Willie Lynch and the Pattern of Learned Behavior in the Black Community - Part II

“If you put a slave in a hog pen, train him to live there, and incorporate in him to value it as a way of life completely the biggest problem you would have out of him is that he would worry you about provisions to keep the hog pen clean, or partially clean. Or he might not worry you at all. On the other hand, if you put this same slave in the same hog pen and make a slip and incorporate something in his language whereby he comes to value a house more than he does his hog pen you got a problem. He will soon be in your house.”

~~Willie Lynch Manifesto 

 Part one of this series outlined the basic principles of the Willie Lynch manifesto, “Let’s make a slave,” along with its initial objectives and methods used to obtain these objectives. In closing, I posited several questions concerning how those objectives figured in the long-term comprehensive economic planning in perpetuity as it relates to present-day African-Americans. Those questions were as follows:  

• What segment of the black population does the mainstream American economy (white folks) target more, black men or black women and why?
• What segment of the black population does the criminal justice system (white folks) target more, black men or black women and why?
• What family unit does the American social service system (white folks) target more for dismantling, black families or white families and why?  
• What segment of the black population is most affected by this targeting and why?

However, before we attempt to answer these questions, let’s take a moment and examine the opening quote. Harsh as it is it speaks volumes. What Lynch says essentially is that if you place a people in an environment and indoctrinate that people to feel comfortable enough to value that comfort (zone) over change chances are that people will choose to remain in that state of imagined comfort, that it will self-refuel and self-generate. The sad thing about this strategy is that it is not difficult to achieve. Really, folks, consider your own personal levels of comfort. How difficult for you would it be to veer outside of that comfort zone? Most times the only way to move an entrenched rock is by blowing it up and most people will not move unless something forces the move upon them. This is what people such as Lynch depended on during slavery and what people such as Lynch depend on today, ignorance to anything beyond what we (blacks) see with our own two eyes.

To find out why this theory continues to flourish within the Black community, we attempt to answer the aforementioned questions.

• What segment of the black population does the mainstream American economy (white folks) target more, black men or black women and why?

For the sake of simplicity, I prefer talking in terms of what we (blacks) see with our own two eyes and therefore I will not bore you with statistics other than to say that in 2008 72 percent of babies born to black women were born out of wedlock. These numbers however astonishing we (blacks) have come to accept as the norm or within our comfort levels. However, it is within this statistic that we find the answer to the question, “what segment of the black population does the mainstream American economy target and why.” Just as the Lynch manifesto suggests the black female be the target of indoctrination it remains so in present-day America. Considering that blacks are no longer in chains (visible ones), what better way to advance the theory of dependency than through economics and especially the economics of the person most likely to raise African-American offspring. However, success of this theory relies heavily on the answer to our next question:  

• What segment of the black population does the criminal justice system (white folks) target more, black men or black women and why?

  In a March 2008 article titled, Perspectives: The Status of African-American Women, Dr. Julianne Malveaux cited that, “Since the 1980s, women head more than 40 percent of African-American families and that the majority of African-American children grow up in households headed by women.” Again, while we (blacks) see this with our own two eyes it is not a phenomenon that we associate with statistics- it is part of our norm, our comfort level. However, for this phenomenon to exist, removal of the black male from the family structure is necessary. And once again, since we (blacks) are no longer in chains and are no longer subject to beatings in front of other slaves and being torn apart by horses, what better way to remove the black male from the family than through the criminal justice system whether it be by incarceration, beatings and death at the hands of police officers. In addition, there exists an even more nefarious and under the radar method for the dismantling of the black family, which leads to our next question:    

• What family unit does the American social service system (white folks) target more for dismantling, black families or white families and why?

  A few years ago, I wrote a paper for school in which I described how in Detroit in the 50s black men in the auto industry faced layoffs every year during the winter months. This was the result of the car manufacturers closing their plants because of slow sales during the winter and to some extent for retooling. As a consequence the wives of the laid-off men were forced to apply for welfare to compensate for their husband’s –although most were not married- income. However, in order for the women to qualify it was required that the man no longer reside with his wife/girlfriend and their children for months at a time. Not only did this allow for the indoctrination of the female, it also meant the female would pass along her manufactured survival skills to her offspring. In addition, the child would come to accept dismantled family structure as the norm and not seek to depart from that learned behavior.   Moreover, it also placed an undue burden on the ousted male. In addition, to having to provide for himself he also had to pay child support both of which were highly unlikely considering he was unemployed. The male then was subject to incarceration for failing to pay child support tremendously decreasing the odds he would ever return home and reviving a secure family structure. Now ask yourselves, as it regards this phenomenon what do we (blacks) in present-day America see with our own two eyes, which leads us to our final question:  

• What segment of the black population is most affected by this targeting and why?

Addressing the effects of single parenting among African-American women on African-American offspring, Dr. Malveaux noted also that,

“While there is nothing inherently wrong with female-headed households, there is much sociological data that suggests that children who grow up in healthy, intact families (it is important to emphasize “healthy” as violent or abusive intact families are not preferable to families headed by one parent) are less likely to be involved in violence and more likely to attend college and lead productive lives.

Now, according to the opening quote by Lynch, desire for change away from the pigsty translates as ‘productive’, or the ‘desire to be in your house’. In other words, a child that values meaningful family structure over one of dysfunction will likely discard the latter and strive to perpetuate the former e.g. marriage, education, avoidance of criminal activity etc. What good then is the child if the indoctrination of the female runs contrary to the long-term economic objectives of the master? How does self-refueling and self-generation continue to orbit upon its axis? Simple answer is it does not. Therefore, it is essential to the American economic system and especially to those whose power, control and air of superiority are tied to the system that implementation of the initial six principles of the Lynch manifesto be continued however covertly. Willie Lynch knew as do most that children are sponges. They absorb, imitate and parrot the behaviors of their parents and the actions of others. It is the pattern of learned behavior that Lynch relied upon and it is the pattern of learned behavior that people such as Lynch rely upon still. Look around you folks and marinate on what you see with your own two eyes. Don’t concern yourselves with statistics because the only numbers that matter are those within your space, your neighborhoods, schools, churches, and community. Ask yourself, what examples am I setting that affect the most important segment of our (blacks) population? Am I willing to step outside of my comfort zone to save the children and my race or am I self-refueling? Am I self-generating?  What will your answers be?  
“As long as we continue to look only at ourselves in the picture we will never see anyone else and no one will ever see us.  ~~Poetry Emotion By Jay

~~ Written by Jay Arrington


Jay Arrignton is a reporter and staff writer for The Maryland Daily Examiner.  For information regarding The Maryland Daily Examiner, contact Reggie Kearney, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief. 

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