The Visible Man: Fear – The Elephant in the Room… The Loss of Empowerment

“I am an invisible man. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.  Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in the circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorted glass. When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination- indeed, everything and anything except me.”

– Ralph Ellison. Author, “The Invisible Man” (1947).

“The invisibility syndrome is a model that has been present within African Americans for decades.  The invisibility syndrome is defined as when one feels and believes that their personal talents, abilities, and character are not acknowledged or valued by the larger society due to racial prejudice.”

– AJ. Franklin (2000).

“I should have never gone back to the car.  I am angry at myself for doing so.  I put myself at risk.  And now I doubt myself.  Will I lose control again?”  

– “Living In the Past”. Excerpt from, The Lynching of Emmett Till Recalled…Living “With” Fear… Not “In” Fear.

“I know that you like girls, but you are eighteen years old now- a grown man. You can flirt with colored girls but stay away from white girls. They’re trouble. Oh, please Lil’ George, don’t look at them, don’t talk to them, and for sure don’t touch them, not even by accident. Colored men have been lynched for less.”

– A father’s stem warming to his son… “The Lost Eleven” (2017).

My Dear Readers,

Due to the outpour of remarks from the last blog, “The Lynching of Emmett Till Recalled…Living “With” Fear… Not “In” Fear,” I decided it was worthwhile to follow up with a post that provides more insight into this situation.

The Lynching of Emmett Till Recalled…Living “With” Fear… Not “In” Fear. (Recap)

A letter was written by an older black man raised during the time Emmett Till was lynched.  During a recent store visit, he had accidentally attempted to open the door of the wrong vehicle. In the process of doing so, he was stunned to see a white female sitting in the vehicle. He had what can best be described as an “Emmett Till Moment” in which he recalled the lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was murdered based on the lie of a White woman that he had “touched her”.

 Although he had apologized and left the “scene” he later returned to the same vehicle to inform the white woman that his vehicle was four parking space away. He stated she looked at him with indifference before turning away.  The older black man, lapsing into the past, in his “Emmett Till Moment” walked away, later writing that he was angry at himself and having fears of loss of control.  He is now unsettled, unbalanced and unstable.

Outpour of remarks: (I will seek to integrate these remarks into the analysis).

1. “His parents are to blame [by] forcing him [and] by ‘putting the fear of God’ into him!”
2. “He has poisoned his children and grandchildren with his fear!”
3. “I just don’t get why he would go back to the car; he wasn’t in danger from the woman.”
4. “So, what if she had called the police… he didn’t do anything!”
5. “He overreacted… nothing happened… so he just overreacted!”
6. “It sounds like he has social anxiety rather than being traumatized.”

The Fear of God: The Transmission of Trauma

Consider the following: this was the time in which domestic terrorism against black people was prevalent especially in the southern states were racial segregation was strictly enforced and black people had no legal protection. To blame black parents for simply seeking to protect their children from physical harm based on allegations from a white female is victim blaming. Victim blaming is a devaluing act that occurs when the victim of a crime is held responsible.  In this situation the family is being victimized by domestic terrorism and sought to protect their son by the only means at their disposal, internalized fear. This internalization of fear had been imposed upon them by whites seeking to uphold segregation through manipulating fear that was passed down from earlier generations.

Poisoning the Children and Grandchildren: Psychological Transference 

Poisoning is the act of intentionally administrating a substance that is harmful to one’s body. The older male who is said to be Living in the Past, the grandfather, is not poisoning his children and grandchildren.  He is transmitting intergenerationally what had been transmitted to him from his parents.  In doing so he is exhibiting the stage of psychological transference where he is redirecting his feelings, his fear of white women, onto his children and grandchildren with the intent to protect them from physical harm including death.  The same psychological trauma passed to him from his parents following the lynching of Emmett Till.

Returning to the Scene of the Crime – The Fear of the Invisible Man

There is the consistent question of “Why did he return to the car?  He was safe. He had left without there being any confrontation. He should have simply left and never returned. And yet understanding the two subtypes of traumas to which he was responding; it was essential for his “peace of mind” that he returned to the “Scene of the Crime.”

In addition to responding to intergenerational trauma, he is also being impacted by another trauma known as the Invisibility Syndrome.  AJ Franklin (2000) describes the invisibility syndrome as when one feels and believes that one’s personal talents, abilities, and character are not acknowledged or valued by the larger society.  AJ Franklin (2023) adds the invisibility syndrome results when the individual feels one’s personality and worth are disregarded because of other’s prejudice.  In this situation, it can be clinically indicated, this individual psychologically transferred his fears regarding the outcome of the Emmett Till lynching upon the young white woman sitting in the vehicle.  It is clinically indicated that he is now responding to the trauma of the Invisibility Syndrome following being “dismissed” by her when he attempted to explained that his vehicle was four parking spaces away.

Caught…Trapped…No Way Out…The Allegation of a White Woman & The Loss of Identity

There is the argument that he was never in danger; he could have left and even if the woman had called the police, there was no criminal action on his part and therefore, no action would have been taken by the police.  There are two problems with this argument: (1) it does not take into consideration the emotional state of a traumatized person responding to deeply internalized oppression as to the weight that is given to allegations by a white woman against a black man and (2), it dismisses the reality of black and brown communities that the function of the police is to… subjectively rather than objectively, provide enforcement of the law.

Keeping in mind this man’s previously stated impacts of both psychological transference and the transmission of intergenerational trauma, it is feasible that this individual may have felt caught, trapped, and not having a way out due to any possible allegations she could have made. Therefore, he felt that he was in danger and had to return to allay the woman’s fears. However, his trauma doubled when upon his return, she dismissed him.  It is feasible this dismissal created the trauma of invisibility syndrome resulting in the individual’s perception of loss of Identity.

Concluding Comments: The Loss of Empowerment

Question: Why won’t he just live his life? Why won’t he let it go?

The trauma of Invisibility Syndrome can result in dysfunctions including low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and negative emotions such as frustrations, loneliness, emptiness, and sadness.  Trauma impact has permeance.

So, in seeking to understand his reason for returning to the vehicle, this individual was trying to tame his fear.  Recalling the words of the father to his son:

 “…. stay away from white girls. They’re trouble. Oh, please Lil George, don’t look at them, don’t talk to them, and for sure don’t touch them, not even by accident. Colored men have been lynched for less.”

However, instead of taming his fear, the result was self-doubt and the loss of control.  In doing so, as he recalls her dismissal as he stands in front of her vehicle, he acknowledges what he fears the most, his own invisibility.

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My Dear Readers,

The mistake that is often made by white mental health professionals when treating African Americans is that the foundation of their training does not provide for an understanding of African American cultural values and mores or awareness of the impacts of racial prejudice and so it gets overlooked. This often results in African Americans being mislabeled as well as misdiagnosed.

There is a concern that African Americans responding to the trauma of Invisibility Syndrome are mislabeled or misdiagnosed as having Social Anxiety Disorder. With Social Anxiety Disorder, people seek to make themselves invisible to others.  They don’t want to talk so they don’t draw attention to themselves.  They look down so they won’t make eye contact.  In contrast, the person responding to the trauma of Invisibility Syndrome feels they are being dismissed; the individual is left with feeling of the loss of empowerment, their abilities personality and worth lack value due to the prejudice of others.

Furthermore, treatment protocols are created from the standpoint of the mental health professional’s values therefore including their biases and reinforcing their own values at the cost of understanding the cultural values of others.

One such protocol is called Self-Reflection and Awareness. It states the following:

“The first steps towards overcoming the feelings of being invisible is self-reflection and awareness. Take some time to analyze your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in situations where you feel invisible.  Ask yourself questions like: Why do I feel invisible in these situations?”

This approach fails because it targets the individual African American who is being victimized by being made invisible by the larger society. Therefore, this approach used by white mental health professionals amounts to nothing more than victim blaming and reinforcing devaluing of one’s identity for the benefit of the larger society. It is essential that African Americans be very careful when selecting a mental health provider who, due to training, personal beliefs, or biases, reinforces the traumatic wound.

In the treatment of the trauma associated with Invisibility Syndrome, utilizing the ABC Protocol and understanding that trauma has permeance is of utmost importance.   Therefore, the memory of the traumatic experience can reemerge at any point in time. The objective is not to overcome the trauma, rather the role of the traumatized person is to become an advocate, bringing “balance” to the traumatic experience and “calmness” to the external environment in which the traumatized individual resides.

In the situation of the loss of empowerment for this person holding traumas of his past invading his present and into the future, the focus is to be able to “Return to the Scene of the Crime”, aka, his long-held memories, working to lessen the weight or burden with the focus of achieving peace and empowerment in walking his landscape…we know as life.

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Returning To the Scene of the Crime

I want to return to the scene of the crime

I do not want to go back

Going back can bring pain, suffering and unresolved memories

Returning, I am armed with wisdom and knowledge, which I now take to the future

I am empowered

Whatever I was, I am no longer

The past is what it was. It cannot be recovered

I live for today.  To understand and uncover

I seek the tomorrow.  To explore and discover

Self.

Dr. Micheal Kane

Until the next time… The Visible Man… Invisible No Longer

The Visible Man: The Lynching of Emmett Till Recalled – Living With Fear, Not In Fear

“Invisibility is an inner struggle with the feelings that one’s talents, abilities, personality, and worth are not valued or recognized because of prejudice and racism. 

– Dr. A.J. Franklin. Professor, Educational Psychology, Boston College

“Dorham testified in 1955 that Emmett grabbed her hand and waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with “White women before”. But years later, when in an interview she stated, “That part’s not true”.

– Dr. Timothy Tyson. Senior Research Scholar, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, author “The Blood of Emmett Till” (2008).

“Sixty-eight years ago, there was the unspeakable murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago.  It has confronted America to see this as a story about monsters, her being one of them.  But the truth is what was unspeakable was the American social order that did nothing about Emmett Till or thousands more like him.”

– Dr. Timothy Tyson

“After hearing every aspect of the investigation and evidence collected regarding Donham’s involvement, the Grand Jury returned a ‘No Bill’ of both charges Kidnapping and Manslaughter,” the statement said. The murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy in this country and the thoughts and prayers of this nation continues to be with the family of Emmett Till.”

– Federal Grand Jury minutes (2008)

My Dear Readers,

In my most recent blog, “The Unspoken Truth: Lynching’s… No License Required” (03.31.24), I gave an accounting of my visit to the National Lynching Memorial, also known as, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.  In doing so, I honored my commitment of “bearing witness” to man’s inhumanity.

In bearing witness, I view this as my commitment to self in walking my landscape.

The landscape is Life.  One of the essential realities of Life is death is a certainty. What remains uncertain is:

• How we live our lives.
• What we experience in our lifetimes.
• The memories we leave behind with the individuals we will encounter.

In today’s blog, I am providing an analysis of the traumatic reaction an individual had following an unforeseen and unanticipated experience. The title of his story is: “Caught… Trapped…No Way Out!” 

Caught… Trapped…No Way Out! 

Dear Dr. Kane,

Recently, I read one of your blogs in which you visited the Lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.  I found the blog to be alarming, impactful, and at the same time very informative.  However, I am writing to relay a personal experience that occurred following reading the blog.

I am a 73-year-old, retired professional living in Seattle, WA.  I am originally from the Delta area of Mississippi.  My father moved the family to Seattle in the mid 60’s to escape the racial violence and lynchings occurring during those times.  My grandfather who was a pastor of a small church was lynched due to his advocacy to achieve black voter registration.

Recently following a store run to Costco, I had an experience that today continues to shake me at my core.  While leaving Costco after a long, tiring day, I rolled through the parking lot with my groceries to my car, pulling out my electronic key, I noticed that my automatic key wasn’t unlocking the door.  Being somewhat frustrated, I grabbed the door and started pulling on it.  To my shock, I saw this young white woman sitting in my car…then I realized that I was standing at the wrong car!

She looked up at me, surprised.  In return, I looked at her in shock. I blurted out an apology and quickly left and found my car. What I did next has shocked me to my core. When I found my car, I inexplicably turned around and returned to this white woman explaining through her rolled up window, that my car was “four spaces down”.  She puzzlingly, looked up at me and went back to reading on her cellphone.  I immediately left the parking lot.

I have been seeking since that incident to make sense of my actions.  As a child, I recalled my parents constantly schooling me about the death of Emmett Till and putting the “fear of God” in me to maintain a safe distance from white women.

My parents passed away a long time ago but instilled in me this fear of white women.  I have done the same to my sons.  My grandsons in this generation are clueless to this concern. In accepting my parents’ fears, in the workplace or public situations I either steer clear or maintain my distance from white women.

I am angry at myself for how I reacted.  My children and grandchildren’s childhoods were good without enduring such experiences.  As much as I want to talk to them about this, I simply can’t do it.

I should never have gone back to the car.  I am angry at myself for doing so.  I put myself at risk. And now I doubt myself.  Will I lose control again?   I feel like I never got over my grandfather’s death.  I feel like I am living in the past.  Do you have suggestions as to how I can get over these feelings.  Hopefully you will answer. 

Living in the Past.

Seattle, WA.

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My Dear Readers,

As previously mentioned, my goal is to analyze this individual’s actions which can be generalized to the many African American males as well as preceding generations.

The individual’s signature – “Living in the Past” is reminiscent of earlier criticism from a white female viewer suggesting “Don’t live in the past…live in the present”. This statement is a fallacy of White Illusion as to how others not having your experience are lending expertise on how Black people should respond to psychological traumatic expereicnes in their present lives.

Psychological Transference and Transmission of Trauma

The reactions of this individual to this situation bring forth two elements: Psychological Transference and Transmission of Trauma. Both are defined as:

• Psychological transference: is when someone redirects their feelings about one person onto someone else.
• Transmission of trauma: there are two types of transmission, Intergenerational and Transgenerational. In Intergenerational Trauma, the trauma gets passed down from those who directly experienced the traumatic event whereas in Transgenerational Trauma, the descendants of the traumatized individual were not directly exposed to the incident.

Living in Fear…The Internalizing of F.E.A.R

This individual was born and raised in an environment of racial violence whereas at any time his life was at risk.  This was also the time in which the black community was reeling from the lynching death of Emmett Till.  His parents sought to protect him by reinforcing prenotions of impending harm specifically possible death arising from interactions with white women.  Following the lynching of his grandfather, the family relocated from the racial violence of the segregated South in the mid 1960’s to the “safe haven” of the Pacific Northwest, the parentally directed fear of white women relocated as well.  During his developmental stages of childhood, adolescence, early, middle, and now latent adulthood, this individual has internalized a self-induced protocol designated to maintain keeping himself safe in a world that is unsafe and as such can erupt violently, instantly at any time. 

This protocol that I have designated F.E.A.R is the abbreviation for Frightful Experiences Assuming to Real.  This individual has created a boundary/buffer zone suggesting, as long as he maintains the boundary, he can buffer or so, protect himself from the angry external environment that holds racial hatred and therefore his demise and destruction.  This zone, is known as A.D.T

• Acceptance of the status quo,
• Distancing from the external threat (white women) and
• Tolerance of the perceived threat

Returning to the Scene of … The Crime

Question: Why? Why? Why? … did this individual return to the scene of the crime?  Specifically, after realizing he had attempted to enter the wrong vehicle and had subsequently left the scene, why did he return to tell the white woman his car was four spaces away?

Response: In his conscious mind, while accidentally approaching the wrong car, he had awakened the internalized fear that had held him in check for almost seven decades.  At the time he had nonvisual recall of the lynching of Emmett Till. In his actions, he had crossed over the boundary which had been instilled from years of parental direction.  He returned to the vehicle out of fear that she was going to alert the police and therefore place him at further risk of injury, arrest, death, or imprisonment.  Specifically, and out of desperation he sought to assure the white woman that she was safe and most importantly he was not a threat.

To take note, tolerance in psychological terms is defined “as a fair and objective attitude toward those whose lifestyle differs from yours”.  However, in this situation there is not the creation of a “fair and objective attitude”.  Instead, this is a desperate attempt of parental intervention being passed down to this individual for one purpose…SURIVIVAL. 

Transformation: Living with Fear…The Integration of F.E.A.R

This individual can move toward emotional wellness.  This can begin with him wanting to transform the concept from Living in Fear to Living with Fear.  The objective is to transform the movement of internalization, or freezing the emotions to integration which is the actions of uplifting and bring fulfilment.  The clinical protocol integrating F.E.A.R details the following:

• Facing the turbulence or upsetting emotions
• Embracing the feelings
• Acknowledging the pain and suffering
• Responding by empowering towards emotional wellness

Concluding Comments-Dr. Kane

This blog relates a story of an African American elder who escaped the racial violence of one environment only to live in fear as a survivor of the transmission of trauma in another environment 2500 miles away. In recalling the Federal Grand Jury statement that:

“The murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy in this country and the thoughts and prayers of this nation continues to be with the family of Emmett Till.”

It rings with words of truth that the murder of Emmett Till remains an unforgettable tragedy not just for Emmett Till but for the large numbers of Black males who have been made victims and now survivors of this horrific deed and tragedy.  Emmett Till is dead and may he continue resting peacefully.  However, there are many who continue to suffer every day silently as they continue to accept, distance, and seek tolerance from unseen abuse.

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My Dear Readers,

It has been my privilege to share with you my journey of “bearing witness to man’s inhumanity”.  As I continue to walk my landscape, my focus is achieving the following: uncovering… discovering… recovering.

• Uncovering: the truth…exposing the lies.
• Discovering: sharing…educating…understanding
• Recovering: healing the psychological wounds

Please stay tuned for my next walking the landscape and “bearing witness” as I travel to Wereth, Belgium to visit The Wereth 11 Memorial and pay homage to the 11 African American soldiers who during the Battle of The Bulge in WWII were captured, tortured, executed and their bodies mutilated by the Nazis.  This information was well known by the American government and was covered up.

To the Black and Brown people seeking to walk their landscapes… be careful and aware of the pitfalls and trapdoors placed by those seeking to impact your journey.

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“I am an invisible man. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.  Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in the circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorted glass.”

When they approach me, they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination- indeed, everything and anything except me.”

– Ralph Ellison, Author “The Invisible Man” (1947)

Dr. Kane… The Visible Man…Invisible …No longer.

The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey… Back to “The World”

Part VI

“Men, you are the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would have never asked for you if you weren’t good. I have nothing but the best in my Army.  I don’t care what color you are, as long as you go up and kill those Kraut sonsabitches.  Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you.  Most of all, your race is looking forward to your success.  Don’t let them down, and damn you, don’t let me down!”

–      General George Patton. Speech, given to the 761^st Tank Battalion before the battle at Morville-les-Vic, 1944. (Abdul-Jabbar & Walton, 2004, p.87).

“The 761^st gave a very good impression, but I have no faith in the inherent fighting ability of the race.”

–     General George Patton. Diary Entry, written the same afternoon he addressed the 761^st Tank Battalion. (Abdul-Jabbar & Walton, 2004, p.87).

“The 761^st Tank Battalion was in continuous combat from October 31, 1944, to May 6, 1945.  During that period, they captured or destroyed 331 machine gun nests, 58 pillboxes, and 461 wheeled vehicles.  In addition, they killed 6,246 enemy soldiers and captured 15,818 prisoners. They liberated thirty towns, and villages and two branch concertation camps.  The tank battalion suffered a casualty rate of 50%.”

–     Dr. Micheal Kane, Clinical Traumatologist “A Review Study of the Clinical Implications for Working with African American Veterans.” Doctoral Dissertation, Argosy University-Seattle, 2005.

My Dear Readers,

It’s a quiet Monday morning 4:45 am on June 5^th. I am sitting in my dining room, sipping my Starbucks coffee, watching the sun rise over the beautiful Cascade Mountains. In the quietness, I am listening to the birds chirping, the wind rustling through the trees, and the distinct sounds of bells ringing from the light rail system as it slinks along MLK Way taking barely awake, yawning commuters to work in downtown Seattle and beyond.  Perhaps, you are among those fortunate enough to be awake at this wonderful hour and to begin what will no doubt be a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest.

Now as I sit here, it is time to bring closure to my epic trip of 10,000 miles beginning in Eastern Europe visiting the countries of Croatia, Slovenia, drifting along the Adriatic Sea and finally concluding with a visit to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the home of Anne Frank. As this epic journey ends, so does my six-segment series entitled “The Perilous Journey”. In this series, I have sought to compare, contrast, conceptualized and lastly, comment on the classic work of James Baldwin’s essay The Fire Next Time.

My intent was to compare the life of the Negro in 1963 to that of the African American in 2023 and in doing so, sharing some of my own personal experiences of my 70 years of life living as a black man in America with both eras providing the similar experience of psychological trauma due to racial oppression and discriminatory treatment.

The Importance of Anne Frank… Allyship through Survivorship

There will always be a bond between European Jews and African Americans. The struggle to survive annihilation, being terrorized, laws and codes regulating movements, occupations, schooling of children, being a refugee without safety…always living out of fear of expulsion and rejection due to fear of … white supremacy will be one that cements our histories together. 

It is well known that Hitler’s Nuremburg Laws on Race was modeled after American Jim Crow laws. One bond that will forever bond these two communities together is the role in which Black soldiers of the 761^st Tank Battalion liberated two branch concertation camps during WWII. One such camp was the Gunskirchen camp in Austria where they freed Hungarian Jews. In discovering, “…some 15,000 Hungarian Jews near death from starvation, horrified the tankers did everything they could to help but could not stay long before being ordered to move on, reflecting as they departed on the limits of human cruelty”.

Trapped in a History that They do not Understand

In writing to his nephew, James Baldwin passionately stated,

“Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear.” 

Baldwin goes on to state:

“The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope.  They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it.  They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons that black men are inferior to white men.”

Behold, One’s Lying Eyes…Acceptance with Love

Can I believe my lying eyes? Did Baldwin just state the following:

• You must accept them…and accept them with love.  WTF?
• They are … still trapped in history which they do not understand.
• They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men.”

And yet they continue to believe regardless of historical evidence, that Black men are inferior to White men and in doing so, seek the elimination of Critical Race Theory (CRT) which only serves to keep them trapped in “history that they do not understand”.

And how do White people maintain the status, as Baldwin states, as “innocent people [who] have no other hope”? They shut off their minds due to what Baldwin calls “the loss of their identity”.

An example of the conflict is that of the statements of General George S. Patton. He delivered a passionate supportive speech to Black soldiers under his command, stating “I would have never asked for you if you weren’t good…. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you.” Yet in that very same afternoon, writing in his diary, “The 761^st gave a very good impression, but I have no faith in the inherent fighting ability of the race.”  So, despite of the “very good impression” made by the black soldiers, Patton remained in what Baldwin states, “trapped in history” and the belief that Black men are inferior to White men.

This belief carries over well into the 21^st Century and is reinforced in the constant replaying of the movie Patton (1970) especially during holidays celebrating America’s military achievements of WWII.  The information in Patton’s diary was well known when the film Patton (1970) was developed and never included in the scene of the speech to the 761^st Tank Battalion or for that matter there were no scenes of Black soldiers in the film.  In doing so, the achievements of the Black soldiers went without notice adding to psychological distress of not being what Baldwin calls “the storms which rages …about the reality of acceptance and integration.”

Your brothers… Your Lost, Younger Brothers (1963)

In writing to his nephew, Baldwin states:

“These men are your brothers—your lost, younger brothers.  And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.”

Essentially, Baldwin in 1963 saw the realities of man that the White man was the younger brother of the Black man, and it was the role of the Black man, with love, to “force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it”.

My Brothers… My Lost, Younger Brothers (2023)

Sixty years later, Baldwin’s words of “force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it” … Has this been achieved?  Absolutely not. African Americans today, in 2023, remain no different from Negroes of 1963. 

We are not monolithic, meaning we are not of one single mind. There remain those who continue to seek acceptance and integration as well as those who do not.

However, what has remained consistent over the last 60 years is the Black man’s continual quest to “force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.”  This of course is being met with hardcore resistance in the form of formal laws against educating Whites about truths associated with Critical Race Theory (CRT) and limit what can be taught to Black and Brown children about the significance of their own history.

Bringing Closure to The Fire Next Time

Baldwin, in his closing words to his nephew, stated:

“It was intended that you should perish in the ghetto, perish by never being allowed to go behind the white man’s definitions, by never being allowed to spell your proper name. You have, and many of us have, defeated this intention and, by a terrible law, a terrible paradox, those innocents who believed that your imprisonment made them safe are losing their grasp of reality.”

The Permanency of Psychological Trauma: The Lifetime Wound That Never Truly Heals

At the time of Baldwin’s writing in 1963, the discussion of traumatic impacts within the Black experience were treated as “family secrets” and were left basically unheard and untreated leading to dire and devastating consequences.  In the present day, although suspicion and reservations remain towards the healthcare system and its Eurocentric model, there is more willingness to understand and engage in mental health treatment.

It is not unusual for the Eurocentrically trained mental health therapist to respond affirmatively when questioned whether someone suffering from trauma can be healed.  However, such a response today is misguided and mismatched as historically, the therapist was trained to view trauma as a single distressing or disturbing experience not a conglomeration of experiences.

Today in marginalized communities where traumatic impacts can occur repetitively and can strike in combination with other subtypes at the psychological core of an individual or community. An example of such psychological impacts is those being experienced by the family and the community of Richland County, SC in which Cyrus Carmack-Benton, a 14-year Black boy was shot in the back and killed as he ran away from a convivence store, the allegation being he had stolen a bottle of water.

The sheriff’s office’s incident report states, “the shooting was not a bias motivated incident”.  Consequently, it is perceivable that members of this community could be impacted by one or a combination of all the following identified psychological traumas:

• Intergenerational Trauma; Historical Trauma
• Insidious Trauma; Trauma of Racial Profiling
• The Impostor Syndrome; The Stereotypical Threat Trauma
• Betrayal Trauma; Racial Trauma
• Micro-Aggression Assault; Macro-Aggression
• Just World Trauma; The Invisibility Syndrome
• Complex Posttraumatic Stress; Isolation Trauma

Concluding Words- Dr. Kane … Back to the World

In starting this six segment blog series during my 10,000-mile journey, my intent was to compare the life of the Negro in 1963 to that of the African American in 2023… what have I learned? I learned that Black people are committed to echoing Baldwin’s words of forcing “our white brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.”

However, as stated earlier, Black people are not monolithic, meaning we are not of the same stone. Where some seek change, others seek transformation. I view change as temporary and self-serving, but I for one, am committed to transformation which has permanency with the focus on moving forward. Has transformation occurred? No. This country is far from achieving transformation and will not achieve it because as Baldwin clearly stated:

“They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons that black men are inferior to white men”.

As I was returning from my trip, I learned some more sorrowful and troublesome information.  On May 28, 2023, a 16-year-old Black teen was shot in the back by a former cop who was white, for dating his daughter.

Baldwin states:

“You must accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope.” 

I suggest the following quote:

“The stupid neither forgives nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgives but do not forget. Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow up beyond what you were.  To err is human; to forgive, infrequently.”

Back To the World – Curtis Mayfield

In these city streets everywhere
You gotta be careful where you move your feet
How you part your hair
Do you really think that God could ever forgive this life we live?
Back in the world
Back in the world

Had a long stretch of sacrifice
Gettin’ back home will be awful nice
Child, your woman has long been gone
The doggone war just lasted too long
People don’t give a damn
People don’t give a damn
People don’t give a damn

So I’m standin’ here in future shock
It can give the mind an awful knock
Talkin’ ’bout hard times, hard times, hard times
Back in the world
Oh-oh-oh
My, my, my, my, my, my
It’s so hard, it’s so hard
This life is so hard
I been beaten up and robbed
Soldier boy ain’t got no job
Back in the world

Well, evening has arrived, and my mission of blog writing is completed! Good night, safe travels, calmness, in walking your landscapes. I bid you peace and emotional wellness.

Dr. Kane

“Living the life I want and letting go of the life I lived.”

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man

The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey: Sadness at Home… Here We Go Again

Part V

“He did not shoplift anything. We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever, and even if he did that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old.”

–        Leon Lott, Sheriff, Richland County, SC.

“We are confident that this was done in a manner that we now classify as a homicide.  This was not an accidental shooting by any means. This was a very intentional shooting.  And unfortunately, Cyrus Carmack-Benton lost his life.”

–        Naida Rutherford, Coroner, Richland County, SC.

“What happened to Cyrus wasn’t an accident. It’s something the Black community has experienced for generations: being racially profiled; then shot down in the street like a dog.  I’m asking that our community continue to wrap their arms around this family as they’ve joined the club that no Black family ever wants to be a part of.”

–        SC State Rep. Todd Rutherford, the family’s attorney

My Dear Readership,

I am currently on my flight returning home from a very enjoyable and relaxing respite.  There were a variety of reasons for the respite; recovery from severe health issues resulting in surgery and suspension of my clinical practice, the commitment to follow what I preach to my patients and taking care of the psychological self, (The Five R’s of Relief) and finally, the opportunity to sit, write and share with my beloved readership, thoughts and feelings regarding my walking the landscape through writings of “The Perilous Journey”.

My respite began by visiting the Balkan region of Eastern Europe specifically the countries of Slovenia and Croatia, then sailing along the coastlines of the Adriatic Sea, the northernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea and lastly, a stop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 

In Slovenia, I visited an island in Lake Bled which is home to the 17^th Century church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.  In Croatia, besides being adrift in the Adriatic Sea, I visited Zagreb which has served as the capital since the 13^th Century.  During my visit, I stayed at the historical Esplanade Zagreb Hotel, the setting of many Agatha Christie novels and enjoyed by luminous African American celebrates including the actress Josephine Baker, bandleader Louis Armstrong and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. This epic journey concluded with a visit to the house of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The Last Morning: Reminiscing

Staying at the DeWitt Hotel Amsterdam, the last morning was wonderful. I enjoyed a splendid breakfast of salmon, mushroom and gouda omelet and a variety of fresh fruits followed by two double espressos.  I want to give a special shout out to Ritchie a senior hospitality specialist and server at the hotel’s restaurant.  Just a few words, Ritchie is an African American expatriate, or “expat”, who hails from Brooklyn, New York.  Ritchie has resided in Amsterdam for 25 years.  He originally moved so he could gain fluency in a foreign language.  Now he is completing an advanced degree in International Diplomacy at the Hague University.  He returns to Brooklyn on a yearly basis maintaining close contacts with three brothers and sisters and a host of loving nephews and nieces.  I enjoyed numerous moments of laughter chatting as he shared his experiences of life residing in Amsterdam. My morning and stay in Amsterdam terminated with a brief walk around the canals, reminiscing about the epics of my travels that was now coming to an end.

The Flight Home: Shock. Cinderella’s Curse, the clock slams and it ain’t midnight

Here I am Dr. Kane, clinical traumatologist, international traveler and well respected in my field.  I am about to celebrate my 70^th birthday and seeking to adapt to the changes in my life’s journey due to the severe medical issues which was the focus of my respite.  I purchased a business class seat and now relaxed and about to begin writing the final segment of my “The Perilous Journey” blogs documenting my experiences on this journey… and …bam! 

Changing Topics: From Appreciation to Seeing the Sadness at Home

In reviewing the news from “home” I am shocked, angered and impacted by today’s news.  Sitting in my comfortable seat, I learned that a convivence store owner, suspecting shoplifting had occurred, chased a 14-year-old Black boy, and shot him in the back, killing him. The coroner had ruled the shooting, a homicide.  The owner of the convivence store had been charged with murder. The sheriff’s office’s incident report states “the shooting was not a bias motivated incident”. Really? 

Vandalism & Looting: Actions of Frustration & Hopelessness

Initially, following the shooting there were peaceful protests.  However, the next day, the convenience store was looted and vandalized and the outside spray-painted and the windows shattered.  Sheriff Lott, added, “A group of people entered the store and took everything they could get their hands on.”  And furthermore, “What does stealing a case of beer have to do with a 14-year- old being shot and the person responsible being charged with murder?  Someone explain that.  What does that have to do what stealing beer?’ Go ahead, drink that beer, and enjoy it right now, because you’re going to pay for it later.”

In seeking to assist in explaining anger and frustration resulting from the meaningless death of a 14-year-old Black boy, perhaps in reviewing Baldwin’s essay written to his nephew and my 40 years of providing mental health services to psychologically impacted communities we can share some wisdom learned from behaviors which, despite the many years of policing Black people Sheriff Lott, apparently still does not… understand them or… the problem.

The Nigger & the Seeds of Destruction Part I

In writing to his nephew, James Baldwin, states:

“You can only be destroyed by believing that you 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.”

Baldwin adds,

“To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever to strengthen you against the loveless world. Remembering that. I know how black it looks today for you.  It looked black that day too, yes, we were trembling.  We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived, and now, you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your chidren’s children.”

In reviewing Baldwin’s essay, written 334 years after the arrival of Africans in America and 100 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, is he not affirming to his nephew that the “white world” continues to view and believe him and those of his racial group as “niggers”? Is Baldwin not affirming to his nephew that like the survival-ship of the preceding generation, it is the function of the nephew to… survive? For what purpose? The sake of his children and his children’s children?

Vandalism & Looting: In Harvesting the Nigger & the Seeds of Destruction Part 2

In furtherance, Baldwin’s words were insightful in 1963 and continuing to loom casting the darkness of what has resulted from white fear and racial hatred of Black skin over the last 403 years.  Baldwin’s words to his nephew shouts volumes as to what Black people have been forced to do over every generation since arriving on “freedom’s shores”… survive. The vandalism and looting of one specific convivence store is wrong.  Yet can we understand the frustration, the sense of hopelessness and powerlessness in this community? A14-year-old Black boy, smilingly waives bye or might have said, “see you later”… goes off to the local convivence store, is racially profiled for the “major crime” of shoplifting, is shot in the back, while running from the store with a Glock 305 and is killed… and the sheriff’s office incident report states “the shooting was not a bias motivated incident.” Really? 

White Time (Living) & Black Time (Surviving): The Wisdom of Mothers

Following the vandalism and looting that resulted from the shooting, Richland County deputies were assigned to guard the convenience store. Whereas the presence of the police serves as a visible message of preservation of property, the visible message, of vandalism and looting (anger, frustration) as to the lack of value in Black lives and, in addition, the hopelessness and helplessness in protecting Black children is either ignored or co-opted in the news media.

“A group of people entered the store and took everything they could get their hands on.”

–        Leon Lott, Sheriff, Richland County, SC.

In the film Forrest Gump (1994), Tom Hanks stated the following memorable quotes lovingly held by many in White America … “My Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” and “My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.”

And yet, with Black people historically unable to protect their children either historically or as presented in the recent shootings, the wisdom of Forrest’s mama lacks placement within our reality.  In dealing with White America, life is not like a box of chocolates. You have a clear perception of what you are going to get. Furthermore, in comparison to Forrest’s mama comments about putting the past behind, such is not possible when living among people who either live in fear or hold extreme negative feelings toward you… due to the blackness of your skin.

The logic of Forrest’s mama … makes sense for those focused on living yet not for those whose lives are about surviving whereas they are either invisible, denied or just not seen.

Baldwin does speak to the wisdom of his mother, notably, in telling his nephew that “Your grandmother was always there, no one has ever accused her of being bitter.” and “Your countrymen (white people) did not know that she even exists, either, even though she has been working for them all of their lives.”

The Less We Forget, The More We Remember.

As stated previously the focus of White America during Baldwin’s writing was the intellectualization of the Black experience in America, allowing them to remain silent and avoidant. However, this differed for Black people whose focus was on survival.  The strategy being one of not speaking of racial distressful incidents and maintaining a strong outer shell as an image for others and protecting the self from psychological intrusion. This strategy, unfortunately created behaviors that served as models to their children, reinforcing psychological trauma and opening the floodgates encouraging intergenerational trauma to move rushing forward to future generations.

Well, it’s about 5:00 pm, my 10-hour flight spanning 5125 miles is just about to come to an end.  It had been my intention to bring closure to this epic journey by closing out the Perilous Journey with comments regarding my visit to the home of Anne Frank. However, due to the death of Cyrus Carmack-Benton a 14-year-old Black boy, racially profiled, chased and shot in the back … in paying homage and respect, it was important to bring meaning to a life cut short that, unfortunately due to the Blackness of his skin, a life and death that soon will be forgotten. This child will never be given the chance to drift along the Adriatic Sea, walk the canals of Amsterdam nor ride business class on an international fight being treated like a king.  Those possibilities were stolen from him. A life, gone too soon.

Once I am over the inevitable jetlag, I will return and bring completion to my series of The Perilous Journey.  Until then …a good night, safe travels, and calmness in walking your landscape.  I bid you peace, and emotional wellness. 

“Walking my landscape…. Living the life, I want and letting go the life I have lived.”

“Not existing…Not surviving … living. Driving (empowered), Striving (pacesetting), and Achieving (arriving).

Dr. Kane

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.

The Visible Man: The Perilous Journey… The Psychological Pains of Forgiveness

Part IV

The Battle of the Bulge

Roughly 2,500 African Americans fought alongside white soldiers to repel the Germans in a wintry, miserable sequence of weeks. In the aftermath of the battle, the racial integration effort was well received, and the African American soldiers were evaluated as having done “well”.

Sacrifice: The 333rd Field Artillery at the Battle of the Bulge.

Manning 155mm howitzers, African American gunners sacrificed themselves to defend fleeing infantry. Eleven of them were murdered by the Waffen SS, and then forgotten by the US Army. (17 Sept 2020) Warfare History Network

My Dear Readers,

I am currently in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the fourth portion of my travels.  I bring you the fourth installment of The Perilous Journey. Before I begin contrasting the lives of Black & Brown Americans over the last 60 years using the essay of James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time, I want to acknowledge the significance of Memorial Day and the contributions, heroism and bravery of African American women and men in military service. Specifically, the “colored troops” serving during WWII.

The Wereth 11 Massacre

During the Battle of the Bulge, a well-known conflict that occurred during the height of WWII, eleven Black GIs from the 333^rd Field Artillery Battalion, designated “colored troops” by the military, were the victims of a mass execution that went unacknowledged by the US government.

At 7:00 p.m. on the evening of December 17, 1944, the Waffen SS drove these 11 captured men into the forest.  There, they savagely tortured their victims with rifle butts and bayonets before cutting off many of their fingers and running them over with vehicles – whether this happened before or after the Americans were dead, was impossible to say.  Then they moved on, leaving their bodies behind.

The parents and wives of the 11 soldiers received letters from the military that their sons or husbands simply died in combat. Sadly, most went to their graves believing that lie. Unlike the atrocity of Malmedy, where 113 White American soldiers were captured and 84 killed, there was no investigation, no International Military Tribunal, and no trial. No such efforts were made to pursue the murders of the Black GIs in the Wereth 11 Massacre.

While other units fighting during the Battle of the Bulge received the Presidential Unit Citation, the African American gunners of the segregated unit, who sacrificed themselves to defend fleeing white American soldiers received…nothing. 

Moving forward…. The Fire Next Time (1963)

A foreword from Dr. Kane

At the writing of Baldwin’s essay in 1963, 331 years since the arrival of Africans into the American colonies, Black people had endured the psychological and physical oppressions of White people. Historically, there had remained the fear that one day the slaves would revolt, taking revenge: killing their white oppressors. Following the ending of slavery and the granting of emancipation, fear of Blacks by Whites of death and destruction remained. This resulted in the removal of federal troops and the protection they offered and allowed the disenfranchisement of former slaves and freemen and recognition of both the official codification by laws, administrative codes, and recognition of local whites to organize to control blacks within the local towns and cities.

The Raging Storms … Acceptance & Integration

James Baldwin in writing to his nephew, states:

“There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their imperilment assumption that they must accept you. The real troubling thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously.  You must accept them and accept them with love.  For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it”.

Belief in the truth…the loss of identity

James Baldwin goes on to tell his nephew,

“They {White people} have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons that black men are inferior to white men.  Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it difficult to act on what they know.  To act is to be committed, and to committed is to be in danger.  In this case, the danger is in the minds of most white Americans is the loss of their identity”.

Seeking the savory carrot…In a sea of Whiteness

For many of the veterans of the frontlines of the Children’s Crusade for equality and racial justice there was the savory carrot of acceptance and integration tied with hard earned validation and respect…we wanted it all so badly that we closed our ears and accepted emotionally hurtful phases from our “newly gained” white friends including:

• “You’re different.”
• “You’re not like the rest of them.”
• “I wish I had more Black friends like you.”
• “When I say negative things about them, I am not referring to you.”
• “When I look at you, I don’t see color.”

Scrapes from the table…The hunger and acceptance of NOT’s.

Yet in 2023, sixty years following Baldwin’s essay to his nephew, the savory carrot of acceptance and integration along with validation of respect still has not been achieved. When a veteran of the Chidren’s Crusades states not being impacted by micro aggressive comments arising from the sea of whiteness, it is an acknowledgement of achievement of the hard work in that person’s disillusioned mind that he/she has achieved acceptance and integration. Realistically, this individual has only acquired a status that is haltingly given to “a select few”.

This status is known as the NOT’s specifically:

• (N) Novelty-the quality of being new, original, or unusual.
• (O) Oddity-a strange or peculiar person, thing, or trait.
• (T) Token– acceptance and integration tied with hard earned validation of respect – a person who is included in a group, given the appearance that the individual is being treated fairly when this is not true.

In writing this section, in looking for an example I considered focusing on the behavior of the only Black Republican in the US Senate. Senator Tom Scott, South Carolina in the response to Biden’s State of the Union address in 2020, stated that “Hear me clearly…America is not a racist country”. Scott is now well received by white conservatives as he has recently announced his candidacy, running for the presidency.

Instead, I speak to my own experiences of the conflicts that resulted from the attainment of acceptance and integration and most importantly respect, following 8 years of hard work, microaggressions and sacrifice while attaining my doctoral degree in clinical psychology.  Foolishly and mistakenly, I thought I had…arrived!  Instead, I was to learn that rather than transformation, the lopsided playing field had simply become more…lopsided.

I remember the hurdles of the doctoral process in which my program included:

• four years of classroom study,
• two years practicum,
• two years of clinical internship,
• written six-hour clinical examination,
• oral examination,
• faculty presentation of a research proposal,
• and two-year research study,
• final writing of the research,
• defense of the research,
• and publication of the research study.

I accomplished these “pillars” while being a husband, a father of two and holding two part time jobs as a mental health therapist and an associate director of training and development at one of the 10 largest research universities in the US.

Acknowledgement- Dr. Laura Brown

As I write this, I want to extend my heartful thanks and appreciation to my dissertation chair and now colleague, mentor, and good friend Dr. Laura Brown who consistently challenged me to create scholarship that would withstand challenges of inferior work from other scholars/researchers.  She repeatedly rejected my drafts (eight times!) demanding, knowing I could offer more and refusing to accept less. After 8 years of intellectual study and sacrifice, I simply wanted “the road to hell” to be over and yet as a Jewish woman and lesbian committed to racial and social justice, she was very much aware of the future I would face.

Into the 21^st Century: The Savory Carrot of Ascension to N.O.T.-hood

The savory carrot was initially bestowed upon me in my entrance into the doctoral program in which I would go on to earn my second master’s degree and later, the prestigious doctorate degree in clinical psychology. At the time, this was a new graduate school, and in my “historical” selection, I achieved numerous “firsts”. I was the first person accepted into the program, the first person of color accepted and later, went on to become the first African American to graduate, achieving the doctoral degree in clinical psychology.

As my ego and size of my head grew due to my achievements which as James Baldwin defined as the raging storms of acceptance and integration, I realized I was subjecting myself to a life of being observed, questioned, and challenged.  For the next 8 years, being bestowed as N.O.T., I would be poked, jabbed, etc.  For many of my classmates I was treated as the “first contact” from an alien world.  And yet within my professional world, I was resented by my colleagues for wanting more as I sought to achieve more education and professional development whereas they had achieved less and were satisfied at that level.

During my eight years of “rigorous” academic study while being the N.O.T., I became the focus study of the “Black experience”. I eagerly debated with my white classmates challenging them on the issues of the impacts of racism, inequalities in mental health care and, their silence on the issues impacting African Americans.  After all, who other than I, was best suited to educate them… just as in James Baldwin’s work about the Black experience in America.

Unfortunately, due to my naiveté, I failed to realize that as a N.O.T. I was being used and not utilized.  They spoke highly about their commitment to change however when called to act they failed.  As Baldwin so clearly stated:

 “To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.  In this case, the danger is in the minds of most white Americans is the loss of their identity”.

Al Jolson Reborn: Mammy, Mammy…My little Mammy

One such situation of silence occurred was when a white clinical psychologist was visiting as a guest speaker and conducting his seminar in front of the entire graduate program including the Dean of the Graduate School.  As I sat in the front row, he stopped his presentation and in front of me did a full rendition of Al Jolson in well known song of “My Mammy”. At first, I was stunned, questioning to myself “WTF?” as in what does this have to do with clinical psychology or his presentation?  And as God is my witness, this invited example of what I wanted to attain… did the full rendition of “My Mammy” again for the second time.  As I turned and looked at my classmates and the Dean, there was no reaction in the “sea of whiteness”.  Fully engrossed in anger and humiliation, I got up from my seat and exit the room.  Later to be consoled by some students “are you okay” and be avoided eye contact by others.

The Fall from Grace: When One’s Is No Longer…Needed.

There is a saying in the African American community “one day you are grinning with the white folks and the next day… they are gone”. Well, that was my experience; one day, I had, as James Baldwin stated: gained the acceptance, integration, and respect in the lives of my white colleagues and just like the childhood fable of what happened to Cinderella the princess at the stroke of midnight, following my graduation, most of those relationships ceased to exist. My fellow graduates were now returning to the realities of their world which in its sea of whiteness did not include the “stain” of blackness of me. Suddenly I was able to come to understand the role I played as an N.O.T. where I wanted to be utilized as a force of transformation, but I was simply being used.  I had been played and played well as I sought to be a part of … their lives where in reality, they had no intentions of having a role in mine.

A Painful Awakening… the unresolved wound.

However, a psychological wound that brings anger, remorse and unending sadness is the ending of my relationship with a white classmate who I had called a friend.  The ending of the relationship began following a disagreement in which I recalled stating, “You don’t know how to play in the sandbox”. Specifically, I meant as a white male he sought to lead me and not want to share the exchange of leadership in our relationship.  He responded by quietly stating “I want you to leave my home”. Being quite shaken, I realized that he was telling me as a Black man, a colleague and holder of a doctorate degree that I was being ejected out of his home.  I subsequently left and later as we continued the “friendship”, over the next two years, we never discussed the incident.

The Reckoning…

I have often asked myself why didn’t I speak up? Why did I not advocate for myself.  Why did I  allow this humiliation to stand? His actions and refusal to speak to them was a statement and yet what was it a statement of? And, then in reading James Baldwin, about his brother that “in the bottom of his heart he truly believed what white people thought about him”. Was that me?  Did I believe that I was inferior to my friend?

Two actions held the relationship which now was dangling and shredded.  There was value in  his actions of being there as he stood by me during the illness and death of my beloved spouse and the termination from my position at the prestigious state research university.  It was my belief that loyalty held the friendship in place.  And yet, the silence, the unwillingness of him to speak of the actions of ejecting his friend a Black man? How could he not see the racism? Or at least the psychological traumatic impacts that followed?

The conflict of truths and being trapped in a history…that they do not understand.

I am awakened to Baldwin’s words about how white people are trapped. Yes, this person knows better; of the lies told of the inferiority of the Black man and the superiority of the White man, yet when challenged “you don’t know how to play in the sandbox.”  I believe for him, that the conflicts of truths and being trapped in history, emerged and collided.  As to the lack of his addressing the incident, one will never know the truths associated with this.  I expect this may be what Baldwin calls ‘the addressing danger of the loss of identity’ and may be the reason. 

This individual and I currently have a complicated yet clearly defined relationship, we do not have direct interactions as this will never reoccur until the wounding to the relationship has been addressed.  He follows my blogs and time to time; we occasionally trade comments on Facebook. 

And here is where I leave my beloved readership. It is early in quietness of the morning as I sit in the lobby of my hotel signing off to you as I now must prepare myself both psychologically and emotionally for my upcoming trip in a few hours to the home of Anne Frank, the young adolescent author who perished at the age of 15 the Nazi concertation camp.

Well, again, it has been my pleasure to share insights with my readership.  I look forward to the next segment of my journey subtitled The Perilous Journey: The Horizon & Walking One’s Landscape.

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

Dr. Kane

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.

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.

The Visible Man: The Inequity of “Protect and Serve”

 “On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions.”

– Law Enforcement Oath of Honor, 2020.

“I [patroller’s name], do swear, that I will as searcher for guns, swords, and other weapons among the slaves in my district, faithfully, and as privately as I can, discharge the trust reposed in me as the law directs, to the best of my power. So, help me, God.”

– Slave Patroller’s Oath, North Carolina, 1828.

“The history of police work in the South grows out of this early fascination, by white patrollers, with what African American slaves were doing. Most law enforcement was, by definition, white patrolmen watching, catching, or beating black slaves.”    

– Sally Hadden Author, Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas, 2001.

“We are the hunters.  We hunt, that’s what we do.”

– Police Commander, (encouraging younger officers (2018).

“The video of George Floyd being slowly suffocated by a police officer on the streets of Minneapolis while three fellow officers looked on is sickening. It represents a disgusting abuse of power, and all four cops should go to jail for murder. I think it’s safe to say that most of the world agrees. People are marching in the streets across the country and around the world in the name of George Floyd. The outrage and anger is understandable, but blaming all police officers is not. The overwhelming majority of cops are good people doing a dangerous job. They became police officers to serve and protect, and 99.9 percent honor their duty.”

– Russell Kent, Columnist, Galion Inquirer, June 10, 2020.

“The wolf has somehow convinced the sheep that the sheepdog is the dangerous one and that he must be removed.  I pray for the sheep [when] the wolf has all the sheep to himself.”

– Maggie D., Detective Sergeant 

“There have been wolves masquerading as sheepdogs for 400 years. Now the true sheepdogs are paying for their silence for turning a blind eye while the wolves in sheepdog’s uniforms ravaged the sheep that they are sworn to protect and serve. Maybe the sheep have had enough or perhaps they should be patient and wait…. another 400 years?”

– Micheal Kane, Clinical Traumatologist

 

My Dear Readers,

In years past, I was repeatedly asked by white people variations of the question: “Why do black people…”

• Distrust the police
• Fear the police
• Hate the police
• Are paranoid about the police

The answer is as simple as it is complex.

 

Imagery & Reality

When it comes to the police, the imagery white people are taught focuses on community service, self-sacrifice, and the idea that the policeman next door is the thin blue line standing between the good-guys and bad-guys.

Black people live in the reality where community policing turns into law enforcement.  The police do not live next door.  Instead they act as hunters, barreling through neighborhoods seeking to punish and subdue. Black people, no matter guilt or innocence, young or old, minor infraction or major crime have been deemed “bad-guys” who deserve swift and ruthless punishment.

Our nation’s history and the well-documented experiences of black people in this country teaches police officers exactly why the relationship between them and the black community is so adversarial. It is about power and control.

The police have been given the power and the black community must be controlled and its males rendered powerless.

When speaking of policing, the lines are distinctively drawn. Strict belief systems serve to force people into diametrically opposed camps: strongly supportive or strongly against the police and their tactics.  In light of recent events, the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery by active and retired officers, police have been trying to sure up their image through reiterating their supposed commitment to their “Protect and Serve” oath and be on their best behavior in the communities where local policing actually exists. But cracks are beginning to spread and the image will soon fall away exposing the reality underneath.

 

Dominance & Control

The definition of dominant group is a group with power, privilege, and social status.  It is the social group that controls the value system and rewards in a society.  The dominant group is often in the majority but not necessarily.

The definition of minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage when compared to members of the dominant social group.  Minority group membership is typically based in observable characteristics such as ethnicity or race.  They are easily targeted as they have relatively little social power.

The message that is consistently given by law enforcement and its supporters is the following:

“The overwhelming majority of cops are good people doing a dangerous job. They became police officers to serve and protect, and 99.9 percent honor their duty.”

 – Russell Kent Columnist, Galion Inquirer, June 10, 2020.

And yet there is no doubt of the impact through violence, trauma and psychological injury created by the 0.1 percent of the police officers who misuse their badges, dishonor their oaths and create distrust among the people they swore to “serve and protect.”

 

Fear: The Tool of Serve & Protect

Then there are the questions surrounding those who are serving and protecting:

1. Who is being protected and from whom do they feel they need protection?
2. How can the police officer serve and protect those who feel they are being targeted, profiled and look upon as suspects?

Which community, the dominant group or the minority group, holds a historical relationship with policing in the United States?  Answer? Both.  Historically the police have been used and manipulated by whites to enforce the laws created by the white community by whatever means necessary to control the black community and monitor the movement of its members, particularly males.

It is a historic stereotype created by the white community, is that black males are inherently violent and therefore require a heavy hand by those who know and understand their brute strength and wild animal nature.  Policing is the manifestation of that heavy hand historically used against blacks to control and monitor.

For many police officers today, the mandate remains the same. Police, once viewed as the scum of white society were needed to control those they feared, black males, but soon came to benefit the greater society leading to the formation of the symbiotic relationship between the Police and those who empower them.

 

Symbiotic Relationship: Serve & Protect

A symbiotic relationship is one in which people exist together in a way that benefits them all.  It is a relationship, each provides for the other the conditions necessary for the relationships’ continued existence.

There has been a symbiotic relationship between those who enforce the law (police) and the dominant community. That relationship embodies what the “serve and protect” oath was meant to be.

 

Inverse Symbiotic Relationship: Law Enforcement

An inverse symbiotic relationship is one in which, while interacting with one another, one member of the relationship becomes larger or stronger while the other becomes smaller or weaker. It is a relationship which is opposite or contrary in position, direction, order, or effect.

There has been an inverse symbiotic relationship that has existed historically between African Americans and the police since slavery originated in the American colonies.  The foundation of this relationship remains unbalanced and based on fear and intimidation to this day.

 

The Slave Patrollers or “Paddyrollers”

Historically, policing originated in the American South in South Carolina and Virginia as slave patrols (Sally E. Hadden, Slave Patrols. 2003).  They were created in the late 17th century and continued through to the end of the Civil War. County courts and state militias formed the patrollers and they were the primary enforcers of codes governing slaves throughout the south.

These patrollers were created due to whites living in constant fear of slave rebellions.  The responsibilities of the slave patrols were to control the movements and behaviors of the enslaved populations.  Slave patrols served three main functions:

1. To chase down, apprehend and return to their owners, runaway slaves,
2. To provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts and,
3. To maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside the law.

Typically, slave patrol routines included enforcing curfews, checking black travelers for  permission passes, catching those assembling without permission, visiting and searching slave quarters, inflicting impromptu punishment, preventing any form of organized resistance and occasionally suppressing insurrections.

Through these actions, the slave patrols inspired well-justified fear on the part of the slaves.  The fear was reinforced as the “patrollers” generally made their rounds at night, with their activity and regularity differing according to time and place.

“Patrol duty” was often compulsory for most able-bodied white males.  Some professions were exempt, but otherwise avoiding duty required paying a fine or hiring a substitute.

As stated earlier, slaves lived in fear of the patrollers.  Sally E. Hadden cites a 1937 WPA interview with W.L. Bost, former slave:

“The paddyrollers they keep close watch on the pore niggers so they have no chance to do anything or go anywhere.  They jes’ like policemen, only worser.” (p. 71).

Hadden notes that the patrollers did face social and legal checks on how harshly they behaved, because slave owners “did not take kindly to excessive or unnecessary damage to their human chattel.”

 

Pleading: Protection from Policing

On December 3, 1865, after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the end of the Civil War in April of 1865, a group of Black Mississippians wrote the state’s governor demanding respect for their newly won freedom.  They stated:

“’All we ask for is justice and to be treated like human beings.’ They recalled vividly ‘the yelping of bloodhounds and tearing of our fellow servants to pieces by slave patrols’. They call for an end to these violent abuses.”

Take notice that even though the Civil War had ended and their freedom legally authorized, the slave patrols were still being used by white groups to enforce control and perpetrate violence against the now former slaves.

 

Common Themes of the Past & Present Symbiotic Relationship

Whites have consistently lived in fear and suspicion of blacks from slavery to this current day.

• Whites have, using federal, state and local laws, restricted the movement and activities of blacks.
• Whites have used policing as a method to control, impose restrictions upon and sanction the actions and behaviors of blacks.
• Similar to the slave era where violent methodology was permitted or ignored as long as the patrollers did not commit “excessive or unnecessary damage to their human chattel,” today’s dominant group ignored or remained silent about violence perpetrated by police as long as they deemed the violence being done as “not excessive”.

 

The Coronavirus, Black Lives Matter, & Social Media: A Perfect Storm & The Loss of Control

COVID-19, which has sadly taken the lives of over 142,000 Americans, has played a major role in what has become an enormously effective movement for change. Hundreds of millions of Americans were quarantined in their homes with nothing more to do than watch TV and peruse social media. While doing so, the actions of the police in the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery sparked worldwide protests and showed the white community exactly what the black community had been experiencing under the guise of protecting and serving.

The white community could no longer deny the injustice that had been occurring since the 17^th century.

 

The Sleight of Hand-We Have Been Played

The media, including print journalism and even entertainment companies, have teamed with the police to play up the image of the good cop chasing the bad guy.  Television shows showcasing the “hero cop” such as Dragnet’s Sergeant Joe Friday, are portrayed as honest, hardcore, fact-driven professionals who methodically gather evidence without prejudice or bias.

One memorable quote by Sgt. Friday best describes the perceived plight of the common police officer:

“You’re a cop, a flatfoot, a bull, a dick, John Law… they call you everything, but never a policeman”.

The first run of Dragnet had 100 episodes airing from 1951 to 1959 then revived for a second 98 episode run from 1967 to 1970 on NBC. This was by no means the only pro-police television program.

Cops, a television program filmed in a documentary/ reality style, ran for 31 seasons showing 1100 shows, sometimes 15 to 20 times a day inundating the viewing public with a false idea of what policing was. Dan Taberski, creator of the Running from Cops podcast stated:

“[The Cops television show] consistently presented bad policing as good policing, tasing people when they shouldn’t be tasing, using illegal holds, siccing dogs on people without proper warning – just over and over.”

 

Eight Minutes 46 Seconds: The Thin Blue Line-Crumbling

“George Floyd is not a wake-up call.  The same alarm has been ringing since 1619. Y’all just keep hitting snooze.”

The moment by moment replaying of the eight minutes 46 seconds that a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the neck of George Floyd while three fellow police officer stood idly by protecting the police officer from concerned onlookers psychologically traumatized the dominant group. The callous disregard for life shook the foundations of who and what they were taught the police were. This was the first time they saw that “protect and serve” was not the same for everyone.

 

The Breach of the Symbiotic Relationship

The symbiotic relationship between the police who enforce the law and the dominant community they serve has been damaged and the people psychologically impacted. Now that black and white communities share in witnessing these events, they may bring them to a common understanding; trauma and fear of those who offer community policing to one and exert law enforcement upon the other.

 

Concluding Remarks-Dr. Kane

“He can run, but he can’t hide “

 – Joe Louis “The Brown Bomber” World Heavyweight Champion (1937-1949)

My Dear Readers,

White America, you knew about police treatment of black people.  You knew of the racial profiling.  You knew about their suspicious and negative feelings particularly about black males.  Be honest. Look in the mirror and embrace your truths.  You knew.  You had to know.  You heard the complaints of African Americans. You have listened to the whispers and read the stories.

The police have been living by the unwritten contract demanding they protect you from them.  From the time of slavery, whites have feared their slaves.  They have used the patrollers to control and monitor them.  The slave master stayed out of the way of the violence and abuse, being silent and only speaking up when the police went too far and “damage or destroyed” his property.

Following the freeing of the slaves, whites feared the former slaves even more.  They created laws, black codes and sundown ordinances and, once again, used the police to maintain order, surveillance, and control. The silent agreement was to ignore black peoples pleads for protection so that they could continue to exist willfully ignorant.

Unfortunately for both the police and white America, the death of George Floyd, just as in the days of slavery, this time, went… too far.  White America could not unseen it. White America may not have believed it could happen, yet it did. You and the world saw, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, a police officer press his full weight onto the neck of black man and watched that man take his last breath. The brutality could no longer be denied.

As for black America, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery are a continuation of the brutality exhibited by the patrollers from the slave days. Breonna Taylor, as she slept in her bed, was killed by police. The patrollers would come into the homes of slaves during the night unannounced, with actions that could lead to death of the slave. Ahmaud Arbery was killed by a retired police officer and his son who felt they had the authority to stop and question him while jogging. The patrollers or any white man had the authority to stop and question a slave or freedman and that person was at risk death as a result of the stop.

During the funeral services of George Floyd, Reverend Al Sharpton made the call for “change”.  I strongly disagree.

African Americans have endured change in this land for 401 years.  We have changed from slaves to freedmen and women.  We have changed during segregation, discrimination and, Black Codes.  We have changed through civil rights laws, voting rights legislation, equal housing and fair employment decrees.  We have changed through having to endure 12 forms of racism and 14 sub-types of traumas. We have seen change that contributed to high unemployment, high incarceration, high dropout rates, and high rates of addiction, mental illness and suicide.

However, what we have not seen is TRANSFORMATION.  In transforming there is no going back.  With transformation, we can only go forward.

***************************************

Loving Father & Creator,

I want to walk the landscape called life.  The landscape is open, it is vast, and it is wide.  The landscape is mine. Grant me transformation.  Let me go, my blessed Lord, so I can live the life I want and see more and achieve more than the trauma that is before me.

“I can’t breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That’s my house. I was just going home. I’m an introvert. I’m just different. That’s all. I’m so sorry. I have no gun. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! I don’t eat meat! But I don’t judge people, I don’t judge people who do eat meat. Forgive me. All I was trying to do was become better. I will do it. I will do anything. Sacrifice my identity, I’ll do it. You all are phenomenal. You are beautiful and I love you. Try to forgive me. I’m a mood Gemini. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ow, that really hurt. You are all very strong. Teamwork makes the dream work. Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to do that. I just can’t breathe correctly.”

 – The final words of Elijah McClain.

He died on August 3, 2019 by physical restraint. A knee on his chest. During a police encounter as he was walking home.  The police stopped him due to a report of a black man acting suspiciously with a hoodie over his head.

 

Until We Meet Again… I am the Visible Man.

The Visible Man: Holding Space for Others & Responding to Privilege

“It might do well to read the details before falling to the intellectually lazy assumption of racism.”

– Tyler Arms, Gavin de Becker & Associates (GDBA), in response to a posting by Dr. Micheal Kane criticizing the shooting death of a black man by a white police officer in Atlanta, GA on 6/12/20, LinkedIn, June 14, 2020.

“Malcolm X asked, what does a white man call a black man with a Ph.D.? He answered: A nigger with a Ph.D.”

– George Yancy, ‘The Ugly Truth of Being a Black Professor in America’, The Chronical Review, April 29,2018.

“I did something good.  I made it famous. I made Juneteenth very famous. It’s actually an important event; it’s an important time. But nobody had heard of it.”

– Donald Trump, President of the United States, ‘Trump talks Juneteenth, John Bolton, Economy in WSJ Interview’. Bender, Michael C., The Wall Street Journal. June 18, 2020.

“What the hell, racism is a thing of the past. Why do we have colored ball players on our club? They are the best ones. If you don’t have them, you’re not going to win.”

– Calvin Griffith, Owner Minnesota Twins, 1978

“Asked repeatedly to say, ‘Black lives Matter’, Mike Pence (Vice President of the United States) says, ‘all lives matter’”.

– Carvajal, Nikki. ‘Asked repeatedly to say, ‘Black lives matter’, Mike Pence says, ‘all lives matter’, CNN politics. June 19, 2020.

 

My Dear Readers,

Several days have passed since the celebrations in honor of Juneteenth but this year, due to the coronavirus, I have decided to commemorate it rather than celebrate, as I stay hunkered down at home.

After months of treating patients through what is understood to be an unprecedented time in our history, I find myself experiencing waves of what is known as Vicarious Traumatization or, Compassion Fatigue. Vicarious trauma, in its textbook definition, can be described as:

 “The emotional residue of exposure that therapists have from working with people as they are hearing their trauma stories and become witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured” (Perlman & Saakvitne, 1995).

This definition fits the work of the typical white or Eurocentrically trained therapist while working with Black, Brown and, Indigenous Persons of Color (BBIPoC) because it, not only defines what vicarious trauma is, but it also explains the continuous failure of the white or Eurocentrically trained therapist to fully understand the impact of their patients’ trauma experiences.

The wording in the definition of vicarious trauma, “…while they are hearing…” allows the white or Eurocentrically trained therapist to recover quickly from vicarious trauma impacts because they have the freedom to eject the majority of what is being said (in one ear and out the other),  and not internalize it.

Of course, many if not most of my colleagues who are either white or Eurocentrically trained would assertively deny this, claiming that they “hear” what is being said but, the process of hearing, allowing the information to pass through you, is unconscious and it serves to protect the receiver of acutely difficult or traumatic information.

On the other hand, the BBIPoC therapist listens rather than just hears and in doing so becomes much more at risk for vicarious traumatization.  There are times in which micro-aggressive assaults directed at the therapist from outside sources impact the therapist-patient relationship, creating wounding for both individuals.  So, what is the response?

This is one such a story…

*************************************************************************************

Journal Entry

Dear Dr. Kane,

 I am a middle age black man residing in the Seattle area.  I recently read a response to a writing you did.  This person, this asshole verbally attacked you.  In his response he basically stated that you were an intellectually dumb lazy nigger.  I was expecting fireworks.  I was expecting an immediate response.

 For two days, you said nothing.  And then when you did respond, you thank him. WTF?! Thank him for what?  This asshole insults you and you thank him?  Do you realize the damage you have caused by your actions or should I say lack of actions?

 You are an educated man. People look up to you.  I look up to you.  And you let me down. I feel shattered.  You speak about walking the landscape.  What, with your head hanging down? This is not the landscape I want to walk.  Disappointed in you, Dr. Kane.

Upset, Renton, WA

*************************************************************************************

My Dear Young Man,

I understand that you were psychologically impacted by what was said and how you interpreted this writer’s words about me.  Furthermore, I understand that you were emotionally injured by what you believed to be an inadequate response by me but understand, I was psychologically impacted by the writer as well.

There will be times, and this is apparently one of them, when my writings or responses will fail to meet the standards of others.  My stance as a writer is one of sharing.  I write with passion for the work I am committed to do.

There will be those who may agree or disagree with my views.  However, the focus for me is to listen and to be listened to.  We are all here for a short time and while I am here, I will walk my landscape and live the life that I want and not the life that others may need of me.

I will take this as an opportunity for a teaching moment.

As I continue to “walk my landscape”, in this blog, I will utilize the following three clinical concepts:

1. Walking the Landscape
2. The Five R’s of RELIEF
3. The I Factor

I will seek not to defend my words or actions.  Instead I chose to advocate for self, seek balance within and calmness in my external environment.

 

Walking the Landscape

“All decisions have consequences”

 

My Dear Young Man,

First, we want to understand what Walking the Landscape means.  The landscape is life.  One of the essential realities of life is that death is a certainty.  What remains uncertain is:

• How we live our lives?
• What we experience during our lifetimes.
• The memories we leave with the individuals who we meet.

The term walk refers to what we do with our lives.  As we walk the landscape, we will have many different experiences. It is within the walk that we have crossroads or interaction points where barriers, challenges, experiences, and opportunities are presented.

It is within the offending writer’s words that you and I have reached an interaction point.  It is here where the following occurs:

• Choices are presented.
• Decisions are made and directions are chosen.
• Consequences for choices and decisions are foreseen.
• Wisdom is gained, lessons are learned, and both can be utilized for future experiences.
• Transformation through Self-Empowerment is achieved.

So, my dear young man, this is where are we were act and so are the differences in our actions.  With the choices before us, you decided to react in anger, dismissing him with profanity and seeking an upcoming battle of words.  I decided upon a different path. Response.

The consequences of our actions are also different. The reader of your words will know that you are angry, and no doubt dismiss your reaction and relegate you to nothing more than the “angry black man, exhibiting out of control behaviors”.

On the other hand, my preference is to assist the reader in opening their minds and reaching the depths of the emotional self, leading to greater wisdom and transformation.

There is none provided in your reaction.

Those deaf ears will remain so as they continue to discount you and continue to live in fear of you as they have been for the last 400 years. As I continue this writing, I seek to offer to you a different option.

 

The Smugness of White Privilege

“What does a white man call a black man with a Ph.D.? A nigger with a Ph.D.”

 

My Dear Young Man,

In your entry you wrote concerning Mr. Tyler Arms’ comment:

“In his [Mr. Arms’] response he basically stated that you were an intellectually dumb lazy nigger.  I was expecting fireworks.  I was expecting an immediate response”.

Before addressing how Mr. Arm’s comments have psychologically impacted you, it is essential to provide the readership with more information and clarity.

Here is Mr. Tyler Arms’ comment (said in disagreement with my statement regarding the recently of killing of Rayshard Brooks, a black male by a white Atlanta police officer):

“It might do well to read the details before falling to the intellectually lazy assumption of racism.”

Did Mr. Arms actually call me, Dr. Kane, an “intellectually dumb lazy nigger”?  No, absolutely he did not. Can one infer that he called me an “intellectually dumb lazy nigger”?

Yes, absolutely.

In his actions Mr. Arms is using his white privilege.

What is “white privilege”? Compare the two definitions below:

1. The inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice.
2. “It’s the level of societal advantage that comes with being seen as the norm in America, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender or other factors. It makes life smoother, but it’s something you would barely notice unless it were suddenly taken away — or unless it had never applied to you in the first place” (Emba, Christine. ‘What is white privilege?’ The Washington Post. January 16, 2016).

A white person wrote the first definition whereas a black person wrote the second.

The first definition is composed of intellectualized jargon, words or expressions that are used by a particular group and, for some, are difficult to understand. The second, is grounded in experience and observation.

Mr. Arms is asserting his white privilege, (his advantage in not only in feeling like his views are seen as the norm in society but his freedom in telling others how they should respond to an incident) to inflict psychological injury and then state it vaguely enough attempt to hide any racist intent but Mr. Arms’ intention and message is very clear.

His statement is a tactical projectile that impacts any and all black males who would dare to consider the actions by the police office to be an act of racism. Though I was the one targeted, the psychological injuries that being experienced by other black men is the collateral damage.

 

Microaggression

Plausibility & Believability

 

 My Dear Young Man,

The statements made by Mr. Arms are acts of microaggression.

Psychiatrist and Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce coined the term microaggression in 1970 to describe insults and dismissals that are inflicted by whites upon African Americans.

This term was later redefined by Columbia University professor and psychologist Derald Wing Sue as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership. The persons making the comments may be otherwise well-intentioned and unaware of the potential impact of their words”.

Was Mr. Arm’s comment well-intentioned and unaware? Did he not think that others may perceive his words as racist, patronizing and could be interpreted as “get the fact rights before you write, you intellectually lazy nigger”? Possibly, but as with all microaggressions, their real meanings are always shrouded in innuendo.

 

The Five R’s of RELIEF

Relief Along the Landscape

 

My Dear Young Man,

It is apparent that the statements made by Mr. Tyler Arms triggered you.  Indeed, I was triggered as well.  Imagine a scenario in which you are the only black male in your office, where you, without warning or preparation, are subjected to microaggressions on a daily basis.

• • • What do you do?
    • What do you say to your assailant(s)?
    • What are your feelings? How do you release these feelings?
    • How will you handle the situation tomorrow? The next day or the following week?

In your letter to me, you stated the following:

• • • “This person, this asshole verbally attacked you.”
    • “I was expecting fireworks.”
    • “I was expecting an immediate response.”

If you would have handled the situation in the way you expected me to with Mr. Arms, you would have been immediately terminated from your employment.  If “expecting fireworks and an immediate response” means physical or verbal combat, you would be risking arrest and criminal and/or civil charges. Now, with no employment and an inability to use your former employer as a reference, consider the following questions:

• • • How would you support your family?
    • How would you buy groceries? Pay your monthly bills? Your mortgage or rent?
    • How would you pay the newly incurred legal fees?
    • Despite your excellent work skills, how do you explain your termination to perspective employers?

Besides death and taxes, there is a third reality in the life of a BBIPoC, that people like Mr. Tyler Arms are lying in wait to become an obstacle, barrier, boulder, or roadblock in your “Walking the Landscape.”.

In the clinical concept of Walking the Landscape, the elements of choice, decision, consequences, wisdom, and transformation are steps that only you can take.

 

Reaction vs Response

Your reactions as indicated in your response may lead to jail time as well as introductions to the judicial, probation or correction systems. Before walking in that direction, I recommend the clinical concept of Five R’s of RELIEF.  When confronted with a psychologically destabilizing situation, try to employ the following:

1. Take a Respite. Allow yourself to step away emotionally form the situation. Do so for as long as you feel the need. Breathe deeply.
2. Embrace your Reactions. These are your feelings and yours alone. Understand the fullness of your feelings.
3. Reflect. Balance your thoughts with your feelings. Let go of the desire to control what you think and feel.
4. Respond. Combine your now balanced thoughts and feelings to present a response that will serve you best on your journey of walking the landscape. Keep your initial reactions within.
5. Revaluate. Be willing to take continuous reviews of your choices, decisions and responses made. Evaluate what you have learned and what could had been done differently to achieve the desired outcome.

 

The Gift & The Thank You

Rather than provide the “fireworks” and “immediate response” you so desired, I decided to do what was best for me and use this not as retribution but rather as a teaching moment to both you and my readership.

As you may recall in my response to Mr. Arms, I stated:

Hmm, Interesting.  Someone who was obviously asserting his white privilege inserted himself to “whitesplaining” in defending the actions of the police in the killing of a black man as I compared the outcome of similar situation whereas the white male was safely taken into custody.”

In his response, Mr. Arms accused me of “falling to the intellectually lazy assumption of racism” without thought or consideration to the subject at hand, he jumped to attacking me, and not the fact that an unarmed man was shot in the back and killed by the people who were trusted to protect and serve.

Thank you, Mr. Arms for exposing the readership your smugness, your arrogance, and your lack of humanity and compassion regarding the death of black man who, at the time,  was not a threat to the police officer’s safety.

 

Concluding Words – Dr. Kane

 

 The “I” Factor

Hearing vs Listening

 

My Dear Young Man,

I began this writing by speaking towards the difference ways the white or Eurocentric trained therapist and BBIPoC therapists respond and recover from vicarious traumatic impacts.  There is a similar common thread or theme regarding people holding privilege and those who do not.

Privileged individuals such as Mr. Arms are duplicitous. On one hand, they seek to have you as a black man listen to and internalize the idea of your inferiority while on the other, they seek to have other whites hear them as innocent of racist intent.

Please understand, it is the internalized idea of inferiority that creates the reaction that he and those like him are anticipating and are actively seeking from you.

In response consider the clinical concept of the “I” Factor:

• Information. Calmly collect data regarding the challenges and obstacles you are facing.
• Involvement. Thoroughly process the information you have collected. Focus on understanding what the information tells you about the journey
• Integration. Compare the information with your overall path and objective. Let it inform your decision.
• Implement the plan, course of action or decision
• Impact. Evaluate the outcome of the actions taken. Consider what could have been done differently.

I will encourage my readership to determine whether the “falling to the intellectually lazy assumption of racism.” exists.

Again, thanks for exposing your truths. Mr. Arms.

 

New Possibilities

Life is a journey filled with new possibilities.

And sometimes because of the person that you are or have

become, You find yourself in the right

place at the right time for …. new possibilities. 

– Micheal Kane

 

 

White Privilege II

Pulled into the parking lot, parked it
Zipped up my parka, joined the procession of marchers
In my head like, “Is this awkward?
Should I even be here marching?”
Thinking if they can’t, how can I breathe?
Thinking that they chant, what do I sing?
I want to take a stance cause we are not free
And then I thought about it, we are not we
Am I in the outside looking in,
Or am I in the inside looking out?
Is it my place to give my two cents?
Or should I stand on the side and shut my mouth?
No justice, no peace, okay, I’m saying that
They’re chanting out, Black Lives Matter,
But I don’t say it back
Is it okay for me to say?
I don’t know, so I watch and stand

In front of a line of police that look the same as me
Only separated by a badge,
A baton, a can of Mace, a…

– Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34

 

Until We Speak Again… I Am, The Visible Man