Variables grounded in history that should be understood in the context of idiomatic purposelessness include compensatory violence, disunification of essence, and human oppression. Compensatory violence has its roots in and compensates for impotence, and impotence is equivalent to feelings of powerlessness. Disunification of essence is concerned with indispensable or intrinsic properties that characterize or identify an individual. The fundamental transformation necessary for persons of African descent to disengage themselves from the dehumanizing constraints of Eurocentric thought and action is to reclaim the source of their essence by adopting an Afrocentric world view. Brief descriptions of a proposed training approach are included to facilitate the positive behavioral transformation of African Americans. The author believes exchanging idiomatic purposelessness for idiomatic purposefulness will remove a major contributing factor leading to black on black crime. 46 references