“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).
- “His parents are to blame [by] forcing him [and] by ‘putting the fear of God’ into him!”
- “He has poisoned his children and grandchildren with his fear!”
- “I just don’t get why he would go back to the car; he wasn’t in danger from the woman.”
- “So, what if she had called the police… he didn’t do anything!”
- “He overreacted… nothing happened… so he just overreacted!”
- “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
Loving Me More 