The Willie Lynch Letter and the Destruction of Black Unity

by Willie Lynch, DE SANUSI

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave is a case study on the subjugation of human beings which discribes the rationale and the results of the Anglo Saxon's oppression and enslavement of the African.

24 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Christopher]

This passed through my hands, and it was so short and of a subject matter that interests me that I decided to read it. It purports to contain a speech made by a Willie Lynch, but the speech was so on the nose that I did a cursory google investigation and found it is a hoax. It seems to have first appeared in the 1970s and only gained some notoriety in the '90s, probably after Louis Farrakhan used it at the Million Man March in '95.

That said, the writings contained in this short essay surrounding the "speech" are clearly heartfelt, and they do contain kernels of truth. But there's no reason to perpetuate a hoax when there is so much other overwhelming evidence of racial injustice in U.S. history. It also sadly pooh-poohs the work of Black academics and intellectuals, saying they uselessly study the causes of racial inequity without doing anything about it -- directly ignoring the entire purpose of their work, which is to call out the injustices, investigate and describe their roots, and make way for something to be done about it. Not to mention the many who do real, direct, and tangible work to help the African-American community.

So given that the speech is a fiction, and given that the anonymous writer further reveals their ignorance through their writing, I think this can be placed on the "utterly useless" shelf.

[Melody Art]

Considering that this is a dark subject, I was still happy to read it. To know the tactics that where used on my ansestors to oppress and control us is an amazing this. I have leard from this book that knowledge really is power.
According to this book on page 21,
"you take a slave, if you teach him all about your language , he will know all your secrets, and he is then no more a slave, for you cant fool him any longer and having a fool is one of the basic ingredients of and incidents to the making of the slavery system" . This quote was meant to destroy black people by educating the whites on how to have better slave control but as I read it , I feel empowered to know that they didnt want us to know anything and here I am learning it all and reading about it which is another thing that they didnt want us to know how to do. They considered an educated negro "a death to our economic system" .
Over all , I find that the book that was used to control us mentally and break us "like breaking in a wild horse " has actually strengthen me personally while at the same time helping me to better understand the current mental state of our black people based off of these very same teachings that I believe some black people still subconsciously hold onto.

[Tya]

I know this was a hoax, but also, holy crap.