I have been told the first step in getting over a problem is admitting that one has a problem. I made it to the first step because I can admit I am angry. No, heck no, I take that back; I am mad. I know people don’t get mad, only animals get mad. Even my grandmother still tells me, “Only dogs get mad honey.” My response: “Well, I have always wanted to be an Omega, so bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay.” I am mad at social injustice, mental and physical incivility and violence — and I don’t consider getting mad at those issues a problem.
The onset of my madness is spurred by seeing or experiencing injustice. I don’t look for things to force me into madness — I have ample chances to stumble upon it daily. I know I am not alone. This time, it was spurred by reading Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In that letter, King questions why people who are victims of violence and injustice are called extremists when they react to something that is extremely unjust. King makes a clarion call for extremism. He says the question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists we will be. After reading the letter, I know more people should not only become creative extremists, but that the root of extremism is anger and madness and we all need to become angrier. No, not angry, but mad. Still, one must control the madness in order to affect change. I have been able to get my madness under control through prescriptive therapy — critical race therapy (CRT).
Through years of therapy, I have found that it is normal and human to upset the status quo when it is wrought with injustice and incivility. It is normal and human to be angry — no, mad — because physical, mental and social pain are all caustic. They can debilitate one’s soul and spirit. There are other important complexities to this madness. For instance, you must realize you will more than likely never recoup from it. Instead, this madness has its ebbs and flows — but it is always there. When you are completely relieved from it, it might imply that you have become complicit in social incivility, and, even more disconcerting, that you may find that you have assimilated into a complex system of oppression — a caustic and pathetic side reaction. There is a cure, however — take action. Don’t sit back on the comfortable couch of complacency and relax in the safe suburbs of the economic benefits of assimilation.
Critical Race Therapy
