academic paper

Africalogy – A Call for Inclusion

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Reflecting over my past writing I realized that a thread that has run though them all is my call for the inclusion of the Afrocentric voice. I also noticed that my topic areas lean towards cultural identity development and spirituality, and fall within the fields of Psychology, Education, Spirituality, and, Ethnic Studies. Primarily, I have been drawn to study of psychology, however not traditional Western Psychology, but African-Centered Psychology. Unfortunately, there are limited options for graduate studies in African-centered Psychology; therefore I settled on transpersonal psychology and through my independent research brought in African-centered perspectives.165046239

Throughout my graduate studies I have focused on the foundational theories of African-centered Psychology through the works of seminal authors including, Nobles (1986; 2006, 2013), Akbar (1994), the meta-theory Optimal Psychology by Myers (1993; 1993, 2013; 1991) and, Classical African/Black Studies by Karenga (1980; 1984, 1990, 1993; 1999; 2004). I have referenced their work in papers ranging from “African Spirituality and the Development of Self: Ori Ire and Black Identity Congruency” (Deterville, 2010); “Jung’s Theory of Individuation and its Relationship to the African Concept of Self and Consciousness” (Deterville, 2012), and “African-Centered Transpersonal Self in Diaspora and Psycho-spiritual Wellness: A Sankofa Perspective” (Deterville, 2014).

In making the shift from studying Psychology to the more general field of Transformation, I have struggled to find my footing. So when it came time to write a dissertation visioning paper I was at a bit of a lost – then to my joy, as I was researching the term Afrocentricity I came across an article that brings together a number of concepts that interest me – spirituality, cultural identity development, and African-centered perspectives in education discourse that address social transformation (Tolliver & Tisdell, 2002)

Tolliver and Tisdell (2002) brief literature review is an analysis of four disciplinary perspectives that address social transformation and psychology literature “including African-centered perspectives, community psychology, and identity development theory, and liberation theology”; in doing so, they offer definitions on each, beginning with spirituality and cultural identity development. This is of significance to my inquiry because spirituality – specifically African-centered spirituality has been a central topic in my graduate work. I realized in reading their article that in my call for the inclusion of the African-centered perspective and have begun to reference a number of articles that focused on Africalogy and graduate research.

Including:

  • A Preliminary Report and Commentary on the Structure of Graduate Afrocentric Research and Implications for the Advancement of the Discipline of Africalogy, 1980-2004 (Bankole, 2006)
  • Notes on Black Studies: Its Continuing Necessity in the Academy and Beyond (Christian, 2007)
  • The Evolution Of Africology: An Afrocentric Appraisal (Conyers, 2004)
  • Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. (hooks, 2003)
  • Research methods in Africana studies. (McDougal, 2014)
  • The Place of Africalogy in the University Curriculum (Okafor, 1996)
  • The Emergence of Sankofa Practice in the United States: A Modern History (Temple, 2010)
  • Bridging Across Disciplines: Understanding the Connections Between Cultural Identity, Spirituality and Sociopolitical Development in Teaching for Transformation (Tolliver & Tisdell, 2002)
  • Africentric Cultural Values, Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes, and Self-Concealment in African American College Students (Wallace & Constantine, 2005)

In addition to Tolliver and Tisdell (2002) another article that directly speaks to my interests is Bankole (2006). She conducts a preliminary report and commentary on graduate research over a twenty-four year period of 1980- 2004 of the inclusion of Afrocentric research and its implication for the advancing the discipline of Africalogy. Bankole stated,

It is apparent that those doctoral candidates critically engaged in Africalogical research see themselves as members of a distinct academic discipline rather than operating from the margins of other disciplines in the academy. They not only met, and in some cases exceeded, the necessary requirements of the doctorate, they also, as Christian (2004), has articulated, have been compelled to defend their own discipline against various academic and nonacademic assaults. (Bankole, 2006, p. 694)

As a lifelong student of Black Studies and African-Centered Psychology I feel that it is my duty and joy to share the knowledge I have gained and to continue to deepen my understanding and application of the these theories. Recently I have found myself talking to a number of Black students and faculty that are struggling with the challenges of bringing culturally specific research into their scholarship. Over the years, to assist in my own development and that of other Black graduate students, I have been involved with a number of groups and activities, including hosting a monthly gathering of Black graduate students; serving as two-term Graduate Representative for the Student Circle of the Association of Black Psychologists; and participating on a number of committees at CIIS to help implement the President’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative.

Although I don’t have a specific research question yet, I feel that I’m leaning towards deepening my knowledge and skills on African-centered transformative education. To that end, next year I plan to attend and present at a number of conferences on this topic including:

  • Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) 47th Annual International Convention – Warrior-Healers Rise: A Call to Action to Reclaim, Resurrect and Restore the African Psyche.
  • National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) 39th Annual Conference – The Foundation and Future of Black Studies: Reaffirming Our Emancipatory Mission & Value.
  • National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) 28th Annual Conference.

My intention is that by the end of the year – I will have a clear inquiry focus and will be well on my way to developing my inquiry questions and how that knowledge will be applied to benefit of my community.

References

Akbar, N. (1994). Light from ancient Africa. Tallahassee: Mind Productions & Associates, Inc.

Bankole, K. O. (2006). A preliminary report and commentary on the structure of graduate afrocentric research and implications for the advancement of the discipline of africalogy, 1980-2004. Journal of Black Studies, 36(5), 663-697. doi: 10.1177/0021934705285938

Christian, M. (2007). Notes on Black Studies: Its Continuing Necessity in the Academy and Beyond. Journal of Black Studies, 37(3), 348-364. doi: 10.1177/0021934706290078

Conyers, J. L. (2004). The Evolution Of Africology: An Afrocentric Appraisal. Journal of Black Studies, 34(5), 640-652. doi: 10.1177/0021934703259257

Deterville, A. (2010). African sprituality and the development of self: Ori ire and Black identity congruency. Essay. BAC, Cohort B. California Institute of Integral Studies.

Deterville, A. (2012). Jung’s theory of individuation and its relationship to the African concept of self and consciousness. Essay. Theories of Personality. Insititute of Transpersonal Psychology. Palo Alto, CA.

Deterville, A. (2014). African-centered transpersoanl self in diaspora and psycho-spititual wellness: A sankofa perspective. Scholarly Writing for Publications. Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.

hooks, b. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. New York, NY: Routledge.

Karenga, M. (1980). Kawaida Theory: An Introductory Outline. Inglewood: Kawaida Publications.

Karenga, M. (1984). Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt. Los Angeles: The Univerity of Sankore Press.

Karenga, M. (1990). The Book of Coming Forth by Day: The Ethics of the Declarations of Innocence. Los Angeles: The University of Sankore Press.

Karenga, M. (1993). Introduction to Black Studies. Los Angeles, CA: University of Sankore Press.

Karenga, M. (1999). Odù Ifá: The Ethical Teachings Translation and Commentary, A Kawaida Interpretation. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press.

Karenga, M. (2004). Maat: The moral ideal in ancient Egypt: A study in classical African Ethics: Routledge New York & London.

McDougal, S., III. (2014). Research methods in Africana studies. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Myers, L. J. (1993). Optimal psychology and the transpersonal paradigm Understanding an afrocentric world view: Introduction to an optimal psychology (pp. 31-37). Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

Myers, L. J. (1993). Understanding an Afrocentric world view: Introduction to an optimal psychology (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Myers, L. J. (2013). Restoration of Spirit: An African-Centered Communal Health Model. Journal of Black Psychology, 39(3), 257-260. doi: 10.1177/0095798413478080

Myers, L. J., Speight, S. L., Highlen, P. S., Cox, C. I., Reynolds, A. L., Adams, E. M., & Hanley, C. P. (1991). Identity Development and Worldview: Toward an Optimal Conceptualization. Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, 70(1).

Nobles, W. (1986). African psychology: Toward its reclamation, reascension & revitalization. Oakland: A Black Family Institute Publication.

Nobles, W. W. (2006). Seeking the sakhu : foundational writings for an African psychology. Chicago: Third World Press.

Nobles, W. W. (2013). Shattered Consciousness, Fractured Identity: Black Psychology and the Restoration of the African Psyche. Journal of Black Psychology, 39(3), 232-242. doi: 10.1177/0095798413478075

Okafor, V. O. (1996). The Place of Africalogy in the University Curriculum. Journal of Black Studies, 26(6), 688-712. doi: 10.1177/002193479602600603

Temple, C. N. (2010). The Emergence of Sankofa Practice in the United States: A Modern History. Journal of Black Studies, 41(1), 127-150. doi: 10.1177/0021934709332464

Tolliver, D., & Tisdell, E. J. (2002). Bridging Across Disciplines: Understanding the Connections Between Cultural Identity, Spirituality and Sociopolitical Development in Teaching for Transformation.

Wallace, B. C., & Constantine, M. G. (2005). Africentric cultural values, psychological help-seeking attitudes, and self-concealment in African American college students. Journal of Black Psychology, 31(4), 369-385.

The Concept of Destiny (orì) and Alignment (ire) and Individuation as Understood in Yoruba Cosmology and its Role in African American (Women) Psychological Congruence

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Here is an excerpt from a recent paper:
 
The African culture that Jung saw was a cultural transference fantasy, a reflection of the organizing images within the collective consciousness of the early 20th-century educated European. With regard to individuation, for instance, Jung’s concept is so thoroughly cultural that it all but forecloses the possibility of individuation for people of color, especially in Africa. Individuation is the guiding term in analytical psychology; Jung’s Collected Works can be read as elaborations of that central theme. (Brooke, 2008, p. 39)
 I will explore the notion of identity congruency for people of African descent; specifically women, by looking at the Yoruba concept of Ori Ire – “one’s who’s consciousness in aligned with their destiny” and how it compares to Jung’s individuation. I am interested in this topic for two reasons. First, is my personal experience as a mid-life African American woman whose quest for psychological congruence has provided me with a sense of transpersonal development. Secondly, this research seeks to advance the discipline of Africalogy (Bankole, 2006). Africalogy utilizes Afrocentric theory created by Molefi Asante, it serves to unite African diaspora and Black (African-American) studies (Bankole, 2006, pp. 664-665)
 
The conceptual basis for my research is the work of Wade W. Nobles, particularly as found in his book Seeking the Sakhu: Foundational Writings for an African Psychology (Nobles, 2006a), and his essay, “To be African or not to be: The question of Identity or authenticity – Some preliminary thoughts” Nobles places himself “in the tradition of an Nkrumah Pan Africanist, a Malcolm Black Nationalist, a Garvey race man, and a Fanon revolutionary” (p. xxxi). Elder/founder of the Association of Black Psychologists, Nobles is professor emeritus in the Department of Africana Studies, the School of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and Chief Priest of Ifá and Ghanaian traditions. His spiritual traditional name is, Nana Kwaku Berko I-Ifabemi Sangodare. 
My research is significant because it may be the first study of its kind to address the use of the Yoruba concept of orì ire for people who are not devotees of the religion, Ifá. My topic is relevant to transpersonal studies, because it is centered in the application of pycho-spiritual principles. It is practical because the outcome is to create wellness programs for my nonprofit organization, Sankofa Cultural Institute.
Individuation – African Perspectives
In my research, I have come across two examinations of Jung’s theory and how it relates or contrasts with African notions of self, identity, and consciousness. Roger Brooke (2008) is a white South African scholar and author of numerous books and articles on Jung and analytical psychology, psychological assessment, and psychotherapy. Awo Fa’lokun Fatunmbi (1992) is an Ifá high priest and author of several seminal texts on Ifá (Yoruba tradition) and Santeria/Lucumi (its Cuban variation). He is a white American man initiated into the faith in 1985.
            
As mentioned, the Zulu term Ubuntu is a common awareness found in African communal societies. “Ubuntu is a term that defines what it is to be a person, where being a person is both a given and a task of self-realization” (Brooke, 2008, p. 49). Self-realization from an African humanist perspective is Ubuntu. African humanism, evoked by the term Ubuntu, would imagine individuation as a process of personal growth and transformation within that network of relationships that make such transformation possible and to which the person remains, therefore, ethically indebted. (Brooke, 2008, p. 49) For Jung however, individuation has “an emphasis on the withdrawal of projections…Separate-ness is the key to the process” ((Brooke, 2008, p. 39). Fatunmbi (1992) outlines the Ifá concept of psychology.  by discussing several key concepts, including Odù, orì, iporí, orì inú, and orì ibi.

Each of these Yoruba concepts relate to the development of consciousness, psychological congruence, and destiny. Fatunmbi begins with the concept of Odù defined as, “the energy patterns that create consciousness” (p. 16). He states that it is “analogous to what Carl Jung called archetypes of the collective unconscious” (p. 16). Fatunmbi continues,
“Jung believed that there exists a set of primal patterns that form the content of self perception and place the self in relationship to the world. According to Jung, these patterns remain abstract until the unconscious gives them a cultural and personal context”. (p. 17)
— end excerpt —

Jung’s theory of Individuation and its Relationship to the African Concept of Self and Consciousness

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This is an excerpt from my final paper for Theories of Personality class…

 

Introduction

This paper was to focus on Jung’s theory of Individuation as it is presented in the textbook Personality and Personal Growth (Frager & Fadiman, 2005) and how it relates to the African concept of self and consciousness in the essay African-Centered Conceptualizations of Self and Consciousness: The Akan Model (Grills, 2002) However, in doing research for the paper, the emphasis has changed slightly. The focus on the Akan culture has been reduced and more attention will be given to the definition of Self from Western, transpersonal and African perspective. I have chosen this as my topic for a number of reasons, including my own personal journey and, my research interest in the role of culture in identity development and self-actualization. I am specifically interested in how people of African descent (in America) can use African cultural traditions to develop – self. My interest in Jung is in part due to similarities I found in his theories with African-centered thought. My focus on the Akan people of Ghana is, like Grills, due to their well-documented cosmology (p. 76).

Overview

In describing the Akan conceptualization of the person and consciousness, states Grills that, “Culture provides an important lens through which an understanding of human psychological and social functioning can be attained…An African epistemology emphasizes an affective-cognitive synthesis as a way of knowing reality” (Grills, 2002, p. 76). In the book Personality and Personal Growth, Frager and Fadiman quote Carl Jung’s definition of individuality as follows: “Individuation means becoming a single, homogeneous being, and, insofar as ‘individuality’ embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one’s own self. We could therefore translate individuation as ‘coming to selfhood’ or ‘self-realization’ (Jung, 1928b, p. 171)”.

As I mentioned in the introduction, I came across three additional reference sources, the first is an essay titled, Clinical Implications of Cultural Difference: The Referential Versus the Indexical Self, by Hope Landrine (Landrine, 1992). I am including it because Dr. Grills refers to it several times. For example, “Landrine (1992) argues that the alternative concept of the self, known to many sociocentric ethnocultural groups, is the indexical self. Here, the self ‘is perceived as constituted or ‘indexed’ by the contextual features of social interaction in diverse situations’ (Gaines, 1982)” (p. 75).

The second is from one of my favorite books, The African Unconscious: Roots of Ancient Mysticism and Modern Psychology (Bynum, 1999),whichincludes several mentions of Freud and Jung. In the chapter titled, Oldawan: The Ancient Soul, Bynum states, “Rooted in anthropology, biology, history, and genetics, the mysterious ocean that is human consciousness is at bottom collective, luminous, and genotypically African in its genesis.” (Bynum, 1999, p. 78). Bynum continues,

The present-day implication of this, of course, is that beneath the wealth of contents in our shared or multicultural unconscious the primordial essence and genetic roots of our African dynamism dwells. Jung felt this deeper racial memory as his bedrock memory, and it unfolded with him a great peace and sense of unity between all the peoples of his planet. (p. 79)

I am, by no means a Jungian scholar (although I plan to continue my studies), for me this statement confirms the sense of African essence in Jung’s work. Lastly, in the book Modern Man in Search of a Soul (Jung, Dell, & Baynes, 2011) Jung has much to say about what he refers to as the “primitive man”. For example, he talks about how they (the primitive) understand the psyche:

These indications may serve to show how primitive man experienced the psyche. To him the psyche appears as the source of life, the prime mover, a ghost-like presence which has objective reality. Therefore the primitive knows how to converse with his soul; it becomes vocal within him because it is not he himself and his consciousness. To primitive man the psyche is not, as it is to us, the epitome of all that is subjective and subject to the will; on the contrary, it is something objective, contained in itself, and living its own life. (p. 182)

Bynum states, Jung “left Europe several times” in part due to Jung’s interest in non-European male epistemology, “Without wishing to be irreverent, I cannot refrain from confronting the Professor of Psychology with the mentality of women, of the Chinese, and of Australian Negroes. Our psychology must embrace all life, otherwise we simply remain enclosed in the Middle Ages” (Jung et al., 2011, p. 86). Bynum continues, “many times he mentioned the uncanny experiences he had and the sense of some bottomless primordial memory underneath and foundationalizing his recent, emergent European memory” (p. 79).

Defining the Self and Consciousness

The concept of self is not universal. In this section I will explore the Western, African and Jungian notion of self and consciousness. Langrine offers two definition of the self, the Western (referential) and African (indexical). Again, here is an excerpt from her essay Clinical implications of cultural differences: The referential versus the indexical self,

The referential self of Western culture is construed as an autonomous entity defined by its distinctiveness and separateness from the natural and social world. …In other words, the referential self is presumed to be a free agent – to be an agent that does what it wishes. Thereby, the self has rights – the right to privacy, autonomy, and to be protected from intrusions from others being foremost among these. …Self-awareness, self-criticism, self-consciousness, self-reflection, self-determination, self-actualization, self-fulfillment, and self-change are all possible, permissible, and, indeed expected in Western psychotherapy. (pp. 403-404)

Langrine continues, and states that among other things, for the African,

The self (for lack of any other term) is not discrete, bounded, fully separate, or unique. Rather, to the extent that one is or has a self at all, this self is seen as constituted by social interactions, contexts, and relationships. The self is created and re-created in interactions and contexts, and exists only in and through these. (p. 406)

Griils states that the “Akan thinker contends that the universe is composed of visible and invisible beings, it is doubtful whether he implies that these aspects of existence are two distinctly separate categories, as the Western notion of dualism would suggest” (p. 77).

She continues, “the Akan thinker conceives of these two not as distinct realms but as two points on a continuum, constantly interacting with each other” (p. 77).

In reading Jung’s observations of the so-called primitive man (which seems to be his term for African descended people), it appears that he too had noticed the blurring of the line of spirit and soul,

These indications may serve to show how primitive man experienced the psyche. To him the psyche appears as the source of life, the prime mover, a ghost-like presence which has objective reality. Therefore the primitive knows how to converse with his soul; it becomes vocal within him because it is not he himself and his consciousness. To primitive man the psyche is not, as it is to us, the epitome of all that is subjective and subject to the will; on the contrary, it is something objective, contained in itself, and living its own life. (Jung et al., 2011, p. 182)

Frager and Fadiman offer this interpretation of Jung’s personality archetype,

The self is the archetype of centeredness. It is the union of the conscious and the unconscious that embodies the harmony and balance of the various opposing elements of the psyche. The self directs the functioning of the whole psyche in an integrated way. According to Jung, ‘[C]onscious and unconscious are not necessarily in opposition to one another, but complement one another to from a totality, which is the self’(1928b, p. 175) (Frager & Fadiman, 2005, p. 72)

I find their definition aligns with what Grills calls “an African epistemology [that] emphasizes an affective-cognitive synthesis as a way of knowing reality” (p. 76). This knowing provides a broad sense of the world – beyond the constructs of space/time and has a spiritual base.

What Does Jung, Nobles and Ani Have in Common?

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A recent class assignment asked us to response to a video Carl Jung

What stood out for me are Jung’s thoughts on the expansiveness of the psyche. Psyche in not confined to space and time; psyche is not dependent of these confinements; psyche is not subject to those laws; psyche exists beyond time & space. If I understood him correctly, these are some of the reasons he sees death as not an ending, but as a “great adventure”. That life itself “behaves as if it is going on”.

Two of my mentors put it this way “human being is a three-fold, unfolding, radiating experience of yet-to-live, living and after-living. To be human is to be a spirit in motion (unfolding)…constant & continual inquiry into its own being, experience, knowledge and truth” (Nobles, 2009)

Marimba Ani, PhD (formerly Dona Richards) says, “Spirit does not die. If we continually make that religious and philosophical statement though ritual and if we remember, then the physically deceased member of the family continue to be a part of that family, and we are assured of immortality. (Richards, 1996, p. 212) She states, “When we perform rituals as our ancestors did, we become our ancestors and so transcend the boundaries of ordinary space and time and the limitations of separation which they impose” (p. 212).

Jung, Nobles and Ani’s concepts make complete sense to me. As, both parents passed more than twenty years ago, in the case of my mother(s) thirty years ago. As part of my spiritual practice I honor my ancestors through a variety of rituals. I’ve always felt there presents and even more so in recent years; in part because I’m older and in part due to my spiritual practices. Death to me is just another stage of life.

References

Nobles, W. W. (2009). [ABPsi Meeting Notes].

Richards, D. M. (1996). The implications of African-American spirituality. In M. K. Asante (Ed.), African culture the rhythms of unity (pp. 207-231). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Shadows and Song

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As I read Elizabeth Lessers’ book, I was reminded of my own spiritual journey and the significant role that my cultural identity has played. I realize that as part of this course we will write a spiritual autobiography, so I’ll try to restrain going into too much detail in this reflection paper.However, because her book is written in a semi-autobiographical format, I must share some of my personal thoughts. My intention is to shine a light on the shadows, so that I can more easily swim against the current of Western thought, and hopefully be able to relax a bit in the waves.

I will begin by saying that I appreciate the openness with which Ms. Lesser shares her experiences. She obviously has led a very spiritually rich life and has contributed greatly through her work at the Omega Institute. That said, one of my frustrations when reading these types of book is the universal “we” assumptions they make, and the one-sided views of history. For example Lesser states “our earliest ancestors were grappling with our own longings and questions…Cro-Magnon people had complex thoughts and deep feelings.” (p. 34) As a woman of African descent, I am not a part of this “our” as my cultural ancestors are not from Europe. (O’Neil, 2011) This does not mean that I am not a part of the human quest that is trying to understand the “mystery of creation”. I appreciate that she is sharing her search for a spiritual direction, however I think if your intention is to create an institution “where all thought converge(d)” to an “omega point”, then I expect the co-founder to acknowledge that the origins of humanity more.

So, I hope you can understand my irritation in reading a book that claims to be open to diverse spiritual perspectives, and yet you still have to deal with western-centric worldviews. For example, in recounting the founding of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies she states, “as Pir Vilayat called his idea [it would] resurrect a concept of education put forth by the literary and scientific visionaries of ancient Alexandria in Egypt. Under the Ptolemies in the second century B.C….Alexandria was the enlightened center of the Hellenistic world.” In fact, this great African city and it’s museum and libraries began hundreds of years before the invasion of the Greeks and Ptolemy I. (James, 1954, pp. 49-50)

Occasionally, it would be nice to be able to simply read the text ‘like everybody else’ and not cringe each time people of color are mentioned or specifically, in the case of Alexandria –it’s African heritage is omitted. For me, one of the most frustrating things is when black people are portrayed in a two-dimensional fashion, such as violent/non-violent and, as an ahistorical people. Which is exactly what I experienced in reading “Book I: The American Landscape” when Lesser describes an encounter she had during her first years of college:

“I mistakenly got off the Barnard dorm elevator on the floor that a black students’ organization had demanded as their own. Walking down the look-alike hall toward a room I thought was mine, I was confronted by four girls I had seen on campus but had never dared talk to. “What are you doing on our floor?” they demanded. I suddenly realized my blunder and tried to explain it to them. Surrounding me, they pushed me toward the elevator. One of the girls grabbed me by my shirt collar and slapped me hard across the face as the elevator doors were closing. That slap woke something up within me, something that had been bothering me all year. I was ashamed of the mean-spirited rhetoric that pervade the anti-war movement…”


I have a number of concerns with how she describes this experience. First, the repeated use of the word “demanded” and that she was ‘confronted’, and never “dared” to talk to them. These “girls” (more on this later) are in fact college women, that with some research, I think where a part of the black students’ organization called the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters (BOSS, established 1968) (Staff, 2003), Lesser doesn’t mention why the black organization was formed and why there was a need for having a ‘floor of their own’. When she reflects on the encounter she laments that “the great hero of nonviolence – Martin Luther King, Jr. – was dead, his message of tolerance and love no longer the unifying element of the civil rights movement.” However, King was more than a messenger of tolerance, he was black man that spoke truth to power. It is a commonly held belief in the black community, that it was his position on the Vietnam War that led to his assignation, as he was killed one-year later to the day (April 4th).

Dr. King was also more than a hero of nonviolence, he was someone that encouraged his people to not just sit and wait for their liberation from white oppression. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for black people to believe in themselves and “sign with a pen and ink of self-asserted manhood, [their] own emancipation proclamation” (King)

I suspect that like many Black people across the country, these young women were tired of what they may have perceived as white privilege, and the ‘mean-spirited rhetoric’ Lesser speaks of may have resulted from hundreds of years of oppression and disrespect from people who looked like her (Lesser). This is a lesson she had to be taught years later by Maya Angelou (p. 79-80). Yes, the slap “woke something that had been bothering her all year”; but it was probably delivered by someone who had been bothered much longer than that.

I am bothered too. I am bothered by the pain and suffering I see happening in the world, specifically here in Oakland, CA. My longing is to be an agent of transformation in my community and use the knowledge that I have from my studies of various spiritual traditions (western and others). I struggle with being able to read past the cultural limits of many of the authors of transpersonal and new age materials; I want to be compassionate and graceful in my critic of the literature. Like Lesser, “I yearned to speak from the depth of my heart, to educate, to fill in the missing parts of the story – to sing.” I too have “held back my songs and my tears many times. (p. 77) Hopefully, as I continue on my journey, I will be able to find the right balance of tones through my mindfulness toolbox.

References

James, G. (1954). Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy. Trenton: African World Press, Inc.

King, M. L. (Producer). MLK that’s never quoted. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlvEiBRgp2M

O’Neil, D. (2011), from http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_4.htm

Staff. (2003). African America History Month at Barnard.Retrieved from http://barnardarchives.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/african-american-history-month-at-barnard/