SPEARMANGROUP

Inappropriate Behavior
Patterns (IBP)

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 Inappropriate Behavior Patterns 2

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Inappropriate Behavior Patterns (IBP) is a term coined by Dr. Claud Anderson. It

refers to actions that result in African Americans participating in their own
subordination or exploitation. IBP stems from Slavery Conditioning. Hold up. Let‟s
back up for a minute and explain Slavery Conditioning.

SLAVERY CONDITIONING

Slavery Conditioning is the process slave masters used to psychologically make a

better slave. Author Kenneth Stampp, in his book The Peculiar Institution,
describes the four pillars of conditioning a slave. Included were fear, loyalty,
inferiority, and hatred. When making a slave the first thing you do is to instill fear.
Second, you teach the slave to have loyalty only to his master. Thirdly, you teach
them to feel inferior by always showing Whites in a position of authority. Lastly,
you teach them to hate anything connected to Africa.

The methods used to socially condition Blacks were horrific and showed the vicious
nature of the enslavement process. One example, cited from the Cardinal Principles
for Making a Negro, the writer says:

“Take the meanest and most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of the
. . . [slaves], tar and feather him, tie each leg to a different horse faced in opposite
directions, set him afire and beat both horses to pull him apart in front of the
remaining nigger(s). The next step is to take a bull whip and beat the remaining
nigger to the point of death in front of the female and infant. Don‟t kill him but put
the fear of God in him, for he can be useful in future breeding.” (From Lets Make a
Slave, by Robert L. Brock)

Norman Coombs, in The Black Experience in America, p. 40 wrote:

The social conditioning process instilled strict discipline in Blacks, a sense of

inferiority, belief in the slave owners‟ superior power, acceptance of the slave
owners‟ standards and a deep sense of a slave helplessness and dependence. The
slave owners cut Blacks off from their history, culture, language and
community, and implanted White society’s value system.
C. Clark in a 1972 monumental article for Black Psychology entitled Black Studies or
the Study of Black People in R. Jones, states:

In order to fully grasp the magnitude of our current problems, we must reopen the
books on the events of slavery. Our objective should not be to cry stale tears for
the past, or to rekindle old hatreds for past injustices. Instead, we should seek to

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enlighten our path of today by better understanding where and how the lights were
turned out yesterday.

We should also understand that slavery should be viewed as a starting point for
understanding the African American psyche, and not as an end point. Therefore,
the study of the African American psyche should include psycho-history, but if
should not be exclusively concerned with events in the past.

In Survival Strategies for Africans in America, p.33, Anthony Browder says it best:

African Americans must never forget that our ancestors were compelled by the
letter of the law and the force of the whip, to accept the ideals and beliefs
imposed on them by their so-called masters. They were forbidden from expressing
their own thoughts and perceptions of the world and were forced to accept the
beliefs and behaviors deemed appropriate for them.

These steps were taken to ensure the continuation of slavery from one generation
to the next. Such social engineering manufactured culturally deficient clones,
generation after generation, over the last four centuries. Each successive
generation was infected from the time of inception with an ingrained cultural virus
that was designed to prevent them from reaching their fullest potential.

In Black Labor White Wealth, p.165, Dr. Claud Anderson points out:

The slave owner‟s absolute power over Blacks allowed them to operate an efficient
and effective slavery conditioning system. Slaveholders constructed internal
controls on slaves that minimized the external force needed to control them. The
government provided the environment of legal framework that allowed the
conditioning process to exist for 250 years . . .

The effects carried over into freed Black society and affected the general
behavior of Blacks as a race of people.

Jawanza Kunjufu, in the powerful book, Solutions for Black America, p.145 says:

Affluent Whites who are valued in America and who have experienced trauma are
given treatment immediately. When there have been in stressful events –
Columbine, Kentucky, Oregon – the government sent counselors immediately to
address the survivors‟ needs. The fundamental problem for African Americans is

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that when slavery ended in 1865, African Americans were not given counseling to
address post-traumatic slavery disorder.

Left untreated post-traumatic slavery disorder amounts to Slavery Conditioning.

The symptoms of Slavery Conditioning are what make up Inappropriate Behavior
Patterns.

IBP CONTINUED . . .

Now, let‟s get back to our discussion of IBP. IBP manifests when your mind is so
filled with thoughts of negativity and inferiority that you weaken your competitive
impulse. You justify the behavior of outsiders rather than help your own group
compete against outsiders.

For example, African Americans spend 95% of their annual disposable income with
businesses located outside of their community. Of the five percent that remains in
Black communities, another three percent is spent with non-Black owned businesses.
It‟s hard for Black communities to maintain a reasonable quality-of-life and be
economically competitive when only two percent of their annual disposable income
remains within the Black community.

You cannot give 98 percent of your income away and blame 100 percent of your
problems on someone else. It‟s no accident that the number of African Americans
that start new businesses is comparatively small, when most of them are aware that
because of self-hatred and lack of self-knowledge, only 2 percent of Black dollars
will come to their African American business. [4]

The mind is the conduit through which a person can access spiritual consciousness.
If the mind is blocked and filled with thoughts of negativity and inferiority, it is
incapable of tuning in spiritually empowering thoughts. A self-blocked mind is
programmed to engage in self-destructive behavior that is often injurious to the
body. To repeat a frequently used statement in the African American community,
„If you free your mind, your ass will follow”. [5]

We do not see ourselves as a group, we spend such a small percentage of our

approximately $700 billion with our 900,000 businesses. It has been said that we
would have to return to the Jim Crow era to increase that percentage. Is that
true? “Yet every billion dollars African Americans spend with Black businesses
produces 50,000 jobs”. [6]

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The failure of Black people to eliminate IBP, on a collective basis, has resulted
in actions that have plunged us into the depths of despair, self-hatred,
distrust, and economic dependence rather than economic independence.

EXAMPLES OF INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR PATTERNS

There are numerous examples of Inappropriate Behavior Patterns in the Black

community. After reading those below, you‟ll feel me and know what they are. The
following are just a few taken from Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery, by
Na‟im Akbar, pp. 9 – 25, Black Economics: Solutions for Economic and Community
Empowerment, by Jawanza Kunjufu, pp. 62 – 68, and Powernomics: The National Plan
to Empower Black America, by Dr. Claud Anderson, pp. 26 - 30:

Community Division

The most damaging inappropriate behavior faced by African Americans is

Community Division. The slave master fostered it among the slaves in order to stop
any efforts to unite. The slave makers knew that disunited communities would be
easy prey for continued control. All types of divisional devices prevented the
slaves from coming together.

The major separation was between the house and field workers. The house workers
saw themselves as privileged. They had less physical labor, wore better clothes,
ate better and took care of the personal needs of the master and his household.
Just to be physically closer to the master gave the house slave a sense of
superiority over his fellow field slaves.

The slave master used his house slaves as a buffer zone against the field slaves.
He encouraged them to feel superior, be loyal to his cause and take his side during
any disputes. Because of this social conditioning, the slave master gained some
slaves that assisted and identified with him completely. (Sound familiar?)

Community Division in the Black community persists today. Rather than house
versus field we have, establishment, grassroots, Christians, Muslims, Baptists,
Methodists, fraternities, sororities, schools, white collar, blue collar, republicans,
democrats, neighborhoods and hundreds of other devices for division. The origin of
all these divisions comes from the same source as it did 400 years ago – an outsider
who profits from the separation. [29]

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Black Americans just as we did 400 years ago, spend more time arguing and
justifying separate goals than we do working on common goals. The Slavery
Conditioning of slavery has psyched us out to feel our separate problems are more
important than our shared problems. [30]

Lack of Social Reinforcement

In Black families, we‟ve noticed that those siblings who are professionals are more
respected than those who are business owners.

Carter G. Woodson, in his classic work, The Mis-Education of the Negro, referred
to how schools encourage Black people to pursue careers working and managing
other people‟s enterprises rather than starting their own. Schools feel that it is
more prestigious to be an accountant for a Fortune 500 corporation than to own
your own grocery store or cleaners in the community.

There is a perception that Black businesses are marginal, require too much work for
too little income, and that it‟s more lucrative, less demanding and more financially
rewarding to work for someone else than to own your own business.

Even though the numbers are, increasing African Americans still have the smallest
number of businesses per thousand. The reason for this is probably because the
social environment does not encourage people to start businesses.

Many Black men and women who face a great deal of frustration due to not being
able to climb the corporate ladder start businesses. Many of our best Black minds,
with degrees in engineering, accounting, marketing and business administration are
using their skills and talents for corporate American while other members of our
community, who have not been trained, are starting “mom and pop” businesses which
reinforces the thinking that Black businesses are marginal.

Lack of Trust

Another inappropriate behavior of African Americans is Lack of Trust. It is very

difficult to accomplish anything significant by yourself. The same cooperative spirit
that Hispanics, Asians and other immigrants have in working together, studying
together, and living together, they replicate in their business efforts by pooling
their resources. It takes this level of trust if our businesses are going to be
successful.

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Prosperous business owners maintain trust with their customers, employees, and
investors. It becomes crucial that if we‟re going to be successful as business
owners we have to acknowledge that trust is as essential an ingredient as money and
business intelligence.

Misjudgment Of Business Viability

Many of us underestimate our business viability. What we perceive to be a marginal

operation, in many cases, is just the opposite when we total business receipts for
the day, week, month, or year.

We look down on grocery stores and cleaners and “marginal operations” because we
lack the vision of how, Ford, GM, Chrysler, IBM, Wal-Mart, and others started as
“marginal operations.”

We were not around when they met in the basements of their homes developing
strategies. We didn‟t observe the 12, 16, and 20 hour workdays seven days a week.
We were not there when payrolls were missed and financial sacrifices were made.
We were not there when they borrowed money from relatives because they had a
vision that years later they would have multi-million dollar operations. It has been
said that people without a vision will perish and unfortunately, that is happening in
the business sector of our community.

On the other hand, some Black people dream too much. Business requires more than
just dreams. They require hard work, sacrifice and planning. You never want to
destroy anyone‟s dreams, but in my mind, I have doubts if the dreamer has the
perseverance to turn the dream into reality. The idea is to encourage people and
seldom give discouraging remarks, however as the old saying goes; “nothing comes to
a dreamer but sleep”.

Another way that viability affects Black business is the desire to convince
themselves, their families, and their communities that their businesses are viable.
This is demonstrated by the purchase of expensive clothes, cars, and houses. Many
business owners fall prey to materialism and the desire to show the community how
“big time” they are. The assumption is I can‟t be “half ass” if I‟m driving a
Mercedes, BMW or Lexus. In reality, those kinds of purchases rob the business of
capital for future growth and development. The business becomes marginal from
the owner making expensive purchases.

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There are other alternatives to convince the Black community that a business is
viable and needs to be pursued. The Black business community is in need a major
public relations campaign to communicate their tremendous benefits.

Poor Service And Consumer Attitudes

Another inappropriate behavior is the poor service provided by some African

American businesses. George Subira says in, Blacks Folks Guide to Business
Success, pp.74-74, “Black people start businesses to be the boss and Whites start
them to make money”.

Many Black business owners assume that because they are Black, they should be
supported. Timothy Bates and many others have documented that businesses can‟t
assume race loyalty, they must provide quality service. African American businesses
can‟t open late, close early, treat customers rudely, talk on the phone while
servicing customers, and have an untidy store that is also under stocked.

What price do we place on loyalty to our race? Kunjufu says, people have told him
they would support Black stores as long as Black stores have prices that are lower
than non-Black stores, but if the price becomes equal or if the price becomes four
cents higher their loyalty begins to shift

Attitude Towards Work

A frequently seen inappropriate behavior passed to Blacks from Slavery

Conditioning is our Attitude Towards Work. Slavery was forced labor. It was daily
work, beginning in early childhood and continuing until death or total disability. To
the slave, work did not provide for his needs. Instead he worked, often under the
threats of abuse of death, to produce profits for the slave master. A good crop
did not improve his life or community; it improved only the life and community the
slave‟s master. [35]
Work, as any activity that bears no benefit to the doer, was hated. Seen as a form
of punishment and as any punishment, those who are punished despise it. Moreover,
work was identified with slavery. Even today, Ebonics refers to a job as a “slave”.
[8]

Enslavement meant work and freedom meant avoidance of work. Work was viewed
as the activity of the pride-less underdog. Today, one hundred and forty four
years removed from slavery, it is difficult for many Blacks to view the long – term

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reward of sustained work as being adequate to erase the stigma of the toil. Many
of us will not start a business because it is easier to work for someone else and get
a regular paycheck and the leisure of Emancipation-Friday evening through Monday
morning. [9]

Attitude Towards Material Things

Allowing the slave to own nothing or very little was Slavery Conditioning that
spawned a careless Attitude Towards Material Things. The slave master possessed
property and the finer material things such as, clothes, jewelry, fine house,
beautiful landscaping, etc. Consequently, the same way the field slave hated and
resented his master, he resented and envied the master‟s possessions. Those
possessions were associated with freedom and power to direct one‟s life, family and
economy.

Today, African Americans have mixed Inappropriate Behavior Patterns toward

materials things and property. On the one hand, there is resentment of property
and an unconscious delight in vandalism and abuse of property seen as belonging to
the “master”. This resentment finds expressions in the high rate of destruction
and defacement in public housing and rented properties.
On the other hand, Black Americans have an unnatural attraction to material things.
During slavery, wearing “Massah‟s” old hat or “Missis” old dress became a symbol of
pride and status. A slave could play at being Massah or Missis for a few moments.
Kenneth Stamp; (1956) vividly illustrates this idea:
“The elegantly dressed slaves, who promenaded the streets of Southern town and
cities on Sundays, the men in fine linens and bright waistcoat‟s, the women in full
petticoats and silk gowns, were usually the domestic servants of wealth planters or
townspeople. Butlers, coachmen, maids and valets had to uphold the prestige of
their White families.” [10]
Such experiences with property and material things have left a legacy that is
influential in our lives today. We waste large sums of money on items with no
appreciative value such as, luxurious cars, electronic gizmos, flashy clothes, and
expensive liquor. Because we wish to look like the slave master, we consistently
drain our budgets and fail to use our money to accumulate wealth.

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Being A Good Negro

This type of inappropriate behavior comes from old Southern racial etiquette. It
occurs when Blacks, especially from the South or Midwest, avoid situations that
make them appear free, independent and about determining their own destiny. [32]

A good Negro seeks White approval. They are perfectly happy to go to work or to
church, look at television and then go to bed. To them whatever happens to Blacks
in the community or anywhere else is not their concern. Good Negroes want to
appear happy content, compromising and non-competitive. Those who behave in this
manner will neither speak up nor speak out on Black issues, nor will they defend
against Black injustices. [33]

Conspiracy with the Competition

History has taught us that coalitions usually operate at the expense of the
grassroots Black majority. This type of inappropriate behavior occurs when Blacks
partner with other ethnic groups.

It‟s a problem because so many members of the Black establishment class use it.
Coalescing encourages Blacks to work with groups who already have articulated
goals, rather than organize goals of our own. Black participation gives credibility
and strength to sexual preferences, ethnic, class, gender, disabled, and Spanish
speaking groups, some of whom compete openly with us for wealth and power and
openly oppose Black gains. [32]
During Conspiracy with the Competition African Americans, lose by default due to
the inappropriate behavior of Black establishment leaders who seek cross-group
alliances, White approval, and corporate dollars at the expense of their own people.
In addition, if funds are available, the trickle-down theory takes effect and usually
leaves us with leftovers after sexual preference, gender, ethnic, religious, disabled
and Spanish speaking language groups receive what they want or need. [32]

Diversity

Another African American illusion is the promise of cultural diversity. Cultural

diversity leads to the inappropriate behavior of Conspiracy with the Competition.
It co-ops and weakens Black claims for national attention. In addition, it creates an
ethic that equates all ethnic group grievances with those of Blacks while it belittles
and neutralizes our efforts to resolve unique concerns.

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For other ethnic groups cultural diversity has its advantages. Main streets in every
city have their share of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek,
French, Ethiopian, and Thai restaurants. The cultures of these groups stay intact
if they choose to assimilate into mainstream culture. At the same time, they can
establish other businesses, communities and their own economies.

On the other hand, African Americans do not have the advantage of an identifiable
culture of our own. Instead, Black culture is represented by a fragmented array of
African heritage, “soul”, and Black history. This mish-mash of culture disintegrates
during assimilation into mainstream culture. If all things were equal, cultural
diversity could be advantageous to us, however it is not.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Anderson, Claud, Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America,
(Powernomics Corporation of America, Inc., 2001) 7
[3] Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice,
Anderson, Claud, Ed.D. (Duncan & Duncan, Inc. 1994) 165
[4] Ibid. 165
[5] Ibid. 165
[6] Akbar, Na‟im, Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery, (New Mind
Productions, 1984) 27
[7] Ibid. 29
[8] T Shaka, Oba. The Art of Leadership, (Pan Afrikan Publications, 1991) 287
[9] Anderson Claud. Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America,
(Powernomics Corporation of America, Inc., 2001) 29
[10] Stamp, Kenneth. The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante Bellum South,
(New York, Vintage Books, 1956) 289
[12] Clingman, James. Blackonomics: The Way to Psychological and Economic
Freedom for African Americans, (Milligan Books, Inc., 2001) 200
[13] Anderson, Claud. White Wealth, Black Labor: The Search for Power and
Economic Justice, (Duncan & Duncan, Inc. 1994) 35
[14] Akbar, Na‟im. Know Thy Self, (Mind Productions & Associates, 1998) 2
[16] Anderson, Claud. White Wealth, Black Labor: The Search for Power and
Economic Justice, (Duncan & Duncan, Inc., 1994) 52

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[18] “Economic Opportunity for Minorities Is True Freedom”, Denise Meredith, The
Business Journal-Phoenix, 2002
[19] “Rebuilding the Black Entrepreneurial Spirit”, James Clingman, The Final Call,
<http://www.finalcall.com/perspectives/entrepreneur04-30-2002.htm>
[20] “Current Issues in Minority Entrepreneurship”, Udayan Gupta, Peter Shatzkin,
Lorraine Leung, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 7 February 2001
[21] “The New Realities for Minority Business”, Minority Business Development
Agency (MBDA)
[22] “Minorities In Business, 2001”, U.S. Small Business Administration Office of
Advocacy, Table 23, Nominal Dollar Value of 7(a) Loans by Ethnicity
[24]From the Browder File, Browder, Anthony T., 1989 71
[25] Ibid. 71
[26] (Cosmic Biology The Science of Egyptian Medicine-Part II, Tariq Sawandi, M.H.
www.blackherbals.com/Egyptian_Medicine-Part_II.htm)
[28] Clark, C. Black Studies of the Study of Black People in R. Jones, Black
Psychology (1st ed.), New York Harper & Row, 1972 PP.7-8
[29] Akbar, Na‟im, Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery, (New Mind
Productions, 1984) 26 - 26
[30] Ibid. 26
[31] Ibid. 28 – 29
[32] “Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America”, Claud Anderson,
Ed.D. Powernomics Corporation of America, Inc., 2001 27
[33] Ibid. 28
[34] Akbar, Na‟im, Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery, (New Mind
Productions, 1984) 8
[35] Ibid. 9
[36] Blueprint For Black Power: A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the
Twenty-First Century, Wilson, Amos N., 1998 828
[37] Blackonomics, Clingman, Jim, Milligan Books, 2000, 11
[38] The State of the Dream 2004, United for a Fair Economy,
(http://faireconomy.org/0115/)
[39] Blackonomics, Clingman, Jim, Milligan Books, 2000, 57

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[40] Black-o-knowledge: Stuff we need to know, Clingman, Jim, Milligan Books,

2004, 345 – 347
[41] Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice,
Anderson, Claud, Ed.D. (Duncan & Duncan, Inc. 1994) 54
[42] Black Economics: Solutions for Economic and Community Empowerment,
Kunjufu, Jawanza, African American Images, 2000 2, 3
[43] The Political Economy of the Black Ghetto, Tabb, William, W.W. Norton, 1970,
20 – 34
[44] Black-o-knowledge: Stuff we need to know, Clingman, Jim, Milligan Books,
2004, 354 – 356
[45] Black Enterprise Guide to Technology for Entrepreneurs, Willams, Bernadette,
Wiley, 2001 40
[46] Ibid, 36 – 38

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