Need For A Double Psychology

NEED FOR A
DOUBLE PSYCHOLOGY

Last week I discussed the fact that many blacks are afflicted
with a “Double Consciousness”. At times I even find myself
“being led astray by this social disease, which I stated to be a
direct outgrowth of our slave mentality. When I say slave
imentality, I don’t mean it in the derogatory sense. What I am
saying, is that, a people’s past history can, and in most cases
“does, reflect their present state of mind.
What does this mean to a black person today? It means very
simply, that unless we look at and accept the reality, of our
*past mental conditioning we will not be ready when the time
comes to contend with the present or the future.
So then, out of this understanding of what “Double
Consciousness’ means we must develop what we call a
*’Double Psychology,” that will counteract the negative into a
totally positive state of mind.
What is double psychology? Double psychology can simply
mean, “Know what it is that White America wants you to do,
and then, do not do it:” or “don’t always do the expected, do
the unexpected;” or to put it bluntly, “Put a smile on your
face and get yourself together!”

The concept is a very abstract one and each individual must the
develop the technique that fits his personality best.
An example of this double psychology would be something
I used to do in school. My English teacher in college would
always give me low grades when I wrote about things that
pertained to black people. The first thing I noticed was the
fact that he wasn’t grading me on my grammar or English
usage but merely on the contents alone, in which, he
emphatically disagreed. By knowing why he disagreed
(prejudiced) enabled me to treat his sickness realistically. First
of all, white people need a self-justification for everything they
do toward black people. Secondly, when he gave me a lower
grade than I deserved he knew that he was wrong, thus, in the
process of grading he justified the low grade in his own mind
by doing this he could tell me why I got a low grade, without
really getting at the truth of his prejudice against black people.
He expected me to react and question the low grade, but I
didn’t! What I did later baffled him, because it was too much to
believe that a “nigger could think in a rational manner. I
decided the best way to beat him was to play his game. I
worked hard to improve my English and restricted myself to
subjects I knew he would enjoy. Then after a considerable

amount of A and B grades I decided to write about anything
and everything Black, and dared him to give me a low grade.
Therefore by taking the long but sure way around I cooled his
heels and improved my writing at the same time.
Don’t expect, however, to find this double psychology in a
white psychology book, because it’s not there. You see, White
psychology is a very simple psychology, in that, it only relates
to the experiences of a ruling class of people, and not to the
people the ruling class wishes to keep down. Sure, you can
learn all about Freud, Cooley, Watson, and all those other
so-called psychologists, but, what good is it when the man calls
you a “nigger”? We have been depending on White America’s
psychology too long; I say its time we develop our own.
The psychology a group of people must use comes directly
from the cultural experience of that group. Therefore, White
psychology cannot relate to Black people any more than Black
psychology can relate or be totally understood by White
people.
The master and slave psychology must be sophisticated to
meet the needs of today. But you say, “we are free now, we
don’t need it!” What’s this, you mean we don’t have to use the
Black psychology of smiling and grinding glass in the masters
food anymore, because we are, what did you say “free”? Oh
yeah, Abraham Lincoln did say we were free, did he not? Sure,
we are free! Free to go to his schools and become
miseducated, free to lose our motivation as a direct result of

White orientated education, free to have taxation without

representation, free to get killed in Viet Nam or if you live not
get a job when you come home, free to be sectioned off in the
ghetto, free to vote in the south and lose your job at the same
time, free to try andmake the beautiful words of Thomas
Jefferson, free to see Black college students both male and
female shot down for no reason while having a peaceful
non-violent rally in Mississippi – justifiable homicide I think
they called it, free to be systematically eliminated from
Pasadena via the Pepper Project, destruction of low income
housing, and the upward climb of rent for Black people.
Yeah, we are free all-right, free to be in bondage, and free to
be white America’s chumps. I suggest we wake up, clean up,
and get a strong hold of that “psychology” that we negligently
discarded, and take it a step further into a “double
Psychology”. White American has always viewed blacks as
external reactionaries, and never as a group with internal
power. Wouldn’t it be nice for a change to figure out what we
want to do, and not to always do what White America expects
from the “poor old niggers”.
Double-psychology is the only way to wake-up ourselves,
white America, and the world.