In our last conversation about Fiddler, we showed the mission he was given for Kunta: to create a "good niggah." In this piece we wish to step back a few steps and evaluate more of Fiddler's psychology.

The spirit of Fiddler is no new concept to the Afrikan people. Fiddler is that black person who's controlled by outside, foreign forces with the intent on hiding the truth, perpetuating the lie and strengthening the illusions.

Back in 1933, our dear Brotha Carter G. Woodson described the actions of Fiddler in these terms:

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if their is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary."

We have of course Fiddlers in our time as well.

Last year, former leader of the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume, came out against a certain type of Fiddler. Speaking of black conservatives Mfume observed that:

"When the ultraconservative right-wing attacker has run out of attack strategy he (the controller) goes and gets someone (Fiddler) that looks like you and me to continue the attacks."

Then Mfume continued:

"And like the ventriloquist's dummies, they sit there in the puppet master's voice."

Afromerica agrees partly. We hold the position that the Fiddlers among us come in all different forms, from different religious backgrounds and the like. Some are Republican. Some are Democrats. Many are Christian, a few are Muslim and you can even find Fiddler working to dismantle the Afrocentric movement. How? By advancing the position that one can be Afrikan-centered and be called -and call another- a "niggah." That's Fiddler working his magic.

So Fiddler has a number of conditions that must be met before the ultimate objective is realized. The first condition is to be sure that the unconscious person cease to identify with their true self.

"Massa give you a new name," said Fiddler to Kunta.

The second is to get the unconscious person to believe they're crazy for resisting. When Fiddler kept trying to impose a "new name" on Kunta, Kunta kept rejecting it causing Fiddler to conclude:

"You Afrikans all alike---Crazy."

And finally, the condition to discourage all discussion of liberation. Kunta and Fiddler were all alone on a road and Kunta asked Fiddler about them joining together and leaving the plantation, to be free. Fiddler responded aggressively with:

"We ain't gon run nowhere, cause there ain't no place to run to boy. This land ain't got no place for us except where we be right now!"

{Woodson Quote xiii from the book, The Mis-Education of the Negro; Mfume quote from the Washington Times July 13, 2004 entitled "Mfume calls black conservatives puppets"; character quotes from the movie "Roots," second chapter.}

Read Fiddler's Mission

© September 2005 Afromerica