Transcendence of the inferiority complex in Fear of a Black Planet Fanon states in Black Skin, White Masks that his account of the inferiority complex in Fear of a Black Planet The black man's experience speaks to the circumstances of his particular historical period, as he says: "It is by no means mine to prepare the world that will come after me” (Fanon XVII). At the same time, his analysis identifies white supremacist social structures that have been criticized by later black thinkers, in ways relevant to modern racial dynamics. On the surface, Public Enemy offers strikingly similar comments to Fanon's on the myth of white purity in their album Fear of a Black Planet, rhetorically asking, "What is pure?" Who is pure? / Is it European? I’m not sure” (Public Enemy, “Fear”). However, within the details of their words lies a challenge to Fanon's presumption that the black man's internal conflicts, as opposed to external oppression, are the "primordial" vehicle of racism that must be addressed. oppose (Fanon xii). Although Public Enemy calls for concrete action against the structures that subjugate Black people, in a forceful but Fanon-driven manner driven by the goal of unity, they identify the root of this subordination not in condescension, but in fear. This distinction has crucial consequences for their political goals, which extend to Fanon's goals. I argue that by downplaying the inferiority complex in favor of demands for black women's liberation, reparations for the past, and an end to racially motivated fear, Public Enemy brings a more interpersonal aspect to Fanon's vision of black experience, beyond its focus on self-perception. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay For an assessment of Public Enemy's contribution to the sociology of race beyond its competition with Fanon, its account of the psychological spread of racism is worth elaborating. Fanon's central assertion is that while economic justice constitutes an important part of black liberation, this emancipation can only become complete through the dissolution of the black man's inner sense of inferiority (xiv-xv). . Black economic obstacles appear in his work primarily as contributing to the inferiority complex, which he sees as the central problem (xiv). Furthermore, in Fanon's model, white society perpetuates this complex by imposing its cultural norms on black men in a way that treats them like children. This is evident in his discussion of condescending linguistic attitudes, in which he states, "A white man talking to a colored person behaves exactly like an adult would to a child" (14). It is this paternalistic treatment of black people that fuels oppression, because from the perspective of these white authorities, their right to demand obedience derives from their status as "benefactors" and anyone who refuses such obedience is an "ungrateful "", a "'disappointment'" like a spoiled child (18). With rare exceptions, such as the fear of black rapists, the white colonial vision of the black man is, according to Fanon, not as threatening but so inferior that he is “denied the slightest recognition” (87, 95). . To the extent that this colonizer tells black men that they are "brute beasts", his implication, based on the fact that he considers them dangerous only in the preventative sense of ensuring that intellectual black men are "watched" , is that ofsuch beasts can be easily tamed, without violent repression (18, 78). While Public Enemy also fiercely critiques the relegation of black people to inferior status, their critique responds to a late 20th century racial dynamic that manifests white superiority in the form of demonization, rather than infantilization, of blackness . Early in the record, singer Chuck D notes, "They say the brothers cause trouble/They hate to beat the shit out of them.bubble/'Cause we're rumbling from our lower level," meaning the derision of the brothers' rebellion black men as a violent threat is misguided, because they seek to escape their subordination (Public Enemy, “Brothers”). In particular, through lyrics such as "I'm not the one running / But they put me on the run / Treat me like I got a gun", Chuck D addresses the irrationality of fear of oppressors towards black people, whose lack of authority makes them less worthy of fear than white people who “run” society (“Fear”). Furthermore, Public Enemy finds the fear they have instilled in the eyes of the white media particularly absurd, because the only weapons they advocate using against their oppressors are words, as indicated in the phrase: "When I get angry, I blame him.” a pad” (“Welcome”). This frustration with labeling black men as dangerous is a response to the perpetuated racist abuse of police authority, which concerns Public Enemy as African Americans in a way that is not matched by Dewlap. For example, discussing the murder of a black man, the lyrics "It was the fuzz that shot him / And not the blood or the cuzz" condemn the shifting of responsibility for this murder from the police to others black men, motivated by a stereotype that associates black men with aggression (“Anti”). This contrasts sharply with Fanon's observation that authority figures such as "doctors, policemen, and foremen" are particularly prone to infantilize black men, reflecting a shift in the attitude of white civilization that complicates any attempt to view contemporary race relations through the lens of Fanon. (Fanon 14). It is because Public Enemy suffers the repercussions of white society's fear of darkness, more than condescension, that they reject Fanon's emphasis on the liberation of "the black man from himself." , as well as his insistence on the need for a “psychoanalytic interpretation of the black problem” (xii-xiv). Through the lyrics of their record, Public Enemy reveals neither an experience of inadequacy under white civilization, nor a third-person analysis of this experience as seen in Fanon's work. Instead, in a song that Chuck D calls "a black correspondent's take on how we watched 1989," his experience is one of self-confidence in the midst of personal racial struggles: "Don't never question what I am, God knows” (“Interview”; Public Enemy, “Welcome”). Although Fanon's model might present these words, as well as the statement that Public Enemy is "internationally known on the microphone", as instances of overcompensation masking an inferiority complex, it is nonetheless plausible that their reliance in itself is authentic (“Power”; Fanon 189). If Fanon's intention in his psychological analysis is to help white and black readers understand the consequences of black men's lack of recognition by the other, Public Enemy addresses a contemporary racial dynamic in which black men are certainly recognized, but as a hostile force (Fanon 191). Chuck D sums up this progression: “In the old days, theydidn't care what I said / Now they listen and they want my head” (Public Enemy, “Anti”). In other words, the recognition granted by white authorities to black men is incomplete, to the extent that these authorities do not see their entire “human reality” and therefore treat them in an inhuman manner (Fanon 192). At the same time, the black man in Public Enemy's narrative is not erased and therefore does not suffer psychologically from a total lack of recognition, but more often from direct violence. This recognition by black men during the Public Enemy era is likely their motivation. for criticizing the erasure of black women, to a degree lacking in Fanon's work. Declaring, "Forget me, just free my sister," Chuck D acknowledges that while the struggles of black men are important, he would prefer that the relentless focus on Public Enemy be redirected toward the black women whose oppression " never made the headlines.” (Public Enemy, "Revolutionary"). Their awareness of misogyny within the African-American community is particularly clear in the spoken excerpt: "Why is it [sic] that every time you, my brothers , get up there, you leave us, our sisters, in the cold? (“Pollywanacraka”). This intersectionality of Public Enemy's approach meets the standards that Fanon set for himself by asserting that "it is utopian to try to differentiate one type of inhuman behavior from another", even if it limits his quest for psychological liberation to black men in particular (Fanon 67). ). Furthermore, Public Enemy's focus on sexism reflects a broader implication of its transcendence of the inferiority complex: when internalized racism is no longer the most pressing concern, as it obviously is for Public Enemy in its historical context, an oppressed class is empowered to resolve its interpersonal conflicts. This is why Chuck D. remarks that America "made us attack our black womanhood," by rejecting the process by which patriarchy turns black men against women, thereby hindering the unity needed to dismantle institutional racism (Public Enemy, “Revolutionary”). In addition to the consideration of gender, from Public Enemy's rejection of the inferiority complex emerges an increased recognition of the past in relation to Fanon. On the one hand, Fanon distinguishes the "intellectual alienation" faced by black French people, on which his analysis focuses, from the direct experience of "exploitation, poverty and hunger" which motivates the resistance from other black individuals (Fanon 199). Therefore, the latter would sooner have reasons to directly combat external racist structures than to resolve self-hatred, and therefore Public Enemy's approach does not contradict Fanon's, but rather adapts his principles against forced assimilation to whiteness. Nonetheless, Public Enemy challenges Fanon's assumption that "the past can in no way be my guide to the present state of things" and that disalienation requires a rejection of the past (201). Although the reasons for this perspective are not explicit, excerpts from early in the record—including "The race that controls the past controls the living present, and therefore the future"—suggest that Public Enemy views equality as achievable only through efforts to correct the lingering material effects of past racial injustices (Public Enemy, “Contract”). Therefore, not only do they view economic justice as crucial in the broader sense that progression beyond the inferiority complex entails, but also specifically this weight attributed to the past informs their demand for reparations for slavery, as shown words such as "we are.