One of the most powerful and influential books I've read in my life is Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Dr. Joy DeGruy. I started reading the book during the early, uphill years of my incarceration. Because of the truth of Dr. Joy DeGruy’s words, I began to contemplate what it means to be a Black Man in America in a totally different way. Her words gave me the foundation to understand what role I should play in my community and in the World.
She begins by writing about African culture and Africans before they were sold into slavery and taken to America. There was so much I didn’t know and was never taught in school. I wrote about this in my blog: https://www.my2centz.com/blog/white-washed I began to learn to appreciate and love Africans through the wisdom of Dr Joy’s writing in this monumental work.
The deep insight shared in this book helped my heart ache to begin to heal from the repetitive shattering that goes on every day I wake up in prison. Her words still serve as a balm for my soul long after the first time I opened her book. I learned how to fall in love with myself, my people in America and all over the world.
Dr Joy helped me realize that there is a purpose to looking back at our history. What I learned was that I have to look with my eyes wide open at the many problems that plague Americans of African descent. And through that process, I look for solutions. I don’t want to be negative, or to bash "white folks", but we need to find our own resolutions to our problems. We need to find ways to assist and aid our community in a positive way.
Dr Joy helped me understand why it is imperative for us to never use the derogatory names that we commonly use as casual terms of endearments. All these words come from slavery. They were part of the verbal abuse the over-seers used to abuse and emotionally debase us.
Dr Joy introduced me to the idea that I could greet every new African American in a more positive way. Instead of calling my friend the N word or my sister the H or B word, I call them Sister or Brother. But my favorite word that I use most often is ‘beloved.’ It's sort of funny because a lot of the younger inmates here already call each other ‘beloved.’ Dr Joy showed me that positive vibes and love can be just as trendy and fashionable as the negative slag I no longer use. Words are powerful.
Dr Joy helped me love and embrace my dark and beautiful features! I used to brush my hair until my scalp was sore to the touch, just so a few ripples of naps would lay down into what we call ‘waves.’ I would slather all sorts of chemicals in my hair just to keep it slicked down because I abhorred my woolly hair. Now I rock an Afro or cornrows. When I get out, I will let it lock up, I will be able to take better care of it in the free world because the prison commissary does not accommodate us with the proper ethnic hair and skin care products that we need.
Unlike other books that I've read concerning the plight of African American's Dr Joy’s book provided me with a bright outlook for our future. It all starts with love and unity between us, ‘we’ of the African Diaspora. I used to believe that money was the cure for all our problems in America. Now I understand that love and education was way more valuable than money. Love and education will serve us completely in our healing. Then when the Elders ask us ‘How are the Children?’ we can reply with faith and honesty that, ‘All the Children are well.’
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