I offer the below written 33 years ago. What is absolutely striking looking at this with the life experiences I have had is how relevant most of what was written then is today. Also striking is the "progression" of some of the issues brought up by Dr. Welsing in terms of black male alienation, the increasing number of black women who ascribe to white female liberation (as described by Welsing which can be debated I'm sure) either consciously or subconsciously and the attitudes of many black men who are now of age (I was 3 when this was written). I think that there ought to be an Isis Papers convention to re-look at this book 30+ years later.
The white female's liberation movement is another disturbing threat to the white male's sense of power and masculinity, helping push him to a weakened and homosexual stance. However. white females are reacting to the oppression imposed on them by white males. Feeling inferior to "non-white" males and females, the white male said to the white female, "well, at least I am going to be superior to you." The white female reaction in the form of women's liberation is contributing further to white male/female alienation, pushing white males further into the homosexual position and incidentally, pushing white females in that direction also.
The long-standing white male/female alienation in the white family has pushed the white female, perhaps unconsciously , to mold her sons to be more like herself than like their father. Thus she creates a female with a penis. Additionally, she proceeds to fight back at the male and finally achieves, symbolically, a penis for herself-resolving the white female's penis envy complex, a compensation for her sense of inferiority imposed by men. In a similar way, she fights back at the white male when she captures a Black male's penis and taunts the white male, who believes "her" black penis is stronger than his own....
Under the white supremacy slavery system, the identity of "sex machines" was imposed upon black males, especially as many hands were needed in the fields for toil and labor. The many babies that were produced gave Black males their most open avenue for at least a limited sense of manhood. Presently, with birth control pills and with the pressure for population-zero for all non-whites, this major ego-support also has been taken away. Without jobs, income, power or even babies, there is no proof of sexual functioning. When this reality is coupled with the awareness that many women can receive more from a welfare check than they can from their male partners, the reasons for women respecting men and staying with them steadily decline, and Black male/female alienation increases.
Recent statistics reveal that today (1974), 34% of Black families are headed by females as compared to 10% of white families, and this figure is increasing each year....
As black males and females become more and more alienated, as our current rate of separation and divorce indicate, and as Black females are being left to rear Black male children alone, the alienation, hate and disgust felt towards adult males are visited upon their sons subtly. A female alienated from males is hard pressed to reinforce patterns of conduct in a male child that remind her of unhappiness and pain. She in much more inclined to say "There you go looking and acting like that no good nigger father of yours." The Black female teacher at school who also may be experiencing alienation from her Black man, if not inclined to make the same statement, in such a direct manner, only says it more subtly, says nothing, or simply acts out her hate, disgust and distrust of Black males, achieving the same end result....
In childhood, male children learn -whether at home or at school -that they can make mothers and female teachers happy (and they will shower you with smiles and affection) when they act like "females" rather than like boys.
The dearth of adult Black males in the homes, schools and neighborhoods leaves Black male children no alternative models. Blindly they seek out one another as role models, and in their blindness end up in trouble....
One ex prisoner patient told me: It is easier to endure life on the inside than to try to put up with the pressures of being a man, a husband and a father in the street."...The intent of racism programming had been achieved: "Give up trying to be a Black man. Why not be a woman?"
Many Black males have answered unconsciously, "why not!" The braided and curled hair, the earring and bracelets, the midriff tops, the cinch waisted pants, the flowered underwear, the high heeled shoes with platforms and the pocketbooks are all behaviors to the above. They say in loud and clear language: "White man, I will never come after you . I cannot run in my high heels [or sagging pants-Mr Tunj]- you know that. And I may mess up my hair." The white-run clothing industry is all too pleased to provide the costumes of feminine disguise for Black male escape...
Television, which has become an important programmer of behavior in this social system and its culture, plays a further role in alienating Black males (especially children) from Black manhood. Flip Wilson, the highest paid Black male on television maintains his high rating by dressing in great detail as a tough and coarse Black female. One of my seven-year old Black male patients told me, "My Mommy liked Geraldine and I think Geraldine is cute". "Good Times" [a show I never cared for -Mr Tunji] the latest media fare for indoctrinating the Black oppressed, shows a pitiful adult Black male who never can seem to find an adequate job and a Black adolescent male who is a criminal shoplifter and a complete clown. All of this takes place in the presence of a strong and powerful Black female, who periodically drops down on her knees to pray to a white Jesus whose miracles save the situation.These weekly insults to Black manhood that we have been programmed to believe are entertainment and not direct racist warfare, further reinforce, perhaps in the unconscious thinking of Black people, a loss of respect for Black manhood while carrying that loss to ever deeper levels. One 12 year old Black male summer it up in this manner when I questioned him about working hard and studying in school: "No, I do not want to study so I can help Black people. If you try to help Black people, you will be killed. Look at Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and George Jackson. I don't want to die."
(17 years of informed commentary)
