Minister Louis Farrakan of the Nation Of Islam in a speech delivered at the Million Man March in 1995 made a reference to a letter supposedly written by a man by the name of Willie Lynch who was alledged to have been a white plantation owner in the West Indies. Legend has it that he was summoned to the state of Virginia in the year 1712 to give a speech to slave owners on how to control their slaves. Lynch gave a list of things which if implemented by the slave owners would render the slaves powerless to break the yoke that held them in servitude to their white masters. These measures, according to the legend had been tested by Lynch himself and were considered fool-proof. Prominent on that list were things like creating a system of house slaves and field slaves and accentuating the differences between them that would incite jealousy and hatred between the two. The overall strategy it seems was to divide and conquer. Louis Farrakahn used a quote from this speech of Willie Lynch to put forth the assertion that the self-loathing and self-defeatish tendencies which is sometimes observed among blacks in this country were due to sucessful implementation of the Willie Lynch strategy. Farrakahn's speech was carried live on C-Span into millions of households around the world. Since that time the Willie Lynch speech has been the subject of countless discussions and emails circulating on the internet. Several Black leaders have made reference to the so-called "Willie Lynch Syndrome" in explaining and sometimes excusing blacks chronic lack of progress towards extricating themselves from the clutches of poverty, crime, low academic achievment and high incidents of illegitimate births and other deadly social ills. Well, come to find out the whole Willie Lynch story is nothing but a hoax. So says, Professor Manu Ampim Of Oakland Ca. (profmanu@acninc.net) and serveral others who have done extensive research into the matter including William Jelani Cobb of Spelman College. Professor Ampim's work can be found at:
www.manuampim.com/lynch_hoax1.html. Read it for your self and draw your own conclusions.
Black Voices on AOL carried a blog by Madison J. Gray that sought to debunk the myth of Willie Lynch. Dozens of people posted comments in reaction to the blog. after reading a dozen of so of the comments I submitted my thoughts which can be read at:
http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/04/21/willie-lynch-black-urban-legends/6#c11806625
As I said in the post to the blog, it is really depressing and frighteneing to see how hostile some black people are to new information that challenges their assumptions about the cause of black poverty and low achievment. Some people fight to hold on to the Willie Lynch myth like a crack addict to a crack pipe. Their whole world seems to revolve around belief that their plight has to be caused by a diabolical plot that the white man has been flawlessly carrying out for some three hundred years.
My take on the whole issue of a so-called Willie Lynch Syndrome is this. I believe that there is a plot to destroy black people and keep them in sevitude to poverty and perverted lifestyles and self-destructive and self-defeating behavior. I believe the person behind the plot is the same person who is behind the plot to do the same thing to white people and brown people and yellow people and red people. It is not some Willie Lynch syndrome it is a Wiley Lucifer Syndrome.
The devil is a master strategist. The scriptures tell us that he has wiles and that he uses devices. These are words that refer to his strategies and methods. We are warned that we must be vigilant and sober because our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The devil is a murderer and a liar and he comes to steal, kill and destroy. He works against us through three avenues: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. He is also known to use the weapons of oppression and intimidation. He is a most formidable foe. He understands human weakness. His early work is a demonstration of how effective his strategies are. He sowed seeds of discord and doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve to get them to distrust their creator and to disobey his instructions so that they would forfeit his protection and provisions. He appealed to Eve's desire to be wise (pride of life) and her craving for the forbidden fruit (lust of the flesh) to entice her to sin. He got her to act in a selfish and presumptuous way and in a way that disrespected Adam as the husband and head of the house. Eve usurped authority, took the lead and made a devastating decision that plunged her family and the whole creation into chaos and confusion. It was clear that Satan had accomplished his goal when God called Adam to account and Adam blamed the whole thing on Eve. As a matter of fact he tried to implicate God In his failure when he said, "the woman that you gave me she gave me of the fruit and I did eat.” it’s not my fault. It’s your fault and that woman’s fault. Adam refused to take responsibility for his actions. Eve blamed the serpent refusing to take responsibility for her actions as well. Of course they both shared responsibility and God did not let them off the hook. God revealed to them both the results and the consequences of their sins. Behind every lie is Lucifer. Behind every plot to murder, maim and manipulate for evil purposes is a wily devil whose mission is to steal, kill and destroy. But he cannot do anything without our cooperation and consent. As was in the case of Adam and Eve so it is with us today. There are predictable consequences that flow out of our choices. The bulk of what ails black people today has nothing to do with Willie Lynch but it has everything to do with a wily Lucifer, the devil. Don't waste your time blaming and hating white people or any people for that matter. Examine yourself and look at the choices you are making. If you choose to drop out of school you have got to accept that your decision to do so carries with it consequences of diminished opportunity for gainful employment. It increases your chances of being involved in criminal activities and drug use. If you choose to have sex outside of marriage and lead a promiscuous lifestyle that decision carries with it the possible consequences of STD's, unwanted pregnancy, lost educational opportunities and opens you up to poverty and a whole host of other negative outcomes. The scriptures tell us that we don't have to succumb to Satan's plan to destroy us because we are not ignorant of his devices. If that is true concerning Satan's devices why is it not true concerning this so-called Willie Lynch strategy? We are not ignorant of his plan. We are not helpless, powerless slaves. We don’t have to eat of the fruit just because it is offered to us. We have our freedom to choose what we will do. We can choose to be vigilant and sober and we can choose to love and not hate. We can choose to live clean moral lives. In conclusion we can choose to obey God and live or we can choose to obey Lucifer and die.
