Willie Lynch, Black women and Stockholm Syndrome

By Nojma Muhammad | Last updated: Sep 16, 2013 - 6:19:50 PM

Stockholm Syndrome, or capture-bonding, is defined as “a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.

These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.”

Stockholm Syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes “strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.”

Sound familiar? We were brought here, held hostage, and yet so many of us have fallen in love with our kidnapper (oppressor). I want to discuss how Stockholm Syndrome has affected us as Black Women. The following are excerpts from the “Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave:

THE BREAKING PROCESS OF THE AFRICAN WOMAN

“Take the female and run a series of tests on her to see if she will submit to your desires willingly. Test her in every way, because she is the most important factor for good economics. If she shows any sign of resistance in submitting completely to your will, do not hesitate to use the bullwhip on her to extract that last bit of [b----] out of her. Take care not to kill her, for in doing so, you spoil good economics.

When in complete submission, she will train her offspring in the early years to submit to labor when they become of age. Understanding is the best thing. Therefore, we shall go deeper into this area of the subject matter concerning what we have produced here in this breaking process of the female n----r.

We have reversed the relationship; in her natural uncivilized state, she would have a strong dependency on the uncivilized n----r male, and she would have a limited protective tendency toward her independent male offspring and would raise male offspring to be dependent like her. Nature had provided for this type of balance. We reversed nature by burning and pulling a civilized n-----r apart and bullwhipping the other to the point of death, all in her presence.

By her being left alone, unprotected, with the MALE IMAGE DESTROYED, the ordeal caused her to move from her psychologically dependent state to a frozen, independent state. In this frozen, psychological state of independence, she will raise her MALE and female offspring in reversed roles. For FEAR of the young male’s life, she will psychologically train him to be MENTALLY WEAK and DEPENDENT, but PHYSICALLY STRONG. Because she has become psychologically independent, she will train her FEMALE offspring to be psychologically independent. What have you got? You’ve got the n----r WOMAN OUT FRONT AND THE n----r MAN BEHIND AND SCARED.

This is a perfect situation of sound sleep and economics. Before the breaking process, we had to be alertly on guard at all times. Now, we can sleep soundly, for out of frozen fear his woman stands guard for us.”

Let’s look at a few definitions: “make” means, to bring into existence; to produce; cause to exist or happen; bring about.

So Black Women what was/is our role in making a slave (a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person)? Why were/are we the MOST important in the making of a slave? What is it about the woman that would ensure the making of slaves and future slaves? The answer: our wombs, both mental and physical. The most effective way to control or manipulate a nation is through its woman. Why? Because it is through the woman that generations are produced. Our wombs were, have become and will continue to be the most effective and efficient way to produce slaves.

To all my sisters that have an “illusion of independence” who say you don’t “need” a man? Guess what? You go to bed with a man every night.

You rise with him in the morning. He whispers in your ear telling you to separate from your counterpart, but draws you nearer to him. Your words and thoughts are not your own, but his. Your womb becomes his fertile ground; through you he is able to perfectly execute his agenda. The same woman, who says she will never share a man, has become a member of his harem. The same man that convinced you to hate yourself has made you fall in love with him. You’ve been Willie Lynched and don’t even know it! So now we have become his wife, his lover, his mistress, his baby mama and his jump off. We have fallen so in love with our slave master that we have pledged allegiance to him. Every time we open our mouths, everything we say is right out of his playbook.

For years this man fed her. For years this man MIS-EDUCATED her. For years this man provided shelter for her. For years this man has provided everything that she needed. In return, she has given him her loyalty, she has given him children, she has remained faithful to him and she has been under his control. This is what the Black Man is up against when he attempts to reclaim his woman. You think that a Black Man taking back the woman that was taught to hate him and has given birth to generations of daughters that hate him is an easy task? Even when he tries often our love for the oppressor supersedes his effort.

Many may say that I have no valid argument because this letter is a farce. One of my favorite movies is “The Usual Suspects” and my favorite quote is “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Now what is more productive? Arguing the existence of this man/letter or accepting the REALITY and MINDSET of what was written? Slavery did exist, correct? We were separated from our families, correct? We still suffer from color complexes, correct? The Black Male was broken, down correct? The Black Female proudly boasts of her “independence,” correct? While some of us are focusing on if a person is real or not, our community is REALLY suffering. You want proof? Go look.

Some sisters say brothers use slavery as an impediment towards progress. To that I say Willie Lynch is surely proud of you. Until we acknowledge that OUR wombs helped shape his condition, we can’t help him OUT of his condition. You birth a slave, yet expect a God. A slave only knows how to serve his master, and we serve our slave masters well when our wombs become Willie Lynch’s personal production factory.

It has been proven that a bitter and tainted womb will indeed produce a corrupted Nation. This is manifested in our “independent daughters” and “weakened and coddled sons.” The Black Woman and Black Man will never be reunited as long as we continue this sordid affair with our oppressor.

We have been standing guard for hundreds of years for those directly responsible for destroying our families. The slave master will never relieve us of our post, because our being on guard has proven very beneficial for him. Sisters, if you are the most important in the making of a slave, then you are the most important person in making a people free.

Free your mind and your womb will follow.

(Read more from Nojma Muhammad at https://www.facebook.com/NojmaReflects.)

The Final Call