This program contains two segments.
In the first, Listervelt Middleton provides the second part of his interview with Dr. Sandra O’Neale on Zora Neale Hurston.
In the second, Dr. Thomas Wilson, a Certified Hypnotist, discusses “Mind Control.”
Dr. Sandra O'Neale Pt. 2
In Part I of this series, Listervelt Middleton asked Dr. O’Neale about Zora Neal Hurston’s attitude about integration.
This week, he put this question to her:
What about Dr. O’Neale’s attitude about the impact of integration or desegregation, however you look at it, on Black people?
Well, we have, of course, gained a few material things. Harry Belafonte said, “White America never understood that what we wanted was not the right to live next door to them or to have our children go to school with them, or the right to marry his daughter. What we wanted was economic opportunity. During the movement, when we decided to go for the vote rather than for the dollar, John Lewis from Atlanta, prominent civil rights leader with Martin Luther King, admits that that may have been our mistake. We have gained, however, somewhat economically, and for all intents and purposes, we are somehow diffused into the mainstream of society.
As I said in the presentation tonight, if Zora were alive today, I believe many people would tell her that she was right in being against integration because we have lost so much from my own perspective and other research that I’m doing now, The thing that we have to watch for the rest of the century is the sense of Identity. Our children don’t have role models, our children are being influence by a television, a communicative, a financial, economic, political system, which in effect tells them that they do not exist.
Listervelt Middleton stated that some people would say that “The only identity Black children need is that American label." However, Dr. O’Neal states that that’s not the only identity that the Jewish American has; that’s not the only identity that the Italian American has; that's not the only identity that any American has who looks to Europe for their existence, who celebrates Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip coming to this country. They have an identity of what their roots are and they need that because this country is too new and too amalgamated for them to have a sense of history and a sense of roots. Now why is it that we are told that it’s enough for us to be an American? Frankly, the country has never defined what that means. Is it a Race, is it a Nationality? What is it? For our own survival, we must know that we are African.
For the survival of Black people in this country, they must decide two things: Who is their father and who is their God? It is important for people to know what their racial background is; what their cultural background is, that’s all that we have.
They discuss her mission of teaching, to prove to several white institutions that she exists, that she is a Black intellectual as both a Black and a female. They discuss the Black child, the Black student who doesn't have a sense of community without a Black teacher in that white world. I teach because I do not want the Black student to get a totally anglicized view of American history and truth.
As far as Dr. O’Neal is concerned, Black people are the only true Americans. We were the ones who made this country be what those papers say that we are supposed to be. We were the ones who enforce the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal...
America is the symbol of freedom that she is today because Black people made and are continually making her live up to some of the promises that she has made to the world.
Dr. Sandra O'Neale died on September 8, 2025.
Dr. Thomas Wilson
In the second part of this program, we are introduced to Dr. Thomas Wilson, a certified hypnotist, of SC State College.
Dr. Thomas Wilson is a certified hypnotist; someone who has been trained to take someone from their present environment with the assistance of a therapist, to the extent that the therapist is able to create images for that individual, rather than that individual creating images for him or herself.
Dr. Wilson believes that an entire people can be hypnotized. If a person perceives someone else as having the power or the wisdom to make decisions for them, at that point, that person is hypnotized. You don't think. He refers to Hitler as an example. Whenever you allow someone else to think for you, you've given away those controls, and the other person is in control. You don't think. You just react.
Listervelt asks Dr. Wilson how he would describe the mental state of Black people in this country. He responds, saying very much controlled. It starts almost at conception.
Dr. Wilson explains by telling a story about his experiences with his 18-month old son, who had been to a pediatrician, who happened to be white. The doctor had to do a procedure that was painful. Later, they went to get a tire, and the person replacing the tire was Black, and there was no fear. When a white postman walked up, the son was frightened, a conditioned response to the postman's cosmetic makeup.
View the full interview for more information.
