TORONTO, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The racially fueled
incident that brought to life the so-called "Jena Six" began with the
seemingly innocuous act of African-American students sitting under a "white
tree" on the grounds of Louisiana's Jena High School -- a tree that was
considered by white students to be an area "belonging" exclusively to
whites. According to Ottawa self-mastery expert Patricia Wall, who
specializes in exploring the root causes of behavior, racial conflict and
violence are inevitable in society -- unless leaders address the
deep-seated causes of the conflicts.
"For the primitive, subconscious mind that governs our behavior, it
wasn't just a tree at Jena High School that was at stake, it was territory
-- and the subconscious minds of the white youths that sought to protect
that territory viewed the African-American students who also wanted to sit
under that same tree as 'invaders' who were a threat to their very
existence." Wall said. Predictably, the white students lashed out to
protect their territory and the African Americans responded in kind. This
"protector versus invader" scenario has been going on for centuries, in one
form or another -- and will continue for decades to come until society
deals with the primal brain programs that cause the behavior, Wall added.
It's hard to imagine how such primitive programming of the subconscious
mind can influence emotion and behavior in an ultra-modern era where
teenagers are typing on laptops and listening to ipods, but the extreme
actions and reactions in Jena are a clear demonstration of both the power
of the subconscious mind and the ruthlessness of primitive survival
instincts. According to Wall, the violence and the wider conflict that took
place in Jena along racial lines were inevitable -- when one considers how
the brain's subconscious programming works and how far back it stems.
"Back in the cave, territory meant hunting grounds, and therefore,
survival. It was that basic," Wall explained. "Another tribe or group
encroaching on your territory could mean loss of resources that endangered
the whole tribe, threatening the survival of women and children. The
territory had to be protected at all costs."
An entire body of literature has been devoted to the phenomenon of
males being programmed to protect and provide -- and territory is crucial
to both of these traditionally male functions. The moment encroachment
occurred, in this case, African-American students sitting under the "white
tree," the collective primitive brain kicked in, flooding the students'
bodies with aggressive testosterone and "stand and fight" adrenaline. This
is not a rational reaction; it is a primitive instinct that overrides
normal behavior.
"The first response to threat is to mark territory," Wall said.
"Animals use various means to accomplish this task. Not unexpectedly,
humans turn to weapons to protect their territories -- displaying in full
view those weapons that will instill the most fear in their potential
'invaders.'
Genetic imprinting ensures that African-American students would react
to the nooses the same way they would to Uzi machine guns. In fact, I am
certain the nooses were worse than machine guns. Machine guns don't have
generations of terror reactions associated at the primitive-brain level.
Nooses do. It's all about the emotional response," Wall concluded.
What hope do we have to become a society free of racial conflict and
violence when such primitive programming flares up with terrifying
regularity? Conflict is not only feared, it's expected -- because even if
relatively few people know about primitive-brain programming, they've seen
the results in action countless times without being aware of it.
According to Wall, there is still hope for society. "When negotiators
and leaders who have influence over their groups, or tribes, come to
understand the nature of the forces they are dealing with, real change can
happen," said Wall. The biggest challenges society faces are the effects of
history, which combine to form a powder keg of genetic imprinting that
flares with the slightest provocation. We can't clean the slate, or arrive
at reasonable resolutions, until that powder keg is disarmed and people are
freed from the floods of emotional chemistry that turn rational citizens
into angry combatants, Wall added.
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