The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors

The Isis Papers
ofeach hwnan being. From this self-image and self-concept, all patterns
of behavior evolve. Likewise, from the entire constellation of behavior
in the individual, the determination of mental health or mental illness is
made.
As a practicing general and child psychiatrist, my defmition of mental
health is as follows: patterns of logic, thought, speech, action and emotional
response, in all areas of people activity, that simultaneously reflect
self-· and group-respect and respect for harmony in the universe. The
critical question that arises now is, "What does the 'concept and color of
God' have to do with Black 'self- and group-respect and respect for
harmony in the universe'?"
The oppression of Black and other non-white people means that there
is no non-white self-determination. It also means, most fundamentally,
that there can be no true and junctional Black self-respect. More specifically,
this means that the existing levels of non-white functional selfrespect,
as manifested in all areas of people activity, are extremely low.
These low levels of functional self-respect imply that the self-image and
self-concept are more negative than positive. Likewise, the impact of
non-white individual and collective behavior in and on the total environment
is more negative than positive.
To have a negative impact on the total environment is a manifestation
of behavioral powerlessness. To have a negative impact on the total
environment is a manifestation of the self-image and self-concept as
powerless. To have a negative impact on the total environment is a
manifestation of having been shaped and molded by the total environment
into a functional inferior through the process of i!iferiorization. (See
Chapter 20.) The process of oppression is to mold the victims of oppression
into functional inferiors. (See Diagrams I and II.)
Child's Brain­
Computer
Child's Brain­
Computer
Total En
Vli'Onment:
·
economics educati'
enteraainm t, labo • on
sex, war en r, law, politics, religio~.
.
r----.. Self.~
=-~ Behavior
Diagram #I
"-'Uncept (neganve or positive)
Im~e and concept of God as the
hig. uest ~d ultimate foeus
of worship, devotion and obedi ence.
r----.. SeJf-~
=~e ---•Behavior
;concept (negative or poaitive}
Diagram #U
164