If perhaps you are unaware, Black/African people (of whom I am among) are in a 21st-century struggle of intellectual and institutional warfare that is being waged on mental and ideological battlegrounds of what I define as The Sovereign Psyche, which I deem to be the most prized commodity of this century.
What is The Sovereign Psyche and why is it so highly valued? Well to begin, in 1943 British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, delivered a coded but telling wartime speech as Germany was expanding its territorial conquests during World War II. Although the British and other European nations were imperialists themselves who had colonized countries worldwide in grotesque forms, the Allied Powers determined that a line had to be drawn since Germany was similarly inflicting upon fellow Europeans what they had been doing all along throughout Africa.
Hence, Churchill proclaimed that “The empires of the future are the Empires of the Mind.” In other words, instead of butchering Africans and others through colonial subjugation, Europeans would dominate the world via superior sovereign intellect backed by superior sovereign systems and sovereign institutions. As this work demonstrates, the outcomes of this warfare have produced varying degrees of “chattel freedom” for Black/African people worldwide.
A central premise of this work therefore is that, “there is no such thing as intellectual or institutional equality between Black and White America.” A primary cause and contributor to all racial disproportions and injustices is that Black America lacks the equivalent strength of institutions and appropriate end-use of our intellect, of which the solution as I argue, hinges upon applications of The Sovereign Psyche.
The “psyche” in general is a part of the mind where thoughts are calibrated into a “motive force” that causes people to correspondingly act. In short, The Sovereign Psyche comprises the intellect and willpower that materializes what I define as the “3 Dimensions of Sovereignty,” which are: Self-Authentic Freedom, Government, and Development. In order for systems and institutions to function with the highest efficiency, these 3 Dimensions must operate in singular and synchronized fashion, since failures or disruptions in one will render shortfalls in the others. Thus, the degree of development of people/nations is largely proportional to the level of sovereign intellect and sovereign willpower that impels them to act to advance their interests and solve their problems.
Among its multiple meanings that include self-government (which is the highest expression of sovereignty), sovereignty is an intangible substance that becomes visible through products and symbols which people must self-create. In this sense, sovereignty foremost is an energizing MINDSET, CONSCIOUSNESS, and THOUGHT PROCESS by which people define and express freedom through the unique particularities of their political and ideological self-identities.
So aside from establishing a nation or state, sovereign principles can be applied by individuals, families, groups, and communities who cooperate as cohesive units, with the understanding and aim of making their self-interests primary. This is a central message of this work because a key to redressing the manmade inequities of Black/African people, lies in activating the sovereign consciousness in our minds in order to implement sovereign practices in our daily lives. In this sense, sovereignty relates to realizing our inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as African people in America.
“Chattel Freedom” as I apply this term, entails being tied to systems and institutions that not only fail to amply protect and advance our interests, but the interests of others are advanced at our expense. To combat chattel freedom, this work promotes “self-authentic freedom,” or freedom that is genuine; freedom that is not copied or superimposed; freedom that is not formulated with hypocrisy or administered by proxy. Self-authentic freedom is a derivative of The Sovereign Psyche which ensures that the ideals, institutions, and systems which govern a people are designed to promote and protect their self-interests.
Based on conventional political thought, the concept and consciousness of sovereignty should be rejected outright by Africans in America. After all, freedom has presumably already been prepackaged for us through Jeffersonian Democracy which is self-acclaimed by Euro-Americans to be more judicious and moralistic than any other political system in the world. However, this work performs sovereign analyses and interpretations of history which uncover the unprincipled nature and practices of Jeffersonian Democracy as being the core and cause of racism, past and present. By being “unprincipled” I am asserting that Jeffersonian Democracy is deliberately designed and practiced in ways that are insufficient to redress the most crucial of Black needs and issues.
This book is fast moving and concise, meaning that topics are not prolonged and critiques are not exhaustive. Subjects and realizations are rather broached to introduce ideals and redefine concepts that should be explored and applied. In this sense the contents serve as a handbook of sovereign principles, standards, and doctrines that are intended to expand the discourse and boundaries of what 21st-century freedom for Black/African people should entail.
Finally, regardless of your political or ideological leanings, the world today rotates upon various axes of sovereign power. And although this work specifically relates to Black/African people, the sovereign functions, frameworks, and principles that I identify are universal. People worldwide apply the same sovereign criteria that I outline herein to define, design, and implement what they deem to be self-authentic freedom, government, and development. In this context, the concepts of this work are far more rational than radical, being that The Sovereign Psyche will undoubtedly continue to be the driving force of freedom and the most valued commodity of the 21st-century.
The critical question is, to what extent will Black/African people harness and apply its intellect and willpower to materialize our own systems and institutions of self-authentic freedom, government, and development? To this end, this work provides a foundational compass of sovereign standards and realizations to help direct Black/African people to form common ideals, common interests, and common institutions that must necessarily be mutually embraced and applied . . . without apology or permission, just as others around the globe.