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The 6th April 2017 marked the 35th Anniversary of the passing of Nana Bobby E. Wright.
Bobby E. Wright was one of the prolific Afrikan Centred Psychologists coming out of the Black Power era in the USA. In Introduction to Black Studies, the definitive work in the field, Dr Maulana Karenga places him in the “Radical School” of Black Psychologists alongside the likes of Amos Wilson, Frances Cress Welsing, Kobi Kambon, Linda James Myers and Wade Nobles. (1)
His essays, including “The Psychopathic Racial Personality” (1974) & “Mentacide: The Ultimate Threat to theBlack Race” (1978) are considered classics in the field of Black Radical thought. Some of these were assembled in a collection titled “The Psychopathic Racial Personality,” published by Third World Press.
More than just a radical theorist, he sought to operationalise his Afrikan-centered approach when he was appointed the first Executive Director of the Garfield Park Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center, in Chicago (renamed The Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center after his death). Under his leadership, the agency grew from one sheltered workshop program to eleven clinical programs and five supportive components and conducted 96,000 face to face contacts with patients per year. (2)
A central theme of Nana Wright’s psychological thesis is the concept of Mentacide – “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a groups minds with the ultimate objective being the extirpation of the group.” (3) From this basis he advanced a searing analysis of the racial dynamics between Afrikans and Europeans:
“In their relationship Blacks, Whites exhibit the behaviour of psychopaths and their behaviour reflects an underlying biologically transmitted proclivity that is deep rooted in their evolutionary history. Mentacide is the method and genocide is the ultimate goal of that behaviour:”
“The white race has at least three distinct incomparable traits that seem to be genetically transmitted: 1) predatory behaviour toward people, and their land; 2) a predilection for senseless destruction of nature and people, and; 3) the ability to persuade Blacks to support and protect them against their own interest.”(4)
Bobby E Wright casts the psychopath in the role of a matador where Afrikans are trained to focus on his cape rather than him. The cape is analogous to the various European concepts that have been used to mentally incarcerate Afrikans – democracy, capitalism, Marxism, religion, etc. (5)
Nana Wright’s revolutionary paradigm influenced and inspired peers and successors. Author of The Irritated Genie (a book he dedicated to Bobby E Wright) Baba Jacob H Carruthers cited Wright’s The Psychopathic Racial Personality and Mentacide concepts as “major contributions” to the development of a Black social theory. (6) His work is frequently referenced by the likes of Mama Marimba Ani who locates him among the intellectual and ideological Ankobia (vanguard) of our people. (7). Similarly, fellow warrior psychologist Baba Kobi Kambon also dedicated one of his major publications to him:
“He was perhaps the best representative of a true African-centred Race psychologists that I’ve known. To him I am indebted ideologically, intellectually and spiritually.” (8)
Another Warrior scholar, Mwalimu Baruti named his 2005 collection of essays Mentacide, in honour of one of Nana Wright’s key concepts. (9) Baba Carruthers placed Nana Wright in the warrior tradition of “Chaka, Dessalines, Delany, Henry Turner, Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and Chancellor Williams.” and identified three core themes in his work:
- The definition and acceptance by Blacks of reality
- The development of a black social theory
- Race Vindication (10)
As a corrective to Mentacide, Bobby E Wright made a number of revolutionary recommendations, including the following:
- “We must place the interest of our race above all other considerations. In everything we do or think we must first ask the question, “Does this hurt or help us.”
- We should begin to sanction or punish those Blacks who act against our interest.
We should sanction and refuse to support those Blacks that marry whites or members of other races. - We should make a conscious effort to darken the race by accepting skin colour as the criterion of adoption… Also when you look for a lover, don’t reject the sister or brother because they’re dark.
- No Black can be considered a leader who marries outside the race.
- We must stop using Black as a negative term.
- We must expose our children to positive Black images and those of us who are professionals must at least spend some of their time with our children, in independent schools, after schools and on Saturdays & Sundays.
- We must develop artists who will create strong, positive Black images: including of God.” (11)
Although in his lifetime he felt that we were at a deficit in “the fight for the black mind,” (12) he was convinced in our ultimate victory. As he known to frequently declare
“A luta continua, Lasima Tushinde Mbilishaka (the struggle continues and we will conquer without a doubt).” (13)
(1) Maulana Karenga (2002) Introduction to Black Studies. University of Sankore Press. pp. 517-531
(2) Ability Into Chicago Blog (23/07/11) The Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center Chicago, IL. : info, resources. http://abilitychicagoinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/bobby-e-wright-comprehensive-behavioral.html
(3) Bobby E Wright (1990) Black Suicide: Lynching By Any Other Name Is Still Lynching in The Psychopathic Racial Personality. Third World Press. p. 19
(4) Bobby E Wright (1978) Mentacide: The Ultimate Threat To The Black Race.https://sankoreconnect.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/mentacide-the-ultimate-threat-to-the-black-race.pdf. p. 8
(5) Bobby E Wright (1990) The Psychopathic Racial Personality in The Psychopathic Racial Personality. Third World Press. p. 1.
(6) Bobby E Wright (1990) The Psychopathic Racial Personality. Third World Press.
(7) Marimba Ani (1994) Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. Africa World Press. p.450.
(8) Kobi Kambon (2003) African-Black Psychology in the American Context: An African-Centered Approach. Nubian Nation Publications. p. v.
(9) Mwalimu Baruti (2005) Mentacide and other essays. Akoben House.
(10) Jacob H Carruthers (1985) The Irritated Genie: an essay on the Haitian Revolution. The Kemetic Institute. p. vii.
(11) Bobby Wright (1990): Message to Students of Atlanta University (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeHSWBvTByQ.
(12) Ibid
(13) Kambon, Op. Cit.
So we ask the question:
How do we fight MENTACIDE? Tribute to Bobby E Wright
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Have you read any Bobby E Wright’s works?
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Are ‘Psychopathic Racial Personality’ and ‘Mentacide’ viable analytical concepts?
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Are democracy, capitalism, Marxism, religion, etc. really distractions aiding our destruction?
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In what ways do Afrikans not accept reality?
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Do you agree with Bobby E Wright’s list of recommendations?
Our very special guest:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwindnewspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Guide To Excellence.
Mama Marimba Ani: Is an Afrikan-Centered Cultural Scientist, engaged in the reconceptualization of the Afrikan Experience from the perspective of Afrikan people and also is known for introducing the term “Maafa” to describe what is known as the Afrikan Holocaust. She served as an SNCC field secretary in the Freedom Summer of 1964 and was later brought to Hunter College in the City University of New York, under the tutelage of Nana Dr. John Henrik Clarke, where she taught for 25 years. A partial list of the courses that she delivered include: Afrikan Civilization; Afrikan Spirituality in the Diaspora; Women in Afrika; Women in the Afrikan Diaspora; Men in the Afrikan Diaspora; Afrikan Spiritual Thought Systems; The Afrikan World View; The Work of Cheikh Anta Diop; The Work of Ayi Kwei Armah; Theories of White Racism.
In addition, she created the Maat/Maafa/Sankofa Paradigm as part of the development of an Afrikan Cultural Science and Social Theory. She is the founding director of the Afrikan Heritage Afterschool Program (AHAP) in Harlem New York (1983-1998) and after leaving the academy now directs this programme in Atlanta. Mama Marimba is an active member of Us Lifting Us, an Afrikan/Black economic cooperative, and the Association for the Study of Classical Afrikan Civilizations. She is author of a number of ground breaking books: Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African Spirituality in the Diaspora (1989); Yurugu: An African-centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior: African-Centered Critique of European Thought and Behavior (1994). Ideologically, Mama Marimba considers herself “a Garveyite, An Afrikan Sovereignist, and a Race Woman” and in Mosiah 2015 Mama Marimba was appointed the UNIA-ACL Ambassador of Race First Sovereign Development.
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