(Toward an Afrocentric Rectification of Terms)
by Chinweizu
Why Rectification of Terms?
The way reality is perceived and acted upon depends crucially on how it is packaged, on
the framework within which it is presented, and on the concepts and terminology used in
representing it. And this is not an innocuous matter. For example, to teach a child that an adder
is a rope is to program him for fatal risk; for, if asked to pick up a rope, he may well pick up an
adder from the ground and get bitten to death. Likewise, there is danger for a people who live in
a dangerous world which has been described innocuously or neutrally or euphemistically by their
enemies. They would then live in a world with a false sense of security, with a false
consciousness of reality that could be dangerous to their survival. They would be like a child in
a den of snakes who has been taught that snakes are ropes.
Then take the case of the eagle, which has been taught that it is a chicken, or the sheep,
which has been taught that it is a wolf. The eagle would leave its natural potential unrealized,
while the sheep would be devoured by the genuine wolves should it confidently wander into their
midst. Inappropriate descriptions are thus a great and practical danger, and should be rectified.
It has long been recognized, from as far back as the time of Confucius, that there is a
general need for a periodic exercise in rectification of terms. That is because, words are tools for
mentally grasping reality; and like all tools, they get worn out with use. When words cease to
mean what they say, or become too vague, they are like ill-fitting clothes or worn spanners. It is
then necessary to mend or replace them.
Furthermore, in cases where there is a conflict of viewpoint or of interest, the
terminology devised by one side is not likely to reflect the viewpoint or the experience of the
other side.
The Pan-African World’s Situation:
In the particular case of the Pan-African World, a Black World which is trapped in a
global structure of institutions, ideas and terminologies set up by its white enemies, the need for
a rectification of terms is acute. And the rectification requires a redefinition or re-description of
reality in our own terms, terms that convey our true experience and serve our interests. To
illustrate the point, consider the following definition of racism.
“By racism we mean ethnocentric pride in one’s own racial group and preference for the
distinctive characteristics of that group; belief that these characteristics are fundamentally
biological in nature and are thus transmitted to succeeding generations; strong negative feeling
towards other groups who do not share these characteristics coupled with the thrust to
discriminate against and exclude the out group from full participation in the life of the
community.” (Quoted in Sebastian Charles, “Black Civilization and the Religious Dimension”,
in Okpaku et al., The Arts and Civilization of Black and African Peoples, Vol. 7, Lagos: CBAAC,
1986, p. 38).
By not touching on the historical role of racism as the system, theory and practice of
white supremacist superstitions and on its imperialist history; by ignoring its role in programs of
unprovoked political, economic and military aggression; by obscuring its malignant roots in a
specific capitalist vocation of chattel slavery; by overlooking the psychotic violence of those
possessed by its spirit; and by reducing it to ethnocentric social discrimination, this definition
deftly equates racism with any ordinary in-group/out-group preference or ethnocentrism or
xenophobia.
But there is much more to racism than in-group/out-group preference or xenophobia or
ethnocentrism. Reducing.....
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