OEMA:
What attracted you personally to the field of psychology and what motivated you to continue training?
Dr. White: I took the required freshman psychology class and saw how Pavlov worked that dog. I said, “This is the way to teach people and condition them.” They say the Black male is dumb and oversexed. Pretty soon that becomes a fact if you have heard it since you were 3. If you see a Black man you immediately start acting nervous. In that class I realized this is how they work a game on people — social conditioning. You teach society who is good and who is bad and that way you don't have to say it anymore. Two weeks later in class they talked about the subconscious and defense mechanisms and I said to myself, "Yeah…they pour that stuff into children when they are young and it becomes part of their subconscious". They don't have to ask who is superior in America, they already know that. Then, they got defense mechanisms to prevent them from seeing another person's reality. So I could tell them you are misusing Black folks…but they couldn't see it. So, I said, "This is for me…I am going with this.” I almost left psychology though. After I got my PhD I was 28 years old, married, and I had done 2 years in the military. I had all my tickets punched and I still couldn't rent a house. I said, "This is really crazy! I've done all these things these W hite people have asked me to do and now I have got to go through a lawsuit". I said, "To hell with establishment". But then somebody told me: "Look, if you don't like what is going on then you can either leave or you could work to change it.” So we decided hey, if there is going to be a Black psychology then we have to develop it. You can't go to your oppressor for affirmation…that is a contradiction in terms. So we decided to do it ourselves. Then the Asians followed, the Chicanos, and I said, "To hell with establishment". even W hite women got their But then somebody told me. "Look, if o w n th e o rie s . E v e ryo n e you don't like what is going on then you jumped on the band wagon! I can either leave or you could work to mean we aren't at the promise change it.” So we decided hey, if there land but we are a lot further is going to be a Black psychology then than we were 50 years ago we have to develop it. when I left graduate school.
-V-