Mental Oppression (CRR)

I'm glad that we read over some of our fellow classmates blogs today. My favorite one was the post written by Ademola about mental slavery, I could not have agreed more with him. Mental slavery is the worst type of slavery that a human being could be subjected to. Physical slavery creates bruises and wounds that can be healed over time. On the other hand, mental slavery breaks you in ways that can not be repaired. You are stripped of your morals, your personal beliefs, bared from your entire sense of self. You are told what your beliefs are, you are told what your ethical values are and consequently you are being told who YOU are. It’s a process in which you stand for nothing, and therefore you fall for anything.

Sometimes I wonder if this was the case with Phillis Wheatley. I just can’t wrap my mind around the idea of someone being grateful about being stripped of their basic human rights. I understand that she felt saved when she found Christianity, that part I can comprehend. But she could have easily converted to Christianity as a free person and it’s as if she doesn’t understand that concept. It seems as if from her point of view she would have never found Christianity if it wasn’t because she was enslaved. I believe that Christianity was the way in which her oppressors deprived her of her cognitive independence. Christianity told her what to feel, what to believe in and how to act. Converting might have made Wheatley a better person but it also robbed Phillis Wheatley of Phillis Wheatley.