In order to fully grasp the concepts behind Invisible Blackness, this episode breaks down the etiology of institutionalized racism. Race is a fallacy; nevertheless, the concept of race has been used to codify the dehumanization of Black Americans for 400 years. Even though predetermined prejudice existed before the transatlantic slave trade, America engineered a unique enigma, designed to dehumanize Blacks as expendable chattel. This optic has been engrained in the American psyche with a myriad of practices that still exist to this day. In 1619, the first recorded delivery of “20 & odd Negroes” came as servants, better defined as enslaved Africans. At the time, racism was essentially non-existent in America. Soon thereafter, avaricious desires catalyzed a movement to establish racism as a means of exploitation and control over non-white Americans.  

Ironically, America enlisted Blacks to fight under a Declaration of Independence against British oppression. While our government declared that “All men are created equally,” the enslaving Framers never sought to apply such protections to Black America. How did the slave codes establish the institution of racism? Why does the concept of “Double Oppression,” plague Black women today? Eugenically speaking, were Blacks ever considered humans in America? Is Drapetomania a relevant concept of today? How did the American Revolution galvanize the Black consciousness of young America?  Stay tuned for deliberation on this week's episode of "Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge."

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