Thread by @radicaltheory

amos wilson, on white projection:

"through projection, the white american community transfers or exports its external contradictions - the conflicts, self-incrimination and tensions they engender - from itself to the african american community."

"by this means it rids itself of certain discomforts and discontents by forcing them on the black community and perceiving them as originating in that community. by so doing it can better deny those characteristics in itself."

"the same characteristics which when they are endemic to the white community and are perceived as threatening to its equilibrium, integrity and functionality, are externalized onto the black community through projection consequently..."

"the threats that come from inside the white community are perceived as coming from the outside black community and are therefore perceived as generated by the latter. thus the white community makes it appear that it is threatened by a menacing black community..."

"an evil, criminal, black community which jeopardizes its existence: not the evil criminal inclinations it contains within its own bosom. by compulsively defending itself against the projected "threat" the black community represents..."

"the white community defends itself against its own self-generated, but self-denied, threats. the white community thereby becomes blind to its own negative characteristics and the positive characteristics of its scapegoat, the black community."

"the white community seeks to transform its evil, criminal, genocidal characteristics ai1d intentions into good, law-abiding characteristics and intentions. thus its evil becomes good. once it projectively criminalizes the black community it feels free to treat it criminally."

"thus, to defend its own positive self perception against knowledge of its own criminality, the white community must falsely accuse the black community of criminality."

"for the sake of its own positive self-perception, the white community needs to perceive the black community as criminal, whether or not such is the case."

"the projective relations between the relatively powerful white community and relatively powerless black community constitute an authentic process of transformational social interaction."

"the dominant white community, by controlling the rhythm of black community life, controls to a significant extent the setting and experience of black people, their self-perception and perception of reality."

"the dominant white community, by means of projection, acts in ways that organize the motivational systems of the black community so that those systems are a functional reflection of the white community's psychopolitical needs."

"introjection onto the african community occurs when that community accepts and internalizes the stereotypical characterization of itself as projected by another."