Asa Hililard joins the Egun

I had stumbled across a posting on Playahata that Baba Hilliard had passed. I was awaiting confirmation and it finally came in the form of a posting from the AJC

I reached my youthful bloom of black consciousness at Tuskegee University. It was there that I was introduced to the text Stolen Legacy and began my transformation from using black history and study as a tool to improve self esteem to a place where this was "serious business" that required an entire change of thinking. In that fateful text was the introduction by one Asa. Hilliard, who until that point I knew absolutely nothing about. That intro contained what I call the "infamous" opening paragraph:

Mental Bondage is invisible violence. Formal physical slavery has ended in the United States. Mental slavery continues to this present day. This slavery affects the minds of all people and, in one way, it is worse than physical slavery alone. That is, a person who is in mental bondage will be "self-contained." Not only will that person fail to challenge beliefs and patterns of thought which control him, he will defend and protect those beliefs and patterns of thought virtually with his last dying effort.

During my stay at Tuskegee, this paragraph, along with choice quotes from Frantz Fanon and Carter G. Woodson along with the Oracles of Maat became texts that I and my compatriots could recite on demand. It was also at Tuskegee that I was afforded the opportunity to see and hear Dr. Hilliard speak. When he came he dropped the "Sheepdog" analysis on us. I remember that speech like it was given this morning. For those unfamiliar with the Sheepdog analysis it is as follows:

The process of raising a sheepdog involves taking a dog when it a mere pup and removing him from his family. The pup is made to live with sheep until it is grown. By being raised with the sheep the dog identifies itself as a sheep. As a consequence the sheepdog, will defend the sheep against any predator including other dogs. This is of course a totally unnatural state. This state is also highly reflective of the state of Africans in America.

I didn't see Dr. Hilliard again until after I left Tuskegee. However; when I did it was another educational event. That last time (for me) he discussed the issue of integrated education and the people behind it and the studies done to see what effects integrated and "isolated" education would have on the "Talented tenth". The subject highlighted the dangers in African people simply handing over our children to be "educated" by other people.

So though my overall exposure to Dr. Hilliard may have been short, it was powerful and life altering. So I thank Egun Hilliard for his spirit.

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