Psychic Trauma is suffered by a great amount of cultures in America but is mostly suffered by the African-American culture, regardless of sex, occupation, or religion there are very few blacks that manages to escape the trauma. Especially, if everyday of your life you’re either reminded where you stand as a race in America or the trauma is reinforce continually in a strong matter.
If the first art(referring to Ogun’s first actor passage) practiced in an entertainment environment was in fact tragic art, is it possible that almost every form of black art has a tragically cry-out or reflects some type of rebellious route. For example: Public Enemy’s, Fight the Power, Michael Jackson’s Heal the world, Jay-z’s Hard Knock Life? These are all examples of Hip-Hop music that speaks out for the black culture. A piece that stands out to me the most would have to be rapper Shyne Po’s: Dear America Introduction on his first album, where he displays a perfect example of Psychic Trauma.
Dear America,
I'm only what you made me, young, black, and fuckin' crazy
Please save me
I'm dying' inside, can't you see it in my eyes?
I'm hopeless, and fearless on the outside, gun on my side
Shit, Maybe if yall niggas build schools instead of prison,
maybe I'll stop livin' the way I'm living', probably not.
I'm so used to serving' rocks and burning' blocks, I ain't never gonna stop.
Been doin' this shit all my life, I'm a lost cause,
And what about the rest? Don't them suckers deserve a chance? Something'
better then shoot-outs, liquor stores and food stamps? Maybe if y'all teach
them niggas a craft an' a trade, they wouldn't have to play that corner, know what I mean?
Servin' that yay America, you got a fuckin' problem, an I ain't never goin' away
There's about 20 million other mutha fuckers just like me,
preparations is through, y'all gonna pay
Shyne Po speaks out in his lyrics telling America basically, that the reason for a lot of down faults in the black culture is simply, because America isn’t focusing hard enough on black people. According to Sultan A. Latif, author of a book entitled Slavery’s Psychic Trauma, entertainment and art is the only way to expressed what has been held in for years. “To take a group of people and kidnapped them, forced them to take on a another culture means that you have completely erased their identity,” states Latif.
Shyne is not only expressing the trauma that he has endured while being a black man in America but he’s showing what W.E.B. Dubois, calls double-consciousness which is the sense of being African and American at the same time , “ two-ideas in one dark body”, but the question is whether or not it’s possible?
Music is the best way for African- Americans to expressed their Physic Trauma according to artist Augustus Wilson , Blood memory is considered music for African American people, which means that music and entertainment is their way of passing down oral tradition. However, with another group oral tradition might be considered using language. This was not possible for Africans who were enslaved because many were separated from their original tribes and thrown on a ship with different ones, and communication wasn’t tolerated. Which means that language , was erased.
The Post-Colonial Passage states, “ To speak , another language meant to take on another world .” When Africans were brought to America and years later , blacks were considered to be “ more human if they could mastered the French language .” This relates back to Paul Laurence’s “ We Wear the Mask” statement, because once blacks mastered the language the closer they got to being considered no longer a negro but an actual human being.
Is it possible , that perhaps in today’s black entertainment world most artist have being wearing the mask , so long that they’ve actually forgotten their roots. Paul Laurence states that black people wear the mask to survive in society. Are we traumatized, to the point that we’re actually scared to step outside of the society’s line because we believe our lives will be challenged?
The statement “ The past is the ancestors’, the present belongs to the living , and the future to the unborn.” Indicates that right now in time , our generations should always receive something handed down from those before us, and throughout history that something has always involved something connected to art. However, the present continues to take in mostly Music and music lately has been under a great amount of attack. If we want to past down something to our generation that would better them today, the question is what would it be?
If the answer is music, I disagree because the simple fact is that if artists such as Jay-z, Ja-Rule, Kanye West, and Shyne Po are dealing with Psychic Trauma and double consciences than that reflects in their work. Which means not only do they not know whether or not being African and American at the same time is possible but our generation to come has to deal with the fact that there’s no answer .
In order for us to learn who we are today, we have to go back into yesterday, in other words referring back to rappers such as Shyne Po , it is almost impossible for leaders as such, to lead the present generations and the future because one must come in terms with their self-perceptions and get in touch with your African heritage, otherwise it is impossible for a culture to stay strong in build back up if the leaders continues to display their trauma . Right now, music is a big thing to the black culture and allows us to freely express ourselves, but let’s make it sure it is not what’s killing our culture.
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