Carter G. Woodson wrote in his book The Mis-Education of the Negro that “if you can control a man’s thinking you don’t have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
The underlying theme of the hit movie “Get Out” is about a mind control process that conditions Black people to accept a marginalized status and continually choose to go into the back doors of life. This mentality of consistently accepting a second class placement permeates many colleges, universities, and other educational institutions.
The broader context of the movie is the interaction between the Black male main character, Chris, and the White family of the young lady (Rose) that he was dating. Unbeknownst to Chris, he had been selected to enter a system of mental programming that was designed to detach him from the community and consciousness that he came from.
The movie featured a pivotal scene where Chris was hypnotized by the mother of Rose. Upon being hypnotized, he fell into a place that was described as “the Sunken Place.” Jordan Peele, the film’s director, recently tweeted that “The Sunken Place means we’re marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us.” This description is particularly relevant to certain college and university personnel.
Many educational institutions have Sunken Place-like settings that cause some Black employees to operate in an atmosphere of fear and weakness. They do this by incentivizing and rewarding those who comport themselves as docile and non-threatening. This is what causes highly placed Blacks in universities and school systems to frequently remain silent about rampant inequality and ineptness.
The hypnotism that Chris underwent is replicated in higher education every day. People are hypnotized by a position or a title. They are hypnotized by being accepted as a “good Negro” in the dominant society. They are hypnotized by a fear of being punished for upsetting the status quo.
Though these individuals may be benefitting themselves, they are essentially a disgrace to the broader community. They have bought into an incomplete notion of “success” based on an inadequate system-generated measuring stick that prizes private gain over systemic change.
