Reversing Racism by Uche Ekezie

Author:Uche Ekezie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics/Motivational/Strategic Planning
Publisher: Elm Hill
Published: 2018-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

DECOLONIZE THE MIND

Sigmund Freud an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, in his model of the human mind concluded that our minds are divisible into three levels: conscious, subconscious and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind he theorized was filled with conscious thought; how we perceive an event, trigger a need to react and then depending on the relevance of the event, store it either in the subconscious or unconscious area of the mind. The subconscious mind he conceived, held more recent memories which could be recalled quite quickly, such as people’s names, recurring thoughts and routine habits and feelings. Thus, he posited that the subconscious mind occupied the most of our brain capacity. Finally, there is the unconscious mind where all our past experiences and memories reside. It is from these deep-seated memories that our belief and value systems manifest and our behaviors, good or bad, are formed.

It is important to note, like I mentioned in my earliest chapters, that these beliefs we hold in our unconscious are acquired over time via our conscious mind. It is in the unconscious mind that we internalize our prejudices and biases. It is also in the unconscious mind that we internalize self-esteem issues and self-defeating beliefs. This unfortunately, is where many colored folks both in Africa and the diaspora find themselves; in need of detoxifying and decolonizing the unconscious mind.

The mind is the gateway to the human soul. It and our spirit being are about all that sets us apart from other species on this planet. Consequently, if for any reason, the unconscious mind sees nothing but ceilings and barriers (whether real or unreal), and the individual has challenges seeing his or her true potentials, then there is a limit to what an individual in such a situation can achieve. All those nice catch phrases we use like,” possibilities are endless”, “can do attitude” and” impossible is nothing,” become naught when the mind is self-limiting, hence the relevance of this focus area in changing the fortunes of the developing world.

In chapter three, we discussed means by which independent African states could accelerate the reversal of poverty, earn more respect on the global stage and in so doing reverse racism. It is important to point out here that, while many African states officially gained independence from the 1950s through to the 1980s, many of our leaders are still yet to gain mental independence from the West. In this chapter, we continue down the path of how to achieve socio-political emancipation, but with a focus on the intrinsic work of changing our way of thinking.

The most important paradigm shift is again an economic one which has to do with correcting one of many misconceptions that affect our consumption habits, and that is the presumption that only products and services from the West and East are of the finest quality and therefore are preferable to locally produced ones. As strange as it sounds to people unfamiliar with the African continent, patronage of locally made goods and services is a major opportunity area in most African countries.

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