of childhood trauma.

It would be a non-starter to simply step away to write on issues that one wants to assume are less impactful.  However, as it is said, “All roads lead to Rome”, meaning in the days of the Roman Empire, all roads radiated out from the capital city, Rome.  Another view of this quote is the inevitability of life that being all methods of doing something will achieve the same result in the end. Therefore, regardless of the issue being faced, to achieve relief from psychological pain, processing of such feelings is inevitable.

In applying this to my work, as a clinical traumatologist I work as a psychotherapist within the African American community.  My work is focused on the SELF Protocol: Self-Empowerment Leaping Forward.   In the work of clinical traumatology, I seek to provide a safe secure space for the patient to either sit in silence or speak to the substances/secrets which are surfacing upon one’s landscape. 

The Ghosts of Our Past.

James Baldwin in writing to his nephew in his essay “The Fire Next Time” (1963) states:

“Dear James,

I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times.  I keep seeing your face, which is the face of our father and my brother. Like him, you are tough, dark, vulnerable, moody—with a very definite tendency to sound truculent because you want no one to think you are soft… Well, he is dead, he never saw you, and he had a terrible life, he was defeated long before he died because he believed what white people said about him… You can only be destroyed by believing that you are really are what the white world calls a nigger. I tell you this because I love you, and please don’t you ever forget it.”

The Less We Forget; The More We Remember

Interpreting Baldwin’s words, the question becomes one of what do I see? I see the tortured faces of our fathers, the fathers of the children’s crusade obediently sent off to fight a war, yet psychologically unprepared to do so and resultantly, many traumatized and carrying these psychological wounds into their adulthood, impacting the lives of their spouses and children. In reference to Baldwin’s brother, and comparison to Baldwin’s nephew, in looking at his nephew’s face he sees signs and symbols of a tough, dark, vulnerable, moody person, ….  Baldwin adds “with a very definite tendency to sound truculent because you want no one to think you are soft.”

You’re Just Like Your Father!

The term truculent is defined as “the eagerness or quickness to fight; to be aggressive or defiant”. In my work of SELF-psychology, it is the creation of an “outer shield” a defensive posture to prevent others from being able to look within the “softness” or vulnerability of the psychological self. However, the outlying impact is also upon the fathers of these children who are themselves scarred, victimized, and impacted from their own childhood traumas and therefore the lack of emotional access, being powerless and never being able to understand the pain or the storm that Baldwin calls “the storm that rages in your youth.”

The Hidden Direction: The Raging Storm

In Baldwin’s writing to his nephew, about his father there is, in my opinion, a hidden direction regarding the message in his statement of “the storm that rages in your youth today about the reality that lies behind the words acceptance and integration.” I believe that this message without Baldwin specifically stating, is being directed at the nephew’s father. This is further evidenced by Baldwin’s following statements about his brother (nephew’s father)

“… he had a terrible life. He was defeated long before he died because he believed what white people said about him.”

Conceptualizing Intergenerational Trauma

Baldwin’s words pointing out the similarities between the nephew and his father serve to unearth, what has long been felt within the African American community, and yet not fully understood: the psychological impacts of “intergenerational trauma.” This occurs when the original traumatic experience is transferred from parents to children and then grandchildren and so on.

I will limit the teaching aspects of the blog to provide context and understanding of intergenerational trauma and how this is central in understanding not only Baldwin’s letter to his nephew and the relationship with his father but also to understanding the abuses suffered by Tina Turner in her sixteen-year marriage to a man who was also victimized and impacted by childhood trauma.

Examples of intergenerational trauma include:

• Domestic violence
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Child abuse and neglect
• Survivors of race related stress and conflict

Common symptoms of intergenerational trauma include:

• Low self esteem
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Anger
• Self-destructive behaviors

Causes of intergenerational trauma include:

• Parental exclusion, isolation, or incarceration
• Divorce
• Alcohol use disorder
• Domestic violence
• Child abuse (e.g., sexual, physical, or emotional)

Similarities: Psychological Impact-PTSD and Intergenerational trauma

• Hyperviligence
• Anxiety
• Mood deregulation

The Walking Dead

In writing to his nephew, Baldwin speaks his truth about his brother, telling him the following,

“Well, he is dead, he never saw you, and he had a terrible life, he was defeated long before he died because, at the bottom of his heart, he really believed what white people said about him.”  Since this writing is only from Baldwin’s perspective and we have no way of knowing how his words were received by his nephew, one can only imagine.

Momentarily, let’s allow ourselves to sit with the nephew not in 2023, rather in 1963 and listen, feel, and speak to what he as now been informed… Basically, your father:

• Never knew you or saw you for the person you are and the person you are going to be.
• Lived an extremely distressing life, a life without fulfillment or satisfaction.
• Was defeated; he never looked forward to the tomorrow’s awakening or horizon.
• Surrendered all definitions of self and integrated the hatred of Blackness.

In restating Baldwin’s words, “the storm that rages in your youth today about the reality that lies behind the words acceptance and integration,” without being directly stated, the nephew may have drawn the same conclusion that his father understood, “the reality that lies behind the words acceptance and integration”, despite all he seeks to accomplish in life, he will never, ever achieve the acceptance and integration of White people.

And … what psychologically traumatic experiences could have led James Baldwin’s brother and others of his generation to surrender within themselves to hatred and yet continue to seek a better life of “acceptance and integration” for their children? 

Conflicts & Suffering… What About the Smoldering Fire… This Time?

Baldwin in his writing of “The Fire Next Time” explores religion and racial injustice in mid-century America.  The book written for white audiences with the focus on helping them understand the Black American experience and struggle for equal rights. The book focuses on three themes authority, religion, and love. Baldwin’s works helped raise public awareness, namely White public awareness, of racial and sexual oppression and he raised these challenges on the national stage in America since it promised equality and justice for all.

Crossroads: The Luxury of Racial Justice or Surviving Day to Day

James Baldwin’s writing, “The Fire Next Time” was a masterpiece in exploring religion and racial injustice in mid-century America.  He achieved success in assisting White America in understanding the Black American experience and struggle for equal rights. And yet we must understand the limitations of Baldwin’s writing.  Quite capable to exploring issues of religion and racial injustice in mid century America, he was not equipped to explore or speak to the psychological impacts and traumas wreaking havoc on those engaged in the Black experience.  Mixed within those were seeking the “luxury’ of equal rights were also those seeking to survive day to day physically and psychologically from daily macro aggressions (overt threats of physical death) and micro aggressions (interpersonal forms of bias and discrimination).

Advocacy… Balance… Calmness…

Currently I am sitting in the harbor of Milna on the Dalmatian coastline on the Adriatic Sea. This is a good place to stop momentarily in the blog.  So, what have I learned?  I have learned that intergenerational trauma can be quiet in nature and form, yet its impact is insidious with a long-extended reach into future generations unknown and unseen. 

I have learned to soften my anger and work toward seeking more understanding and empathy to those caught in the throttles of domestic violence.  Tina Turner was victimized in a severe domestically violent relationship that included physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional abuse. She stayed in this terrible relationship for 16 years.  Others may toss out at her the big question… Why? Why did she not leave?  For various reasons she could not, would not and did not.  Yet one day… she did, and her life is forever transformed. Tina Turner is not a survivor of domestic violence. As a survivor all one can do… is survive.  Instead, Tina became a driver (empowering the psychological self), a striver (setting the direction and pace) and finally an achiever (identifying objectives and accomplishing specific goals).

As for Ike Turner, his legacy will remain that of an abusive man who tortured and terrified his spouse and children.  However, he too, was a victim of childhood abuse as was his father before him.  He too was psychologically impacted by integrational trauma as was his father before him.  Does the history of childhood trauma and intergenerational trauma either excused or justified his behavior?  The answer is a resounding NO. 

Perhaps in the generations of Ike’s father and those preceding mental health services and treatment were either not available or recognized within the community.  However, such is not the situation during Ike Turner’s marriage to Tina Turner or anyone today who is involved in such behaviors.  Ike Turner, men of his generation and men today are responsible, accountable and will be held to the consequences of the physical and psychological injuries caused by their actions.

Well, it has been my pleasure to share insight with my readership. look forward to the 3^rd segment of my blog subtitled The Perilous Journey: The Decision at the Crossroads.

A good night, safe travels, calmness in walking your landscapes. I bid you peace and emotional wellness.

Dr. Kane

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.

The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey… Walking One’s Landscape

Part I

“The very time I thought I was lost, my dungeon shook and my chains fell off”.

– James Baldwin “My Dungeon Shook” (1963)

My Dear Readers,

I bid you greetings and wellness.  It has been several months since I last wrote a blog.  I have stepped away from both my writings and involvement in my clinical practice to focus on severe health related issues.  As I continue my recovery, I am now faced with the major task of resetting… restarting my direction and engaging in moving forward onto the next stage of my life’s journey.

Next month, I will have achieved a milestone; my 70^th birthday.  I will be entering my seventh decade of life as a Black man residing in America.  I am at an age that most individuals would be considering retirement or semi-retirement from active life. And yet there remains other options as well. 

In writing this blog, I am currently traveling in Eastern Europe visiting the countries of Slovenia and Croatia located in the Balkans bordering the Adriatic Sea and the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea.  My trip will conclude in Amsterdam and The Netherlands where I shall visit the home of Anne Frank, the child author who perished in the concentration camp of Auschwitz at the age of 15.

It is with deep appreciation that in writing this blog, I will utilize excerpts from the writings of James Baldwin who, in 1963, wrote to his 14-year-old nephew about what it was like to be a Black person in America. The title of his essay, “The Fire Next Time”, means Black People have been trapped and limited by racism for a long time.  During this trip, I will seek to limit my writing and stay focused on the area of my specialty and training, clinical traumatology.

Direction & Themes

I seek to tie together common themes explored by Baldwin and what life experiences I have had as a Black person over my 70 years. In my writing, I seek to explore what it meant in “coming of age” and the lack of preparation which was common for many of us as children being born following the ending of World War II, the domestic terrorism and segregation of the 1950’s and the turbulence of 1960’s along with the era of the Civil Rights movement.

“Coming of Age”

Reflecting on comments of Whites responding to their feelings of “Coming of Age” there are affirmations to such life being modeled in television sitcoms including “Leave It to Beaver” featuring a typical White middle class family of four residing in comfort and ease and responding to reasonable daily living situations. It was within the White middle class structure that reaching the age of 18 was commonly considered as the significant age for young adulthood.

Sitcoms based on White middle class values such as “Leave It to Beaver”, “Father Knows Best”, “The Donna Reed Show” and “Family Affair” lacked any Black characters, stories about the challenges of Black people or semblance to Black family life in America. Yet it was vested and psychologically utilized as the model of what Blacks needed to be like, in order to be able to achieve “acceptance” and “integration” by Whites.

The Childhood Ascension into Adulthood

As a child of the 50’s born in the ghettoized North and raised in the segregated South, my “coming of age” coincided with the publication of James Baldwin’s book in 1963. By the age of 10, I had observed lynchings, the March on Washington, the Woolworth Sit in, lunch counter and bus boycotts, Alabama’s Governor George Wallace Standing in the School House Door, the Assassination of Medgar Evers, the Church Bombing in Birmingham, and Martin Luther King’s writings from the Birmingham Jail.

The Children’s Crusade… Soldiers Going Off to War.

At the age of 10, I vividly recall the hymn of “We Shall Overcome” offering courage, comfort, and hope as protestors confronted prejudices and hate in the battle for equal rights for African Americans. I faintly recall our parents sending us off to be on the frontline of integration in elementary school. 

As “soldiers” we were ill prepared for a war that our parents decided for us to fight. Following our parents’ advice of how to respond when called a “nigger”, being spat upon, or when other hurtful words were spewed in our direction by either ignoring them or answering with the verse: “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me” that was, in reality, a lie and yet the only words they could offer to protect us.

 This was the time that Black parents were not allowed to accompany their children to school but instead, had to rely on an ill-prepared and often non-wanting and undesiring educational system to protect us from physical and verbal abuse.   

The Children’s Crusade & Veterans of War: Forgotten, Abandoned or Lost Memoires?

As the focus has been the Civil Rights movement, integration, and acceptance. Without our consent, understanding and adhering to the obedience of our parents to fight a war which to we were ill equipped and unprepared for.

The outlying questions for us as veterans of the Children’s Crusade, becomes our unspoken reality into seeking to bring meaning to our experience:

• Are our experiences understood? …. and have we been forgotten?
• Have we been sacrificed and abandoned? … for the “better good’ for future generations?
• Are our memories lost? …. Who will tell our stories?

Sitting here in the town of Peiljesac on the Dalmatian Peninsula in Croatia off the Adriatic Sea, I am at peace within the psychological self… seeking to heal the psychological wounds of my troubled past.  My commitment to my sisters and brothers of the Children’s Crusade is simple… We will not be forgotten or abandoned and our memories will be passed onward to future generations….

AND…. the impacts and effects of how such unresolved childhood traumas have followed us into adulthood.

 Now…. onward as we follow the words of James Baldwin to his nephew written in 1963 and in comparison, with our lives today by me in 2023.

James Baldwin writes in 1963.

“You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in many ways as possible, that you are a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence; you were expected to make peace with mediocrity.”

Dr. Micheal Kane, Clinical Traumatologist writes in 2023.

The theme which remains consistent within the last 60 years is the expectation of the Black person not aspiring to excellence and the expectation that you are to “make peace with mediocrity.”  The gaming of White Supremacy has made subtle changes allowing “exceptions” such as Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice US Supreme Court and Tom Scott, Senator, South Carolina to have “a seat” at the table.  The purpose of such strategy is to provide a model, in other words, “the savory carrot” for African Americans desiring “a seat” and seeking acceptance and integration into White society. 

Today the change is one from overt racism to covert racism.  Whereas overt racism is deliberate and open, covert racism is a subtle act that is less easily spotted due to its indirect nature. Usually initiated with intent, a covert racist act can also be done unconsciously and when in action, goes unchecked it can result in having more psychological impact by wounding than the overt act of racism.

Covert Racism -Differencing Conscious & Unconscious Racism

The difference being during James Baldwin’s writing, the overt act of racism was “expected’ and therefore Blacks were prepared to expect and develop resources to protect or respond.  However today, Whites consciously holding racist beliefs have learned new methods and benefitted from methods to cover or hide racist attitudes.  Furthermore, Whites with unconscious racist beliefs can create psychological distress due to the lack of preparedness and wanton open exposure to the abuse. My experiences of such covert racism would be:

• Covert (conscious hidden)-being directed to leave the residence of a white colleague/friend following small dispute and later the white colleague/friend never addressing the incident. 
• Covert (unconscious)-while attending as a resident, being misidentified as a service person (doorman, waiter, or entertainer).
• Racial Innocents- allows the individual to claim “purity of heart” regarding intentions associated the act and not wanting to accept responsibility for the creation of psychological injury/wounding. This is achieved by outright denial of racist intent by the pretense of the non-existence of the incident, creating distress or deflection as in the misidentification “my wife knows that at times I say stupid things.”

This is a good place to stop and recharge in moving along with “The Perilous Journey.” I leave my beloved readership with the understanding that my words have not been concluded. As stated earlier, we will not be forgotten or abandoned, and our memories will be passed onward to future generations….

“The storm which rages about your youthful head today, which lies behind the words acceptance and integration.”

– James Baldwin, 1963

Becoming Unstuck: Live In The Present, Not In The Past

These words are reflective of a White woman, in writing to me, sharing her wisdom of my experience as a Black man approaching 70 years of experiencing life in among a sea of Whiteness in America. She states in summing up the problem of me, “being stuck” and providing the answer which of course makes absolute sense in her mind, in becoming “unstuck” which is to “Live in the present, not in the past.”

The young woman, raised in the privilege and the values of White Innocence, blinded by what is clearly visual… it is she and not I who is “stuck”.  However rather than living in the past… it is she and not I who remains a prisoner of the past. The concept of being imprisoned will be explored in the writings of …. The Perilous Journey.

Tomorrow, I will remerge with Part 2: The Perilous Journey: The Less We Forget, The More We Remember.

A good night, safe travels, and calmness in walking your landscapes. I bid you peace and emotional wellness.  Until tomorrow.

Dr. Kane  

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.