Kweku’s Korner
By Kweku Akyirefi Amoasi
Before I begin a clinical session with a team, my first question is not “what is the goal?” My first question is “Is the team on the same page?” I will ask the Black community, do we have a unified team?
WHO IS ON OUR TEAM
Joe Biden infamously stated, “If you don’t vote for me you ain’t Black? It was laughable, and disrespectful. But it made us ask again, “what does it mean to be Black?” Do you get a Black card because you know how to play Spades, do every line dance, and quote Cooley High, Training Day, and Friday by heart? The within-group heterogeneity is beautiful, but it does pose a problem for group collaboration.
Race is not a biological construct. What we define as Black is really best defined as Culture. Yes, race is a real social construct; however, it becomes convoluted when we add other culture components. Race and culture are not synonyms. Your culture is dictated by more than just your color. There are other demographics (e.g., nationality, socio-economic status, religion) which shape a person’s disposition.
So, who is Black? The axiom “all skin folk ain’t your kinfolk,’ is testament that all those who share a similar hue are not always on the same page. So, how can a people come together to strategize if those people are not on the same page. That group of people are not a unified team.
ONE TEAM, MANY STAGES
Children of the diaspora are on the same team they are just on different stages of the journey. If you look at the work of William Cross’ Nigrescence theory, it attempts to explain Black Racial Development.
1. Stage 1 is the Pre-Encounter stage. This is the Black person who identifies with the majority culture. This is where humanity is blind to the oppressive nature of the world, especially from a racial aspect.
2. Stage 2 is the Encounter stage. This is where a situation so blatant removes the innocence of life as a person is confronted with the differences that ones skin color could bring to a situation.
3. Stage 3 is the Immersion stage. This is where the person withdraws from all things in the dominant society and finds comfort in a world that embraces only Blackness and all things that connect them to their original culture.
4. Stage 4 is the Emersion stage. This is where the person realizes they can interact with parts of the majority culture, as they recognize that the hue of the skin is not the only indicator to prove a person’s friend or foe. This is a stage where cognitive dissonance is still present but being reconciled.
5. Stage 5 is the Internalization stage. At this point the person is firmly rooted in their historical identity, with an understanding of how to navigate the many cultural and racial nuances that present themselves on a regular basis.
A team divided can never expect to win; conversely, a unified team increases their odds for victory exponentially. The question remains, who is on our team? Fred Hampton had ideas we will explore in the next edition of Kweku’s Korner.