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Brainwashed:
Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
by Tom Burrell
Smiley Books
Paperback, $15.95
310 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-4019-2592-5
Book Review by Kam Williams
“These pages examine the roots of why, more than 140
years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many of us still think
like slaves... In Brainwashed, we will question why we
still think so little of ourselves, why our grandmothers still put their
savings in a special offering plate to help pay for the pastor’s new
luxury automobile, why our children answer when called ‘ho’ and ‘nigga’…
and why we, all too often, avoid critical thinking about any of this…
Even at this unprecedented and powerful point in American history,
friends, colleagues, and well-wishers still express their frustration
with Black America’s ever-worsening dependency on handouts, corporate
sponsorships, and our kids’ lack of respect for anything and anyone,
especially themselves. They finally convinced me that my
advertising-based discoveries about the brainwashing of my people, and
my ideas about how to finally reverse its effects, could fill a book.
Well, here it is.”
-- Excerpted from the Introduction (pg. xvi)
Ever since the dawn of the nation when the Founding Fathers
deliberately rationalized slavery by spreading the big lie that Black
people were inferior, African Americans have suffered from serious
self-esteem issues. But why has this phenomenon continued to persist so
long past emancipation and the elimination of the Jim Crow system of
segregation?
This is the nagging thought which inspired Tom Burrell to
write Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority.
After all, as an advertising executive with 45 years in the business, he
is well aware of the power of propaganda. So he knows that American
society has done such a good job on the minds of Blacks that they have
not only internalized but have willingly participated in the
perpetuation and further dissemination of nearly every negative
stereotype propagated about them by the media.
Blending the best elements of “Four Arguments for the
Elimination of Television” by Jerry Mander and “The
Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome” by Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary
with some rather novel ideas of his own, the author raises ten tough,
but critical questions, each addressing a problem area presently
plaguing the African-American psyche. “Why can’t we build strong
families?” “Why do we perpetuate Black sexual stereotypes?” “Why are
‘Black’ and ‘beauty’ still contradictions?” “Why do we keep killing each
other?” “Why are we killing ourselves?” “Why can’t we stop shopping?”
Etcetera…
Devoting an entire chapter to each of the above inquiries, Burell
explores his subject-matter at considerable length and depth with the
hope of helping to eradicate self-destructive behaviors. He believes
that people have to heal from the inside-out, so his solutions start
with each individual’s recognition that you’ve been brainwashed, and
that you can reprogram your mind because it is ultimately under your
control.
A potentially-transformative, seminal treatise provided readers are
receptive to contemplating commonly-accepted practices like the use of
the N-word, corporal punishment and hair relaxers as possibly the
vestiges of a deep-seated self-hatred implanted in the brain by white
supremacist notions.
To order a copy of Brainwashed, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401925928?ie=UTF8&tag=thslfofire-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1401925928
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