The Psychopathic Racial Personality

The Psychopathic Racial Personality is a collection of essays written by Bobby Wright, a University of Chicago psychologist, and published by Third World Press in 1982, two years after Wright's death. Wright used his training and skills in the best interest of black people. He took a scientific approach in The Psychopathic Racial Personality by outlining the psychosocial characteristics of Western society in relation to racism, methodically addressing the areas of government, military tactics, science, the medical community, religion, and education.

Wright coined the term mentacide, which he defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group's minds with the ultimate objective being the [Page 403]extirpation of the group. The solutions Wright offered for the African community included the creation of a black social theory and the fulfillment of the obligation of African intellectuals to perform black scientific inquiry (i.e., the study of white supremacy and culture, not the oppressed of such culture). He believed in the necessity of reestablishing black culture, and that a black social theory would establish and institutionalize methods and a direction for the liberation of African people.

The essays in The Psychopathic Racial Personality include “Black Suicide,” “Educating the Black Child,” and “The Black Child: A Destiny in Jeopardy.” These essays reinforce the warning in the African proverb Wright quotes: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Wright's concern is that destruction will result for the black community because it lacks direction and a black social theory: “Social theory determines the destiny of a people by establishing guidelines of life and Blacks should therefore develop a Black Social Theory.” The objective of a black social theory is to recreate a black culture that will allow for the liberation of blacks as a people.

In the title essay of The Psychopathic Racial Personality, Wright wrote that the answer to blacks’ problems can be found in the works and lives of people like Chaka, Martin Delany, Marcus Garvey, H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X, Chancellor Williams, and others: “For they all looked at the matador or psychopath for what he was and is, and moved against him.”