Customer Reviews

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

First and foremost, I would have to agree with those that have classified this the "Willie Lynch Letter" a work of fiction and an urban legend, however that isn't, or at least shouldn't, be the point. I agree that those that teach the event described in the book as an historical fact, do all people including African-americans, a dis-service. However to concentrate on whether or not the event described is true without looking at whether the larger events are true, "throws out the baby with the bath water".

The facts are that the methods described in the book of how to produce enduring slaves, were certainly used, Blacks were in-fact divided based on everything from gender to skin color. They were systematically brutalized. The psychological effects of the brutality of chattel slavery are still affecting the descendents of slaves today.

It would be better if those that rate this book poorly based on its historical accuracy instead rated it based on the theoretical model it provides, rather that concentrating on the fact that no one named Willie Lynch ever gave the speech described in the book, they should look to what it can teach us about the pathology of slavery and how to heal it.

Those of us who know, should make sure we dispel the illusion that this book is based on historical fact, however we should not lose sight of the fact that the methods of producing slaves described in this book are true regardless of who did or did not present them.

It's really sad that so many African-Americans not only beleive this "urban legend" (to put it in decent language), but that so many seem not to care that it is not really true. Anyone who does not care about the truth is in big trouble. For the record, the "Willie Lynch" letter was actually a recent creation, as evidenced by the language used. It was actually created in 1993 as a chain letter which spread like a bad disease throughout Black America. Research indicates that it was "loosely adapted" (to put it nicely) from a section of Anatoli Vinogradov's fictional 1935 novel "The Black Consul" that dealt with Napoleon's supposed plans to divide and conquer the Haitians during the Haitian revolution.

We Black scholars and professional historians should take this as a wake up call to get out of the ivory tower and teach the masses REAL Black history to keep them from being misled by the clever crackpots who collect cash by confusing the credulous. The REAL story of the damage done to Blacks from slavery may be found in actual slave narratives like "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," and detailed studies by legit scholars such as Carter G. Woodson's "Miseducation of the Negro" and Kenneth Stampp's "The Peculiar Institution."

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave by Kashif Malik Hassan-El is an in your face expose of the way it was and the way that we continue to let it be. Wake up people, you were brainwashed three hundred years ago and it has not ended. The plan was so expertly executed that this indoctrination has become well ingrained in our society. We are doing it to ourselves every time we refer to someone as a "redbone" or talk about "good hair". Lets give it a break, people. Lets begin to see beyond the physical attributes that we have been taught to think is beautiful or ugly. Let us remove certain derogatory terms from our vocabulary. We need to think of each other as precious commodities that can not be wasted, spoiled or abused.

In response to one of the reviewers and anyone else truly interested in "the making of a slave" and how Black people have been affected by slavery, I suggest the book "Bullwhip Days". The authors interviewed actual former slaves as part of a government project in the 1930's. This book will show you that the identity of Black people in America WAS created and managed by the White slave masters; and will help to answer questions of why Black people today continue to have a most difficult time reaching their potential.

it does not matter if willie lynch existed or not. maybe the speech in the book was written by a black man or woman who is trying to wake you up and there is nothing wrong with that. slavery isnt by way of one man like a willie lynch. see it took millions of willie lynches to hold blacks back from achieving. this book is trying to psychicly convert the minds of blacks who dont know self or history. even if the speech was not real and just made up you can not deny that all those events did happen. if you dont believe any of those events that happened in the willie lynch letter, all you have to do is read slave narratives and they will tell you in their own words about how they were treated. in your constitution it must have been a willie lynch type of white man who called indians and blacks 3/5ths of a human being. willie lynch does not just pertain to a one man just like "JIM CROW" doesnt either. willie lynch is a synonym to jim crow and thats all it is. thats what this book is saying. so whether or not willie lynch lived or wrote this letter or speech is irrelevant and dont matter. what matters is the people who put this little book together is showing you a system of racism that existed before the jim crow era which i will call the willie lynch era. the willie lych era just changed into the jim crow era thats all. an era before slavery ended and another after slavery ended in "1865".... but it really felt like 1965...... thank you for reading and i hope you got something from this.

As a college professor in African American Studies, every year I get at least one eager, hard working student (or one ignorant cool-kid) who tries to write a paper or give a presentation about the Willie Lynch Letter. Outraged by the letter, this work is characteristically filled with righteous indignation at the history of slavery and racism. All that feeling for the suffering of the past is strong and necessary. But the bigger problem is that this document is not authentic, its a fake that popped up on the internet sometime in the not too distant past.

If this document were authentic, its historical provenance would be well known, its archival sources recognized, its creator and publisher thoroughly documented. But its not. Its anachronistic language and its shallow argument suggesting that slavery is merely about racial oppression rather than the capitalist production of cotton and sugar all testify to its recent authorship. If this document were real, where has it been for the last 200 years? In what archive is the original "letter" stored? If it were so prominent, historians would have spent the last four generations studying its implications, researching its author, and mapping its influence. But no, this letter simply appeared on line one day, and now sad to say, it continues to circulate, catching its share of the gullible and easily fooled.

My students inevitably have to rewrite their paper on another topic(or take an "F") and usually leave my office rather embarrassed for being so ignorant of history and so gullible when it comes to the realities of slavery. So please, please, spare yourself (and your teachers) the agony of having to explain to you how historians do their work, where historical research is done, and why this letter is a fake.

The history of slavery is bad enough without us having to invent false narratives of racial oppression.

I read this little book a while ago back when I was about 18-19 yrs old. It was very powerful and thought-provoking that such a plan could be conceived and carried out. But then again, Willie Lynch was not the first white person of tha time to come up with a plan to enslave blacks, both physically and mentally. Up until that point, I thought that if I just got my degree, got a job, and stayed out of trouble, everything would be ok (being a good NEGRO). Of course now I am more conscious about African studies. I was a bit troubled when before writing this review a couple of reviews that stated. I looked also at a wikipedia article that also mentioned that the actual letter itself may have been an internet hoax. I immediately went back to the pamphlet, which I still have, to see for myself. Now I did notice that the pamphlet is broken into about 5 main parts: 1) Introduction by Mr. Hassan-EL. (with references) 2) William Lynch letter (no reference) 3) Commentary on on Let's Make a Slave 4) Food for Thought from the Internet 5) Short attribute to Africans in America sailors Now I was disappointed that the author didn't reference the letter itself other than to mention that the letter was "Editor's repeat: This speech was delivered by a white slave owner, William Lynch, on the banks of James River in 1712." The argument is whether or not this letter/speech actually took place. The author doesn't cite where he found the letter or got the information of the letter. I did try to contact Lushena Books, and I was unsuccessful in reaching them for comment. In other words, I couldn't verify from the source that the letter/speech part of the pamplet was true or fiction. So I gave the review 4 stars. And it the letter was in fact a forgery, then it deserves even less stars. I do agree that it is important to make sure that when we bring facts to the table that they are actual facts (either based on experience or documented facts). So maybe there was no person named Willie Lynch or it was a pen name. Maybe the speech didn't take place in 1712. But what was described in the letter was certainly real. Pitting the 'house negro' against the 'field negro'. One good example of this was rewarding 'good slaves' for turning in runaways or revolters with either lighter work, monetary cashout, or even freed status. What I will do is attempt to gather actual names of people (besides the common names Christopher Columbus, Sir John Hawkins, George Washington, etc.) who conspired to enslave, murder, rape, etc Africans and Native Americans for their own financial or political gain from the before the 1800s. (Well I guess that would be a lot of people, eh?) Specifically those with a written or spoken plan against the Natives and Africans in America. Then I will revise this review :)

The basis of the letter may help any one that feels no sense of self, or history. The real truth behind the meaning of the letter is there for everyone to read and insert themselves, but the understanding of the words therein are the search of the real truth. The real power is not a race or color, but a total disregard for any one that is inferior to the greed of the individual in power. Remember "POWER CORUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORUPTS ABSOLUTLY". Anyone of any color can be put in the position of power by seeking that power out. The letter if taken literally, will only help to continue the process described, but in reverse. The real truth behind the letter is that all in power can only remain in power if they keep ALL individuals under them separated, and distrusting and envying each other. All races, creeds, colors, religions, and of any sex are at the mercy of power. Any people that separate themselves from another to raise themselves above another are practicing the Willie Lynch so called theory and perpetuating the process. The only thing that will ever work, is that all people must stop looking at their neighbor as their enemy, in the dark we are all the same. The true light of knowledge should not change that. Greed and power goes against the teachings of any prophet, but have been successful for thousands of years, the Willie Lynch letter is not new and is just another attempt to continue the process from another angle, per say through the back door. This Willie Lynch theory which can be called by any name that represents evil, is how all of mankind has been kept at each others throat. Ironically, while working for the powers that they fear. A point of proof that this self perpetuating fire is roaring out of control. It is more evident today that there is no respect for young or old or sex or race or even life itself. Even power itself is losing control of the flames, ironically by fanning the flame itself. The overtaking of one power by another doesn't correct the problem, it only changes the one in the seat. Sadly the end of all things will come before the understanding of truth.

Its not just that this "letter" never existed. After all, even a fake letter could have a heuristic purpose as a fictional device to spark discussion. It is damaging to African Americans today first of all because it presents a particularly misogenistic vision of the African American "problem" (Blacks are controlled by reversing male/female roles and putting women in front--so one supposes Blacks should "rebel" by putting Black women back in their place). Secondly, it recreates the fallacy of white omniscience. Every Black problem is traced back to an omniscient white man who lived 300 years ago and planned the perfect way of suppressing Blacks. Whites are all-powerful, Blacks are simply their tools. The letters seem to derive their "authenticity" by the fact that they seem to reflect a number of themes in the field of race relations, such as divide and conquor, but most of this is then assumed to have been "known" by this omniscient white man 300 years before the fact.

The history of slavery is much more complex than this so-called "letter" implies, and it was much more ethically nuanced. It was precisely the fact that slaveowners did NOT know what they were doing that led them to fear and loath their slaves, and this tendency increased after the end of slavery proper as African Americans were "freed", but still needed to be subjected to forced labor.

Read this book if you want a good laugh, but don't waste your time getting angry about this "letter": get angry at what really happened over 300 years of American history.

Although this book is fictional it is a good source of information to glean a bit of perspective of what the slaves, my ancestors, may have faced in America. For a person to purposely think in a manner explained in this book is chilling and absolutely evil.