Book Review: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

BIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY

DeGruy, Joy, Ph. D., Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Joy DeGruy Publications, Inc., Portland, OR, 2005, 216 pp.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AUTHOR

Dr. Joy DeGruy is an internationally renowned lecturer and consultant on matters of race, culture, and education. She is the author of relationship-based models for both education and management, and has developed the African American Male Youth Respect Scale. Dr. DeGruy teaches at Portland State University.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

In her book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, Dr. Joy DeGruy gives us an “American legacy of enduring Injury and healing. She seeks to help the descendants of African slaves and the enslavers an accurate account of the African people in Africa before they become slaves. Instead of ignoring or trying to forget the history of the African people in slavery, she gives us an account of both the reasons for slavery and the psychological and social consequences of how these events still contribute to the knowledge and attitudes of the descendants of the enslaved and the enslavers in America today. The truth must be known before both black folk and white folk can be healed from the disease that slavery causes to all the people involved.

Usually, I write reviews of books that are obviously religious in their content. Although this work is not grounded in religious beliefs and teaching, I am writing this review because I believe that the church is better equipped to serve its members when the leaders understand better the attitudes and motivations that drive the aspirations and dreams of the members.

Prologue: Dr. DeGruy relates that children in Africa and white children in America respond differently from African American children to the same events. She watches how African American children and their parents respond differently from white children and their parents to the same events. White mothers praised their children and at the same time black mothers see their children in a negative way when both children are doing the same thing. African Americans restrict their children when in the same situation the white parent gives the child freedom and praise.

Chapter 1: “I Don’t Even Notice Race.” Many white Americans deny the racial tensions in America by saying and convincing themselves that the poison of racism continues to exist in America. It is a denial that people believe in the superiority of one race above another. White Americans view diversity in terms of food and festival experiences. White people love Black culture, but White Americans do not love Black people.

Chapter 2: “Whole to Three-Fifths: Dehumanization.” White America trivializes or justifies America’s crime of slavery by pointing out that slavery has existed throughout the world for centuries. First, they fail to distinguish slavery as a result of war versus chattel slavery in America in which people are dehumanized and treated as property instead of human beings. America justified its treatment of slaves by defining them as something less than full human beings.

Chapter 3: “Crimes Against Humanity.” Dr. DeGruy discovers that in one prison 85% of the inmates are African American. Dr. DeGruy discusses the imbalance of how Americans are taught in schools about the atrocities against humanity in other countries, but little to nothing is ever mentioned about the crimes that America has committed. “A delegation from the United states walked out of the United nations World Conference Against Racism in August 2001, a conference that declared America’s chattel slavery as a ‘crime against humanity, only served to highlight America’s refusal to acknowledge this period of her past.”

Chapter 4: “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.” The first three chapters highlighted the ways in which the cruelties of slavery were carried out in the United States. The author turns her attention on the effects on slaves and their descendants that still exist until this day. Dr. DeGruy uses “The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, Revised,” that describes features of disorders, report the conditions which may give rise to them and lists each disorder’s symptoms. She cites a list of conditions which give rise to mental and/or emotional traumas that justify the diagnosis of PTSS. Dr. DeGruy discusses how the effects of Trauma are passed down through generations, and they are reflected in many of our behaviors and our beliefs; once necessary for survival and today serve to undermine our ability to be successful.

Chapter 5: “Slavery’s Children.” In chapter 5 Dr. DeGruy begins to show us the effects of slavery upon the children of slaves. She learns from her father that he had endured humiliation and shame for the sake of his daughter. Today, there are too few fathers to protect and provide for their children. The media contributes to stereotypes of Black people that lends to “vacant esteem” among Black people today. Black people feel disrespect. They fight back by trying to instill fear in white people. “The exploration of our past’s influence on our present forms the basis for PTSS work and research.”

Chapter 6: “Healing.” Dr. DeGruy visits Africa and connects with her people. Dr. DeGruy sees African American in terms of prodigal children stripped from their land in Africa, “divested of our language, culture and customs, bought and sold like livestock, raped and bred to perpetuate more victims, crushed beneath more than two centuries of government sanctioned tyranny.” We do not know ourselves; we believe that we are who others say that we are; in particular negative characteristics such as stupid, criminal, unmotivated, lazy, underachieving, immoral, and undisciplined. We must begin the process of healing from past injuries by building self-esteem, Taking control of our inner world, and racial socialization, “a process whereby we come to know our strengths and understand the world in which we live, and position ourselves to thrive.”

Epilogue: Dr. DeGruy Tells of Thomas Jefferson’s struggles with his guilt and fear with regards to slavery. His testimony speaks to the conscious and willful understanding of the “consequences of slavery that bequeathed generations of physical and psychological suffering to America’s future black citizenry, while it doomed America’s white progeny to becoming the custodians of an invasive and pernicious racism.”

CRITICAL EVALUATION

As I stated at the beginning of this review, this work is not written in terms of religion, biblical interpretation, and theological reflection. I do find that this work is much needed if we are to understand the bible in terms of how it applies to Black people. Historically, the bible has been interpreted in ways that address the majority culture. Black churches and religious institutions have struggled to make sense of the bible stories because they have not addressed the unique effects of America’s norms on the unrecognized and unappreciated psychological and sociological ways of thinking and living in a society that does not take into account who Black people are and how they became to be the way they are.

America sees that Black people are different. Black people are seen as abnormal and unable to comply with what white America believes to be normal. The racial tensions in America will continue to exist until there is a recognizing that Black Americans are normal and healthy considering the way that they have been treated, socialized, believed to be. Thus, even churches and religious institutions must begin to teach both Black and white people about the effects that slavery continues to have on its Black population.

This is a well-written book. Dr. DeGruy calls for African Americans to see themselves differently from the way that white America sees them. I believe that Black churches must begin to pull out those bible stories that show the value and worth of minorities. There are stories in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that demonstrates God’s love for all people. Minority groups are accepted by God without the requirements of their becoming like the majority culture. Those that would educate Black people will become more effective when they have better knowledge of our strengths and abilities and how we can contribute to the betterment of all of God’s people.

Dr. DeGruy shows us the genesis of the problems that African Americans face in chapters 1-4. In chapter 5 Dr. DeGruy shows us how these systems of oppression continue to affect Black people today. These systems of oppression and the laws that support them creates a society in which Black people and white people see things differently because they are treated differently. In chapter 6 DeGruy gives suggestions on ways that African Americans can utilize their own strengths and gifts to do as the white man says that we ought to do. We can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We have the power. We need only to release the power that God gives us.