Biko’s Black Conscious Thought Is Useful for Extirpating the Fear of Whites Deposited in Black Masculinity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing a line from Black men dehumanized by racism to radical political love, I open up about my experience of racism-induced fear of White people. The fear of Whites is tied to having grown up in a racist society. This fear of Whites is read as a fear of Black death due to racism, a fear of bodily death as much as social nonexistence. The article is used to work out how we might extirpate the fear of White people deposited by racism inside of Black people, with a focus on Black men. It draws from the work of Steve Biko, a leader in the Black Consciousness Movement that flourished in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. Regarding Biko as an eminent psychopolitical activist, who followed in the tradition of politically conscious psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, it is contended that Black Conscious thought enables individuals to stamp out racism-induced fear.