For Welsing, the worlds most pressing problem is the disturbing issue of white supremacy, or racism. I put the discussion of melanin on the board in order to [describe how pigmentation] was a factor in what white supremacy behavior was all about, Welsing noted in an interview with Michael Eric Dyson for Emerge. If I had my way, there wouldnt be all the discussion about melanin. I would say, Discuss white supremacy. Welsing laid the foundation for her ongoing discussion of white supremacy in her groundbreaking 1970 essay The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism. In it, she reasoned that because whiteness is a color deficiency and white people make up only a small percentage of the earths population, they tend to view people of color as a threat to their survival and therefore treat them with hostility. She stated that their defensive reaction has been to impose white supremacy, or racism, on people of color throughout history. Basing part of her argument on observations by Neeley Fuller in his 1969 Textbook for Victims of White Supremacy, Welsing focused on his view of racism as a universally operating system of white supremacy rule and domination in which the majority of the worlds white people participate. He suggested that economic forms of government such as capitalism and communism were created to perpetuate white domination and that the white race is really an organization dedicated to maintaining control over the world. In addition, he argued that people of color have never imposed colored supremacy on anyone. Using Fullers contention that most white people hate black people [because] whites are not black people, Welsing went on to suggest that any neurotic drive for superiority, in this case, the white drive, is based on a deep and pervading sense of inadequacy and inferiority. Welsing cited journals, diaries, and books written by whites as examples of their initial hostility and aggression towards people of color and particularly towards black people who have the greatest color potential and therefore are the most envied and the most feared in genetic color competition. She added: That whites desire to have colored skin can be seen by anyone at the very first signs of Spring or Summer when they begin to strip off their clothes, often permitting their skins to be burned severely in an attempt to add some color to their white, pale, colorless bodies, rendering themselves vulnerable to skin cancer in the process. Welsing asserted in The Cress Theory that many whites are unable to peacefully live among or attend school with people of color because it explodes the myth of white superiority and forces them to face their psychological discomfort and color inadequacy. She also stated that the difficulty whites have in according non-whites socio-political and economic equality stems ... from the fundamental sense of their own unequal situation in regards to their numerical inadequacy and color deficiency. To compensate for this inadequacy, Welsing judged, whites strive to maintain a superior social position and manipulate non-whites and themselves into thinking that they are a worldwide numerical majority instead of the minority. In support of this conclusion, she cited statistics indicating that birth control is rarely emphasized for whites, while a great emphasis is placed on controlling the birthrates of people of color. She concluded her Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation by arguing that people of color must gain a better understanding of the behavioral maneuverings of whites in order to avoid being manipulated into a subordinated position. In her view, people of color need to liberate themselves psychologically from various forms of white domination. She also suggested that whites need to understand the motivation behind their behavior and explore with an open mind the emotional and psychological foundations of racism. The issue of white supremacy is discussed in depth in Welsings 1990 book The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, a virtual fixture on the Blackboard African American Bestsellers List. In the book, the author uses Americas preoccupation with sports to illustrate what she perceives to be white supremacist behavior in action: The whole of white culture, she wrote in The Isis Papers, is designed to say that whites have [certain] qualities. Everything possible is done to demonstrate this. First, you have [only] white players, then blacks come in, but a white has to be the quarterback. Western culture has to project white supremacy. Welsing further contended that when blacks succeed athletically, whites are forced up against the psychological wall because white youngsters are brought up to believe a white has to be superior. Writings • The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy), 1970. • The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, Third World Press, 1990.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:32:37 +0000
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