S E1273: In Class with Carr, Episode 273: Governance by Gaslight: Black Politics at the End of Empire

This Is Karen Hunter

Knarrative

Empowerment, Africana Studies, Greg Carr, Karen Hunter, History, Education, Society & Culture

4.5 • 888 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 109 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Gaslighting” is the psychological manipulation of individuals or groups into questioning their reality, memory, or sanity—often to maintain control. In a week of continuing mounting chaos in US politics marked by the meeting of the National Organization of Black County Officials in Birmingham, we can recognize that both colonialism and American institutions have gaslit Black communities into believing that our cultures, languages, and histories are inferior.

New Ancestor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s work explains how elites from would-be oppressed groups are often recruited into tempering mass liberation movements through mental colonization in language, law, politics and economics, enabling forms of structural oppression masked as deep democracy.

The critique extends to today’s struggles, from myths of meritocracy to distortions of Black identity and potential power in education and demography. While selective buying campaigns remain powerful in moments, the example of Alabama’s A.G. Gaston underscores that building movements anchored by independent Black institutions—banks, schools, businesses—is essential for generating sustainable power.

These examples also challenge strands of Black radicalism that suffer from ideological gaslighting, leading them to reject economic self-determination and political pragmatism in favor of ideological purity—undermining efforts to deliver material gains for the poor.

Real liberation requires long-view strategies, rooted in cultural self-determination, global awareness, and networked community infrastructure—not just litigation or protest, but power gleaned from purposeful creation. This is an antidote to being manipulated and trying to govern by gaslight.

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Transcript

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0:57.8	This at audible.com slash wonder why UK. This is Karen Hunter and welcome to in class with Carr.
1:00.8	This is a space where during the pandemic, we imagined what it would look like to teach a class online that would be for the world.
1:08.8	And it started with a simple question, can I press record?
1:12.6	It was a question that I asked of the people's professor, Dr. Gray Carr. At the time, he was
1:17.4	the head of Africana Studies at Howard University. He's still teaching the world. And in this space,
1:22.3	we have been going strong since 2020, and it has been amazing. So tune in to In Class with Carr and thank you for
1:30.7	joining us. You can follow us by the way at Narrative with a K. Join us, Narrative with a K.
1:36.1	The K is silent like knowledge. K-N-A-R-R-A-T-I-V-E narrative.com. If you want to have a deeper
1:43.4	relationship with us, join us there stay tuned
1:45.8	good everything yes hi hey what's going on how's everything hey what's going on professor hunter
1:54.4	everything good yes and if it if it wasn't i would still say yes because we're here. Yep. I believe in speaking things into existence. We got up this morning. We are breathing. We did indeed. We did indeed. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, we're here to do. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, we are. So how the thing is going. You are, uh-oh, all right, I'm tripping.
2:19.3	Yeah, I was no, no, that's what I get. No, all, everything is fine. Yeah, we're good.
	...

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