The largest theme of Black Rage is, of course, the titular theme of the entire book: rage. More specifically, that the grief and stress that Black Americans constantly face has no other outcome than to ultimately manifest as rage. At its very core, the foundations that the US is built upon has been designed to put black people at a disadvantage. Grier and Cobbs reiterate that these systematic disadvantages are psychologically taxing. Not only as psychiatrists themselves, but Black American psychiatrists practicing in the 60s, they are very familiar with how mental stress affects all parts of one’s existence. Whether this dissonance manifests as grief, pain or frustration, the assertion is that it will ultimately become rage. Grier and Cobbs were very aware of the mournful and desolate feeling that the contents of their chapters invoked. According to them, “This dismal tone has been deliberate. It has been an attempt to evoke a certain quality of depression and hopelessness in the reader and to stir these feelings. These are the most common feelings tasted by black people in America” (Grier and Cobbs 174). They make no attempt at exaggeration with this comment, as reading this book will undeniably open your mind to new feelings of grief, whether you are a black american or otherwise. This directly leads into the second theme of the book: Not only is the rage across Black Americans ultimate, but it is inevitable and irreversible. This rage is a pervasive feeling that, although the source of it may not be immediately obvious, it is ever present. Through this, Grier and Cobbs make inferences of the near future where the rage that Black Americans feel will continue to build until a breaking point is reached. As they put it, “No matter what repressive measures are invoked against the blacks, they will never swallow their rage and go back to blind hopelessness. If existing oppressions and humiliating disenfranchisements are to be lifted, they will have to be lifted most speedily, or catastrophe will follow” (Grier and Cobbs 179).
As all the chapters outline, it doesn’t matter where Black Americans find themselves in society. Man, woman, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, married or poor, it doesn’t matter. The system will continue to do as it is designed until the collective rage simply becomes too much to bear. What happens when that rage reaches its ultimate peak will be dependent on the circumstances that an individual Black American finds themselves in. However, Patrisse Khan-Cullors is a perfect example of when rage turns to activism. In her memoir “When they call you a terrorist,” Khan-Cullors reflects on her moments hearing that Trayvon Martin’s killer would be acquitted of all charges. “I cannot stop myself from crying. As much as I want to. I weep hard. We all do. And then I get angry. Once again my world is defined by cognitive dissonance…” (Khan-Cullors 179). Soon after, from this rage, she resolves that she is going to make change, one way or another. In her case, her grief in the US incarceration system actively allowing the murder of young black men had become rage. This rage then fueled her to take stronger, more direct steps in her activism.
The copy of Black Rage that we have in the alternative library has a 1975 bermuda authority dollar stored within the pages that has been there for an unknown amount of time. The intention of storing a bermuda authority dollar is unknown, but in the meantime it is being used as a bookmark for anyone who checks out the book.
3 years after his "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King discusses in an interview rage among black americans and rioting. He discusses the mindset and rage behind why some black americans choose to riot, and why he disagrees with the method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K0BWXjJv5s
