A prominent psychologist last night explained to about 300 people that the ability for African-Americans to achieve and survive in an actively and institutionally racist society is directly related to their heritage.

Na'im Akbar, associate professor at Florida State University, said although over 300 years of slavery stripped African-Americans of their self-esteem, history, and culture, one distinctive quality -- spiritual consciousness -- has allowed them to survive.

"I have a very simple mission -- to inform the African-American people who they are and then what to do," Akbar said. "I have sought to do everything in my purview to save the consciousness of African people."

Although African-Americans have made extraordinary achievements in the midst of their opression, many are still suffering from the debilitating effects of slavery, he said.

As Black Caucus' keynote speaker for Black History Month, Akbar spoke about how the "Rejuvenation of the African-American" needs to be sought. African-Americans are still suffering from the main objectives of slavery -- Africans are divided and they are deprived of their original culture.

Akbar said the slavemasters encouraged slaves to degrade one another, especially the slaves that tried to hold on to their African heritage.

"As long as you acted like the master, he wouldn't have to enslave you, you could enslave yourself," Akbar said.

This attitude has caused African-Americans to have low self-esteem -- a factor hindering success, he said.

He said this ideology has carried over to today, because some African-Americans believe that the Western civilization's concept of beauty and art is superior to indigenous African traits.

"Some of our greatest entertainers blessed with the gifts from Africa, have tried to make themselves look more European," Akbar said.

For example, Akbar criticized singer Michael Jackson for surgically changing his looks to comform to Western ideals.

Akbar said African-Americans struggling to unite could also help the western world.

"The western world is on a path to self-destruction. They have failed to recognize the need for self-criticism. Black people, who are the orginators of human civilization, will have to save it with their moral consciousness," he said.

The near-capacity HUB Ballroom crowd was mesmerized by Akbar's ability to articulate African-American problems and offer possible solutions.

"I felt that his point about self-esteem was extremely important," Paul Rajkumar (senior-engineering) said. "There are a lot of programs that are supposed to help people, like tutoring services, but a lot of times the problems of low self-esteem are overlooked."