It Takes More Than a Proclamation

“Oh the (white) people who keep slaves think that black people are like cattle without natural affection. But my heart tells me it is far otherwise.”

How to emancipate or liberate that heart today from what one participant called the ongoing diabolical legacy of slavery — the excerpt is from the slave narrative of Mary Prince — was one of the starting points in a powerful ecumenical healing service and the beginning of what organizers, such as psychiatrist Dr. Charles Morgan (in the photo), call a campaign for the emotional emancipation of black people, which was kicked off at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Whalley Avenue Saturday morning.

p(clear). Organized by St. Luke’s and Christian Community Action (CCA), the centerpiece of the service, which attracted about 150 people, was a panel discussion whose participants also included, among others, Rev. Bonita Grubbs of CCA (in the center in the photo), Enola G. Aird, an activist and director of New Haven’s Motherhood Project, and Keith Kountz, News Channel 8’s co-anchor and the panel’s moderator.

p(clear). ​“Black children today,” said Aird, ​“still by and large choose white dolls over black and this, at a very deep level, reflects what is to me the true genius, the greatest diabolical success of slavery: undermining the belief that we African Americans are worthy of our own self love.”

p(clear). ​“I’ve seen so many people accepting negative stereotypes of themselves,” added Grubbs, affirming remarks of other panelists such as Frederick Streets, Yale’s chaplain (to the left in the photo), ​“and this results in their living lives below the dignity they deserve.”

But why launch this effort now? In a statement in the service’s program, Grubbs provided historical context for the undertaking which the organizers say was also inspired by the alarming over-representation of black people in prisons, in homicide and suicide rates and other destructive behaviors (including those in our own backyard) as well as, by way of positive inspiration, in the success of wellness movements and Truth and Reconciliation movements in South Africa, and elsewhere:

p(clear). ​“In 1863,” said Grubbs, ​“with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved black people were freed physically. Today, one hundred and thirty three years later and almost seven more into the 21st century, black people are still not fully emancipated, spiritually and emotionally. We seek to spark, ​“she said, ​“an emotional emancipation movement that will spread throughout the Greater New Haven community.”

p(clear). Dr. Morgan, who, while training at Yale, became a member of St. Luke’s community healing ministry and is currently chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Bridgeport Hospital, offered this diagnosis and prescription: ​“We must ourselves get control over our self-destructive behaviors, which include the doubling of the suicide rate among 15 – 19 year old black men. It’s also a self-destructive myth that we’re strong and therefore don’t need to avail ourselves of the mental health system. Historically, it was used against us. For example, there were formal, actual psychiatric diagnoses for slaves who fled for their freedom and another for those who refused to work hard. These stories first must be told, and embraced, and then from that can flow the healing that comes from the knowledge that we are God’s beloved children. We cannot leave it to others to do for us. And the healing can only happen in a context that includes the social, the cultural, and the spiritual,” he said.

Citing W.E.B. Dubois and others, Rev. Streets told a rapt audience that ​“our current emotional pain reflects the loss of the gifts of our identity, voice, and faith.” To recoup these, he outlined what he called a self-esteem action plan that was personal, social, and political. ​“We must celebrate our strengths, the personal side, but without being narcissistic,” and he called for a rejection of self-denigrating images in the media. ​“We laugh at our black comedians,” he said in a point that struck a chord, ​“whose favorite jokes often turn on the ​‘b’word, the ​‘n’ word, and the ​‘m.f.’ word. We laugh sometimes, but, afterwards, we are very depressed.

“Let’s reclaim our birth stories, give our children their sense of beauty, and remember that after God created human beings — all human beings — he didn’t say they were magnificent, he didn’t say they were perfect, but that they, all of us, are good.”

p(clear). In a question and answer period that followed, not everyone in the audience felt that the emotional emancipation championed by the panelists was the sufficient answer. Emmanuel Gomez, whose relatives served in Connecticut’s 29th Colored Regiment in the Civil War, said he and friends were having a difficult time raising sufficient funds for a monument at Grapevine Point (Criscuolo Park), where the 29th had drilled. ​“What you all are saying is fine and good, but we also need to teach the kids that 5,000 African-Americans fought in the Revolutionary War, in the War of 1812, and so on. We need to change the history books too.”

While not disagreeing with Gomez, panelist Aird countered, ​“We could get all the history books in the world changed. But isn’t it better to take down one of those books, and sit, and spend the time reading with our children? Plan A hasn’t worked, folks. We are at plan B, and plan B is us.”

“Maybe,” said Gomez, ​“but let’s change that curriculum too.”

p(clear). In the context of general agreement, there were many other agendas being aired in other questions asked of the panelists. Tony Butler, a labor organizer at Yale New Haven Hospital, said, ​“Why is it that some of our own people are resistant to us? We need to speak to them that they have to come together and see labor as a last great hope.”

p(clear). New Haven nutritionist Janet Tucker wanted to know why it was that as some black people advance up the social ladder they no longer talk about ​“our past, and our problems.”

“The short answer,” replied Dr. Morgan, ​“is I believe many are ashamed and running from it. We need to tell our stories and history.”

p(clear). ​“What do we do about the ​‘pimps in the pulpit’?” asked a local activist (and active New Haven Independent commentator) who goes the name ​“Three Fifths,” as a remembrance that in the Constitution slaves were deemed three fifths of a person. ​“All those who say they are our leaders but are not.”

Enola Aird answered him, ​“We need to be respectful and prayerful, but, yes, you are right. We must also speak truth to power. The executives at Black Entertainment Television, for example, are making millions and doing grave harm.”

“I’m a 1960s guy,” Three-Fifths said afterwards in the lobby. ​“I like these people. I know them. They’re doing good work, but there are other, concrete issues: outsourcing, loss of jobs, and our middle class, like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton who come into town, take big fees, and they don’t build a movement at all. They’re nothing like Martin Luther King. These issues are just as important as self-esteem.”

p(clear). And what did a young man, like 20-year-old James Collins, think of the proceedings? He’s a member of St. Luke’s and had come into the building to go to steel drum band practice in the basement. ​“I find it very interesting,” he said as he peered in, but then added, ​“I’m not sure yet what they are all talking about.”

He will soon find out. The project has planned upcoming community healing events through the fall and winter, including a film series, book club discussions, and a prison initiative. For a list, contact Paulette Thompson Clinton, at St. Luke’s Healing Ministry, 927‑5367.