FAMU hosts Conference on African/Black Psychology

The Fifth National Conference on African/Black Psychology hosted at Florida AM University’s campus began Friday. The two-day long event featured a roster of specialists who lead discussions topics that affect the black community.

“We need to talk about the fact that this thug, killer, just about some money male persona is just as dysfunctional as the effeminization of the black man,” said Dr. Arthur Whaley about the system of racism/white supremacy in blackface.

Honoree and featured guest Frances Cress Welsing, a writer and psychiatrist, is most known for her books “The Cress Theory of Color Confrontation” and “The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors.”

Cress, a former Howard professor, said that in the 1970s a guest lecturer that she invited to speak frequently told the students that racism and white supremacy would have black men wearing dresses.

“In the ‘70s it sounded so far out, nobody could figure it out,” Cress said. “Why would he be saying this? But it has also come to pass.”

During the discussion, Whaley mentioned an incident where Actor Dave Chappelle was pressured to wear a dress for a role. The producers of the film tried multiple times to convince Chappelle to wear the dress before they finally stopped insisting and modified the script.

 “Our culture has been fragmented, despite the strong attempt, to deculturalize us. We have held onto some of our heritage,” said Whaley.

Monifa S. Seawell, M.D. presented a PowerPoint presentation along with a lecture on the relationship between Hip Hop, propaganda and incarcerated black men.  Her hypothesis is that white supremacy is using Hip Hop as a tool to pacify black men from resisting against the mass incarceration of black men in America.

“If we take Hip Hop and combine it with white supremacy narratives about black men- black men are using way more drugs than white men, that black men are significantly more violent than white men- but then use black artists to disseminate these narratives it transforms the propaganda from overt to covert messaging,” Seawell said.

Culture was a reoccurring theme during the conference. Many issues were discussed regarding African Americans involving their communities and collective behaviors.

“Affirmation of black culture is a threat to European culture from a survivalist viewpoint,” Whaley said.

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