NEWS: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

CULTURE: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

Isaac Cortez Bynum beat his son to death on June 30th of last year. Randall Vogt, Cotez's lawyer, argued that the defendant was suffering from an unknown, untested, unpublished, and unaccepted condition called "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome". A Portland State University assistant professor at PSU's Graduate School of Social Work, Joy DeGruy-Leary, posited that African-Americans never healed from slavery and self-destructive behavior, predilection to violence, and aggression is the result. She was called to testify on Bynum's behalf.

The judge threw out DeGruy-Leary's explanation in a pre-trial hearing because no evidence of it exists in the DSM-IV, the diagnostic reference for clinical psychologists. DeGruy-Leary, it should also be noted, has her doctorate is in social work and her masters degree is in clinical psychology; she can counsel, but not diagnose.

Thing is, you could argue about the deleterious effects of racism and suggest that they're acceptable as a psychological problem, but the way he presents his argument - specifically about trauma passing on from parent to kid - makes it sound like he's saying his client has compounded misery. The logical conclusion of that is that he's built up more trauma than the original slaves, and that won't fly.

Okay, so maybe I'm leaning toward a straw man here. Even radicals, though, haven't been ready to forgive murder because of it. Richard Wright played out this defense for his character Bigger Thomas in Native Son, but even he realized that Bigger's murders were brutal and unforgivable. It wasn't so much a "forgive the brutality" argument as it was a warning that more brutality would follow if the social trauma of racism wasn't dealt with.

As a student of PSU, Im going to go out on a limb here and say that Joy DeGruy-Leary is a dumb whore.

The funniest incredibly offensive and ridiculous news to come out in a while.

For every person who does one horrible thing and blames their experience on it, there are TONS of other people who seem to go through similar experiences who never do anything remotely close to that.

What's the excuse of the Menedez Brothers killing their parents? The "pain" of being rich and priveldged? What about Leopold and Loeb? Was their excuse they were sophistcated, gay and bored and wanted to stimulate their brains.

And heck, how come Koreans, Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese and others who all come from painful backrounds come to the U.S. and end up having normal lives and raise families without harming anyone in the process?

I think in some circumstances you can blame past trauma, but at some point you have to draw a line. Blaming something that happened over 100 years ago for the brutal beating of your own son is just bullshit.

But then again, maybe he's onto something. If Maya Angelou ever goes nuts and kills people in a rage, I think we can only blame our ignorance for not seeing what a potentially blood thirsty killer she really is.

my family is german. Does that mean i'm allowed to beat up 90% of the people in my town, and get away with Post Nazi Disorder? ( yeah, i know they didnt get away with it, just sayin)

[Edited on Jun 01, 2004 12:15AM]

royaljack, I'm not particularly ready to defend this guy, but I think you're missing an important point. Immigrants from China, Russia, Vietnam, etc, didn't have their culture decimated by slavery.

Slavemasters deliberately kept slaves from different areas together to wipe out family structure and even destroy communication because they'd speak different languages.

It wasn't until the end of slavery that a black family could really exist in America, and even then, they had to deal with an oppressive system. Expecting someone to build a culture and values beyond the very basic stuff in 140 years doesn't allow for a culture to build up wealth, traditions, values, etc. For 100 of those years, how many of them had access to education? And how many to GOOD education? Hell, the South's economy still hasn't fully recovered from the Civil War. Expecting descendents of slaves to have reached total equality by their own bootstraps is even less likely. Sure, the bootstraps play a role. I'm going to paraphrase 'cause I don't remember the exact quote, but WEB DuBois said something to the effect that "the Negro must struggle, and struggle mightily to succeed, but he must have the help of those who have put him at a disadvantage in the first place."

Compare that to Chinese immigrants who often moved over with a preserved family structure, sense of tradition, language, etc. Having that in place eases acculturation.

Where's this tangent going? Fuck if I know. Basically just want to reiterate: don't downplay the effect of slavery.

Ok, anybody that wants to bitch, we send back.

Have fun in Gambia, watch out for the child soldiers-the mutilations can be bothersome though, or Sudan, people killing they're own tribe-folk.

Hey Inkdrinker, How are the decendants of slaves doing in Britian? They seem to be doing ok.

Perception is reality, if you believe in your reality, then your reality is true.

How come this one time asparagus picker isn't giving up hope after his unfortuanate incident? Keep the faith baby, and oh ya gotta work for something for anything to happen. You cant just sit around waiting for your 40 acres and a mule. Where is my piece of the pie sense the U.S. Gov destroyed my First Nation tribe? Huh I guess I gotta get off my ass and work smart and hard now.

Crazy world when you have to do something to get something.

Hey Inkdrinker, How are the decendants of slaves doing in Britian? They seem to be doing ok.

Honestly I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I was really wondering if you have any info on them. I haven't come across any data and you make good points.

But coming from an "oppressed" family tree myself, we had to move away form Cortez CO, to do any real thriving. We wanted to do better and were willing to make sacrifices.

I've got myself in a bind here, and now I have to learn a lesson and work back up to a better standing. But this incident has also given me the push to get my lifes abition going. I've received a few calls for airbrushing work. You just have to be able to find the opportunity in the catastrophy.

Thats real cute, I unfortuanatly am a distant relative of a Labor Chief.
(And the more distant the better)
Thats why I oppose racism. I will get to know a persons thought process before I hate them though. I'm an equil opportunity hater.

[Edited on Jun 01, 2004 by Muzencab]

Post Traumatic Slave Disorder sounds like something some dumb ass white guy thought up to explain why he's so afraid of someone with differant skin pigment.

Never mind the fact that the Nazis were the oppressors, not the oppressees. You're only allowed to beat up Romans, and only if they're in tunics.

I'm Jewish...so give me your money or i'll kill you.

...and it won't be my fault, it will be society's fault for hundreds of years of being the world's scapegoat.

I like the cut of your jib, son.

Your promoted!

I think the first Menendez Brothers trial was the high-water mark for the "abuse excuse" -- that is, the legal argument that abusive conditions led you to kill. Now it only seems to backfire on defendants who try it, as it did in this case.

(Finally got to use it, hehe)

Seriously, wasn't Lamarckian evolution tossed out the window about a century ago?

Edited to add: Wow, that's a nerdy comment. Betcha nobody knows what I'm talking about.

[Edited on Jun 01, 2004 by Hammersmith]

Nice emoticon.
I seem to remember Lamarckian evolution being discussed in one of my classes...something about how acquired traits are inheritable - which leads to the essence of that person's defense.
So there's at least one person who is as nerdy as you, Hammersmith.

Hmm, Jews have been oppressed and whatnot in some form or another for, oh, a few thousand years.... Can I use that as my excuse to whoop someone's ass? My Great (repeast a few hundred times) granddaddy got whipped by some Egyptian slave-driver... I feel the need for release and retribution...

I'm not buying it either... I think in this day and age people are just soooo happy to blame anyone or anything other than themselves for their own problems, they just can't take responsibility for their own actions...

Gimme a fuckin' break. Jesus Christ.

"I've never owned a slave, or was a slave, I didn't wander forty years In the desert after getting chased out of Egypt. I haven't burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks and neither have you! So, shut-the-Hell-up already." - Unknown

not a quote from me, but something i had read the other day.

oh and can i sue someone now for making me read that and get stupider? i got all emotionally distressed from reading such stupid crap on the internet. WHERES MY MONEY!?

[Edited on Jun 01, 2004 by BukkakeGod]

this sounds like the kind of crap that comes out of the mouths of white supremacists. Black people are unstable and violent so we should round them all up and put them in camps.

You think an awful lot of yourself, don't you? That, or awfully little of the rest of us.

And 68stretch brings up an important point - this argument, if legally recognized would basically set a precedent to look at African Americans as ticking time bombs. I'm sure a lot of cops would love a legal precedent.

As to descendents of slaves in Britain, I haven't the slightest. But you also gotta remember that slavery in Britain ended in 1800, and as far as I know, any systemic segregation, racism, or disenfranchisment didn't come anywhere near matching the lynch mobs of the South that continued to happen regularly well into the 20th century.

So what you're saying is that different people handle different shit in different ways? That's pure genius.

Well, if a particular psychology can be considered an acquired trait (even if it's acquired from infancy) then isn't it logical that a family could pass that psychology on to future generations? I'm not saying that the process is necessary or intentional, but it does go to the roots of the very idea of "culture" and it's being dismissed far too simplisticly in this discussion.

It's kind of like when they tried to get Richard Speck off because he had an extra Y-chromosome. The thinking was that the extra Y made men more aggressive, as there were a lot of XYY men in prisons. The problem is that the vast majority of men who are XYY live completely normal lives and are no more prone to violence than the average man.