Dr. Wade Nobles: Psychology: An Instrument of Warfare and Resistance | 2015

Prior to the announce of the Ferguson grand jury verdict—one that was to decide if police officer Darren Wilson would stand trial for the murder of Michael Brown—the Governor of Missouri, Mr. Jeremiah Nixon, issued executive order 14-14 declaring a state of emergency for Missouri in anticipation of civil unrest as a result of the grand jury’s verdict. This announcement was made on November 17, 2014, seven days prior to the actual announcement of the grand jury decision. The anticipation of civil unrest from the African-American (A-A) community by the predominately White governmental body leads one to suspect that a psychological analysis was conducted by the State on A-As and it was determined that given a negative verdict for officer Wilson, A-As would more than likely riot; thus, the national guard would be needed to quell the ‘insurrection’.  Using this current event as a pretext, we ask the questions: What is psychology? Have and are African-Americans being studied psychologically by the dominant society? If so, for what purpose? If such an analysis has been done, to what extent has their findings been used to the detriment of African-American people? Have Euro-Americans used psychology to wage war on A-A people? If the field of psychology can be used as an instrument of warfare, can it be used as a tool for resistance and liberation? If so, how? These questions and more will be addressed by our esteemed panel of psychologists: Dr. Wade Nobles (The Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family Life & Culture, Inc.) and Ádìsá Ájámú (The Atunwa Collective). This is a conversation not to be missed. Hosted by Asar Imhotep (The Madu-Ndela Institute for the Advancement of Science and Culture).