Even after almost twenty-five years (to the day) after his passing into the Ancestral Realm, Nana Amos Wilson was a warrior scholar/activist who remains a towering edifice in Afrikan-centred thought. He he worked as social caseworker, supervising probation officer, psychological counselor, and as a training administrator in the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice. As an academic, Wilson taught at the City University of New York from 1981 to 1986 and at the College of New Rochelle from 1987 to 1995. (1) But it as an author of some of the most insightful volumes, encompassing the gamut of Afrikan life and thought, that he is most fondly remembered. However, it should be noted that he also transcended academia into the field of business, owning and operating various enterprises in the greater New York area.
Born in Mississippi in 1941 and studied at the famed Morehouse College in Atlanta, the alma mater of Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Spike Lee, Samuel L Jackson, Lerone Bennett Jr and Guru (Gang Starr) and The New School for Social Research in Atlanta.. He attained his Ph. D at Fordham University in New York where he stayed for the remainder of his career, although his hoarse, gritty oratory, much in the style of a ‘down-home’ soul singer like Otis Redding or Johnnie Taylor, continued to signal his southern roots. (2)
Through his work, he was categorised by Dr Maulana Karenga in Introduction To Black Studies as being in the “Radical School” of Black Psychologists alongside the likes of Na’im Akbar, Kobi K Kambon, Linda James Myers, Wade Nobles (aka Nana Kwaku Berko I., Ifagbemi Sangodare and Bejana Onebunne), Frances Cress Welsing (who passed away four years ago this month) and Bobby E. Wright. (3) The basis of his inclusion in this stellar array of revolutionary theorists was his impressive body of work some of which was published posthumously.
His first book was The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child, originally published in 1978. In it he makes the bold assertion:
“If the black child is to realize his full potential then his care and training should be pursued with as much accurate knowledge as is possible about his unique developmental qualities and vulnerabilities. We-have seen that the black child in his psychomotor developmental rates is not just a white child painted black. Of course it is plain to all that the black child’s psychosocial developmental career significantly differs from that of his white counterpart. Even though there are fundamental differences between black and white child development little or no complete programs have been promulgated to deal with the uniqueness of black child development and its attendant problems. In books on child development the black child is treated as an afterthought, used as a symbol ol deprivation, treated as a footnote or just plainly ignored. It is necessary that the care and training of the black child, if it is to be maximally beneficial to the child himself, to the black community and the society in general, must be based on other than unexamined extrapolations from developmental care and training procedures based on studies of white children and developed mainly for the rearing of white children… Black child training should be pursued along conscious, studied, informed, well-thought lines and not the haphazard , faddish, reactionary, contradictionary, dysfunctional lines that characterise such training today.” (4)
Among his range of recommendations are that the Afrikan child should be the focus studies in their own right rather than an appendage to white child development studies. He adds that the Afrikan child should have bi-cultural education to function within their own and ‘maninstream’ cultural matrices and that parents should be educated to guard against negative child-rearing practices and embrace community-supported values. In sum he proscribes that these strategies should have the effect of creating in the child:
“A feeling of security, of being loved and knowing what is expected of them. The child will also experience the satisfaction of completing tasks, meeting responsibilities and successfully achieving goals…” (5)
A second edition of the book was published in 2014.
Nana Amos, also addressed child development in a 1992 book, Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children, “a practical guide to bring out the best in Afrikan American children” that “surveys the daily routines, child-rearing practices, parent-child interactions, games and play materials, parent-training and pre-school programs which have made demonstrably outstanding and lasting differences in the intellectual, academic and social performance of Black children.” (6) The key aruments in the book contend:
“Afrikan children are naturally precocious and gifted. They begin life with a “natural head start.” However, their natural genius is too frequently underdeveloped and misdirected by (1) the fact that the racist and imperialist status quo politically mandates their intellectual under-achievement and social mal-adaptiveness; (2) belief in the myth that intelligence is fixed at birth and that Afrikans are innately less intelligent than Europeans; (3) a lack of knowledge of their positively unique developmental psychology; (4) a lack of confidence in their ability to equal or surpass the intellectual performance of any other ethnic group; and (5) the general lack of infant and early childhood educational experiences which stimulate, sustain and actualize their abundant human potential. Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Childrenprovides effective means by which these political and social maladies may be fully remedied.” (7)
In 1990 he released a book whose very title fully contextualised an issue thnat too many of us, nearly thirty years later, are wringing our hands in impotent rage, demanding that politicians “do something.” (8) The book was Black-on-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination. The main thesis of the book is that:
“The operational existence of Black-on-Black violence in the United States is psychologically and economically mandated by the White American-dominated status quo. The criminalization of the Black American male is a psycholpolitically engineered process designed to maintain the dependency and relative powerlessness of the Afrikan-American and Pan-Afrikan communities… Although Professor Wilson argues that Black-on-Black violence is prchestrated by White America’s need to maintain its oppressive domination of Black American, and of Western Europe’s need to continue – without end – its economic exploitation of Africa, he also contends that the ending of Black-on-Black violence is the primary, if not sole, responsibility of Afrikan people in America and abroad.” (9)
It was a theme he revisted explicitly in another book two years later, Understanding Black Adolescent Male Violence: Its Remediation and Prevention. These themes were revisited in another posthumous release, Issues of Manhood in Black and White: An Incisive Look into Masculinity and the Societal Definition of Afrikan Man, published in 2016.
The last book published before his death was The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness: Eurocentric History, Psychiatry and the Politics of White Supremacy, transcribed and edited from two lectures, European Historiography and Oppression Exposed: An Afrikan Analysis and Persoective delivered in 1989 and Eurocentric Political Dogmatism: Its Relationship to the Mental Health Diagnosis of Afrikan People from 1985. (10)
The key emphasis in this volume was the power relations between Afriakns and Europeans and how addressing this is the key to Afrikan survival:
“The ability of dominant whites to socially manufacture or markedly influence Afrikan states of consciousness and conduct in the interest of perpetuating White supremacy, is both the source and product of the power relations and inequalities which inhere between the races. The white social manufacture of Black consciousness and behaviour will end when the power differentials which make this process possible are equalized or reversed by the increased Black empowerment. This necessary equation or reversal of power relations begins when Afrikans come to understand the nature of power, its social origins and applications when they recognize that they are as capable of it’s acquisition and disposition as are their European (and other ethnic group) counterparts and when they consciously and deliberately choose to acquire and dispose of it in their own interests and in the defense of their own liberty. The Afrikan understanding and application of power must begin with a propaganda concept of power as outlined by Foucault.” (11)
He proceeds to outline the “Afrikan-centered strategic tactical counterattacks that need to be deployed: “Reintegration of Afrikan history; Upgrading of coping resources; Neutralizing of social strressors; Reversing Reactionary States of the Afrikan Body Politic; Controlling of Effective Coping Strategies and Tactics and the Afrikan Control of Labelling and Treatment Processes.” (12)
Nana Amos transitioned to the Ancestors in 1995, in circumstances not without controversy. (13) The next book, published three years later, deals squarely with the issue of power. At nine-hundred pages, Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century, remains a towering achievement of Afrikan-centered scholarship two decades after its release, as much for it’s prophetic import as much as its scope:
“Afrikan life is the coming millennia is imperilled by White and Asian power. True power must rest in the ownership of of the real estate wherever Afrikan people dwell. Economic destiny determines biological destiny. Blueprint for Black Power details a master plan for the power revolution necessary for Black survival in the 21st century… Blueprint for Black Power stops nit at critique but prescribes radical practical theories, frameworks and approaches for truw power. It gives a fitting look into Black potentiality.” (14)
The titles of the thirty-one chapters, only hint at colossal purview of the work: What Is Power?; Bases Of Power; Social and Cultural Origins of Power; Consciousness and Power; Self-Concept and Power; Power and Personality; Class, Race and Power in America; The Power Process of the Ruling Class; The Policy Formation Process; The Candidate Selection Process; Ideology and the Legitimization of Dominance; The Economic Order and Power; The Financial-Corporate Elite: The New World Government; Race and Economics; Afrika Agonistes; Investing In and Tr ading With Afrikan Nations; Empowerment Through Wealth; Benevolent Fronts Assault Local and Global Afrikan Markets; The Paucity of Black Wealth; The Myth of the Market Economy and Black Power; Nation-within-A-Nation; Demogrtaphic Foundations of an Afrikan American Nation-within-A-Nation; The Black Church: Key to Black Economic Empowerment?; The Black Consumer and the Economics of Afrocentrism; The Relationship of White-owned Banks to the Black Community; Black-owned Banks: Creators of Wealth; Financing Black Economic Development; Rotating Credit Associations: The Prime Importance of Saving; The Investment Club; Franchises, Cooperatives, Corporations and Collective Capitalism; The Crisis of Leadership.
The next book, 1999’s Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order: Garveyism in the Age of Globalism, firmly locates Afrikan power acquisition in the trajectory of Garveyism. Nana Wilson regards Marcus Mosiah Garvey as true nationalist, of whom he opines:
“The true nationalist is forward looking and futuristic. I see too few conferences, too few people concerned with the future, even nationalists. What is going to occur inn the year 2000? What will the condition of the people be in the year 2050, 2100? What must we do today to secure the survival of Afrikan people the world-over?… The true nationalist if not afraid to engage in productive behaviour. Where one sees nationalism, one sees construction, actual growth and development. Where ones sees nationalism, one sees building, one sees institutional development, one sees trade, development and commerce; one sees the rebuilding of relationships; one sees the reallocation of resources. When we as nationalists say that we are carrying out the legacy of Marcus Garvey, let us show that legacy in concrete development, instition building and, ultimately, nation-building.” (15)
Today, the role of preserving the legacy of Nana Amos Wilson’s work is undertaken by Afrikan World InfoSystems, established by Bro. Sababu N Plata in partnership with Dr. Wilson and based in Brooklyn, New York. It is the official home of the Dr. Amos Wilson catalogue of books and education materials and they are committed to preserving the vision of Dr. Wilson’s work Afrikan World InfoSystems is also a source for some of the numerous videos of Amos Wilson’s messages that can be found online (https://afrikanworld.info/pages/video-media).
Nana Amos Wilson encapsulated his political political philosophy in a words work (poem), published in Black On Black Violence:
“THE BATTLE MUST BE JOINED!!!
No nation, no civilization has come to the fore
Without new organization
Without thinking new thoughts
Without working
Without actually doing
Without being willing to take a chance
A willingness to risk all
Without a willingness to go against overwhelming odds
Without a determination to be the best, to be superior
Without a desire to determine its destiny and that of others
Without a willingness to fight, to shed blood, to risk defeat
THE BATTLE MUST BE JOINED…
It must be fought
Be it a battle of the mind, wars of spirit,
Of will, of bucks, of iron and steel, shell and bomb,
Of tank and plane, of rockets and satellite star wars,
Of technology, of information
The battle must be fought
The gauntlet thrown down
The chip knocked from the bully’s shoulder
The lines stepped over
The clash and clang of sword curses of men, moans of pain
THE BATTLE MUST BE JOINED…
Fought in the street from door to door
In the school room, in the board room
In the bedroom, in the war room
Hand to hand combat must commence
The battle must be ultimately won in the field
It matters not if you can eruditely delineate the subtleties and nuances of racism, and racial discrimination
If you can delicately dissect with a master surgeon’s skill the anatomy of race and the body politic
If you can tease out the tiniest thread
If you can paint the most beautiful dream on canvas
And write the greatest vision on parchment
Or ride in your time machine and visit ancient Afrikan kingdoms, cities, and empires
Or feel the pain and degradation of slavery
Or celebrate all we have given to the world
Or point out with great exclamation the white Devil
Still the challenge must be taken up
THE BATTLE MUST BE JOINED…
Fire must fight fire
Institutions, traditions, habits, hopes must be uprooted,
Razed and put to the torch
No stone left unturned
And institutions, traditions, habits, hopes must be restored, rekindled or built anew
Bricks stacked in place
New songs must be sung
New voices must carry the tune
New feet must march to new drumbeats
New hands, new banners and standards raised
These songs must be your songs
The voices your voices, the feet your feet
The hands must be the one sat the ends of your arms
The soul unsold to the devil must be your soul
A new world must be created
Make it your world
Amandla!” (16)
(1) The Journal of Pan African Studies (2013) Amos Wilson Conference Description. The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.6, no.2, July 2013. http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol6no2/6.2-1%20Description.pdf
(2) Amos Wilson (1998) Blueprint For Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century. Afrikan World InfoSystems. p. iv.
(3) Maulana Karenga (2002) Introduction To Black Studies. Universty of Sankore Press. p. 517-531
(4) Amos Wilson (1978) The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child. Africana Research Publications. p. 65-6
(5) Wilson (1978) p. 66-7
(6) Afrikan World InfoSystems (2020) Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children. https://afrikanworld.info/collections/amos-wilson-books/products/awakening-natural-genius-of-black-children
(7) Ibid.
(8) National Newsdesk (21/06/19) Question Time woman praised for comments on knife crime in Scotland. https://www.thenational.scot/news/17723208.watch-question-time-woman-asks-why-only-scotland-is-tackling-knife-crime/
(9) Afrikan World Infosystems (2020) Black-on-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination. https://afrikanworld.info/collections/all-books/products/black-on-black-violence
(10) Sababu N Plata (1993) Editor’s Note in Amos Wilson’s The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness: Eurocentric History, Psychiatry and the Politics of White Supremacy Afrikan World InfoSystems. p. ix
(11) Amos Wilson (1993) The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness: Eurocentric History, Psychiatry and the Politics of White Supremacy. Afrikan World InfoSystems. p. 113
(12) Wilson (1993) p. 113-119
(13) RBG Communiversity (05/03/13) Dr. Amos Wilson died in 1995 under mysterious circumstances. https://www.facebook.com/RBGCommuniversity/posts/dr-amos-wilson-died-in-1995-under-mysterious-circumstances-few-understand-how-he/513268185386526/
(14) Amos Wilson (1998) Blueprint For Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century. Afrikan World InfoSystems.
(15) Amos Wilson (1998) Amos Wilson (1999) Blueprint For Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century. Afrikan World InfoSystems. Afrikan World InfoSystems. p. 66-80
(16) Amos Wilson (1990) Black-on-Black Violence: The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilation in Service of White Domination.. Afrikan World InfoSystems.
We ask the question:
How do we get POWER? Tribute to Amos Wilson
1) Do you have a favourite Amos Wilson book/video?
2) What steps do we need to take to awaken “the natural genius” of our children?
3) How can we effectively counter attack the impact of white supremacy?
4) Are today’s ‘true nationalists’ “forward looking and futuristic” enough, or at all?
Our Special Guest:
Eld. Sababu N Plata: is the Executive Editor of Afrikan World InfoSystems (AWIS) founded in partnership with Nana Amos Wilson which is the official home of the Dr. Wilson’s catalogue of books (https://afrikanworld.info/).