Battered Race Syndrome

Dr. Imani Michelle Scott is a scholar, consultant, practitioner and specialist in the areas of human communication, conflict analysis and conflict resolution. Presently, Dr. Scott is a Professor of Communication for the internationally-acclaimed university for art and design, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). At SCAD, Dr. Scott teaches courses in Intercultural Communication and Public Speaking and facilitates the University’s Faculty Development Program.  (Huffington Post Bio)  In her article/Blog  It’s Called “Battered Race Syndrome.” Or, Something Like That, she investigates the continuous traumatic stress created by the racist society that she lives in. While this concept is important the most significant part of this article/blog that I hope to talk about is her question “Why are we made to feel guilty about being angry?”.  This question in my estimation directly relates back to our class in reference to the idea of the investment in white supremacy.  Illustrated throughout the evolution of African American activism, it is clear that regardless of the time period, systematic control has been an important factor contesting progress both through legal standing and societal improvement.  But in today’s view within African American activism we see this theory that African Americans are holding too much of a stigma towards white Americans due to past experiences.  This is without a doubt a fallacy and demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of the depth and length of the African American struggle.  Without this wide spread context within American history, White Americans often cannot comprehend systematic racism when it is clearly in front of them.  As a result, according to Scotts article, white civilians stereotype the idea of the “angry black woman and angry black which are projections that white people put on us to control us and validate their violence against us.”  This all relates back to the investment in white supremacy that can be conscious or unconscious in our current racial climate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/imani-michelle-scott-phd/its-called-battered-race-_b_11704844.html