I am told that confession is good for the soul; so I confess: My personal philosophy contains strong Revenge and Anger tenets.
For much of my life, I was guided by the adage that revenge did more harm to revenge-seekers than it did to the wrong-doers. And while the advice is right about the harm typical, misguided “revenge-seekers” do to themselves and their families, that conclusion was driven primarily from a singular definition of revenge.
The Avenging aspect of my philosophy presses me to accept my divine responsibility to seek vindication for the harm inflicted on our people all these centuries — to gain retribution, justice, and equality – correctly defined and meaningful.
This poem says it for me:
Vengeance is just;
Justly we rid the earth of human fiends
Who carry hell for repetition in their souls.
But in HIGH VENGEANCE there is noble scorn:
It tortures not the torturer, nor gives
Iniquitous payment for iniquity.
The great AVENGING ANGEL does not crawl
To kill the SERPENT with a mimic fang;
He stands erect, with sword of keenest edge
That slays like lightning!
(George Eliot)
The Vengeance and Anger aspect of my philosophy developed when I came to understand that my people’s natural human drive to “live in truth,” had been thwarted, and we were prevented from acquiring the spiritual power for self-determination, which distinguishes human beings from mere brutes.
If properly educated, human beings become the most divine and most civilized of all creatures; but if we are insufficiently or ill- educated, we become the most savage of earthly creatures. (Plato) Just as with all other ethnic groups, African Americans have an unlimited and indeterminate faculty for improvement. However, African American culture evolved in a Corrupted Moral Environment that has lasted nearly 400 years, when we consider slavery and its aftermath.
As if the inhuman conditions of slavery were not enough, in southern states after the Civil War, Black Codes (the LAW) were enacted which made it illegal for Black people to learn to read and write. The purpose of these laws was to preserve slavery through ignorance and illiteracy. The Supreme Court of the United States upheld those racist state laws, invalidated federal efforts to counteract them, and with Plessy v. Ferguson, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation and introduced the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Anger is in my philosophy. But sometimes people’s anger and need for personal vengeance become so overpowering that they destroy their own lives and take their own families down with them. I was fueled by anger but I learned how to keep the emotion from misdirecting my ambition and responsibility.
Anyone who claims that he or she is a member of the African-American “tribe,” and is personally offended by a racist action directed at him or her, or at the whole African-American group, and decides to seek retribution cannot claim a moral stand if he or she proceeds simply for personal satisfaction. His or her revenge has to link directly with what is in the best interests of the entire group, both for the immediate time and for the future. Anything else would be selfish, self-serving, and ineffective. Furthermore, it would advance the causes of the enemies of the people.
Historically, some white Americans accepted the notion advanced by T. H. Huxley that even if all his disabilities were removed, and fairness prevailed with no oppression, the Black people would always be inferior to white people insofar as intellect was concerned. However, over the decades, racist American whites who knew that the cognitive-inferiority notion was false reacted strongly against change in education levels of the descendants of slaves because they understood the relationship between educational attainment and freedom. People who consider themselves to be truly “dominant” do not attack subordinated groups if people in such groups are willing to stay in their ascribed places. Real education disrupts ascribed and assumed places in society and challenges the whole notion of superiority.
I concluded early on that we AVENGE our ancestors and hurt enemies of the people the most when we achieve those things enemies want so desperately to prevent, those conditions which change the fortunes of the people fundamentally and forever, and that can be passed on to future generations. I first had to pursue personal excellence in all of my endeavors, and then turn my attention to the people.
The only honorable vengeance for all of us is to help our children prepare themselves so completely, excellently, and so spiritually that they will be free from self-victimization and the devastation that befalls all Americans who are under-educated and poor. More importantly, competent, well-educated Black Americans are less vulnerable to the harm targeted specifically at African Americans. The lives successful Black people live will assault the sensibilities of enemies, as well as stand as African-American’s Model of Redemption and Salvation for others to adopt.
