I was so convinced that Barack Obama wouldn’t be elected President that I didn’t even vote for him. The truth is–I didn’t vote at all. The sad truth is–I have never voted.

At a time when I could have been one of a million links in a glorious chain attached to one of the most important “firsts” of my lifetime –I didn’t link! I did not connect. I chose not to vote! What the HELL “was” wrong with me?

Well, after much soul searching, I’ve figured it out.

The fact is, (as much as I hate to admit it ) like many other African Americans my age and older, I had come to accept the world the way it “was.” A world dominated by European American “HIS-Story.” A history that linked me and millions of other African Americans; if not consciously then sub-consciously, to a chain of inferior thinking and second class expectations. Not all of us accepted this but a vast majority of us did.

Even though I had heard the Obama campaign slogan for almost two years, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. In my mind, “there was no way an African American (a Black Man) could win!”

Well, I was wrong. He won!

…and now, I believe!

I believe in “YES WE CAN!” because YES–HE DID!

…and now, I feel like “I CAN!”

The way Barack Obama won the Presidency was…different. His game plan seemed to come for a different playbook. It seemed to be “focused” differently. It seemed to be focused on the little man; the working poor, a majority of whom are African American.

His campaign was different because unlike many of the other African American political figures that have run for President in the past, Obama didn’t stand up and yell to the world that he was an African American. He didn’t yell for the right to run and be heard based on past discrimination. He didn’t infer that he was somehow “handicapped” and in need of “a little help” because his skin was black. No Barack Obama just calmly announced…

“Hello World, I’m Barack Obama and I want to be the President of the United States.”

From the minute he announced his candidacy, to the way he delivered his sermon-like speeches, to the way “he brushed his shoulder’s off “ while dispatching the Clinton machine. Barack Obama displayed something that I was not accustomed to seeing, especially from an African American public figure.

What Barack Obama displayed during his campaign that the others didn’t was something I call “overt Afrocentrism.”

He didn’t run a campaign based on European American “HIS-story.” He knew if he did it that way, he couldn’t win. You see, unlike me and millions of other African Americans, Obama was not shackled to a history of Slavery, Jim Crow and “No We Can’t isms, “ His history was relatively free from all that. His history was enlightened by images and experiences from Indonesia and Kenya making his view of the world considerably less tainted by European American “HIS – Story.”

The internal identity struggles and global travels the young Obama experienced presented the adult Obama with a unique view of the American social order. These early experiences probably helped to make him feel “equal  with,“ not “inferior to,” Americans of European decent. Add to this, the very Afrocentric views of the people he aligned himself with in Chicago and you end up with an African American politician acting and  thinking, consciously and subconsciously, as an “equal.”

This feeling of mental “equality” allowed him to embrace his African ancestry and merge it with his American identity into a positive; self-affirming, self-confident internal image that told him that he could do anything that any Irish American; Polish American, Italian American or any other American could do.

Obama’s subconscious wasn’t allowed to cultivate the “unequal” or “inferior” feelings and thinking held by the vast majority of African Americans born, raised and completely assimilated into a system based on Eurocentrism because his assimilation was incomplete.

Until I started following the Obama campaign, the only other African Americans that came close to publicly displaying this type of overt Afrocentrism that I knew of were; a few civil rights leaders such as Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. A handful of extraordinary athletes from the 1960’s such as; Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and one or two others and surprisingly, a number of present-day “Rap” artist.

Many of these overt Afrocentrics didn’t receive “formal” educations and therefore were not fully indoctrinated into the Eurocentric ideology.

However, unlike Obama, almost all of the African American political figures that have  run for President in the past, were born, (and more importantly) raised and formally educated exclusively in the United States and therefore thoroughly immersed in Eurocentrism. Their campaigns started something like this…

“Hello World, I am a African American and I want to be President of the United States… if you just ‘ let ‘ me.”

In other words, they asked permission. Furthermore, their underlying Eurocentrism made it impossible for them to believe that they could “actually” win.

Obama didn’t ask. For almost two years he told anyone that would listen…

“YES (I) WE CAN!”

With European American “HIS-Story” pulling him; and the history of the “African in America” pushing him; by the time Obama announced his candidacy, I believe that he viewed the world through the lens of Afrocentrism not Eurocentrism. He absolutely believed he could win.

So what is this “Afrocentrism “ that I keep referring to?

Well, the best way to define Afrocentrism is to define Eurocentrism because they mean the same thing, depending upon the perspective.

Eurocentrism is a derivative of Eurocentric, it is defined by www.dictionary.com as:

Adj.

1. Centered on Europe and Europeans.

2. Considering Europe and Europeans as focal to world culture, history, economics, etc.

Afrocentrism is a derivative of Afrocentric, it is defined by www.dictionary.com as:

Adj.

1. Centered or focused on Africa or African peoples, especially in relation to historical or cultural influence.

Should Africans or African Americans practice Eurocentrism? Should Europe and Europeans be the focus of Africans or African Americans? The obvious answer to this question is NO!

Africans and African Americans should practice Afrocentrism while also “studying” other cultures. Afrocentrism allows Africans and African Americans to focus on their people’s lives. This is extremely important and mentally healthy. Especially in relation to the influences we have on each other; our history, our culture, our economics and the world.

No other group of people in the WORLD is as totally cutoff from their original culture as is the African American. Not the Indians. Not the Mexicans. Not the Chinese or Japanese—NO OTHER GROUP!

Imagine if all people of European decent in this country were forced to be Afrocentric. What would be the outcome? How would they view the world?

Unfortunately, most African Americans born in this country end up living a Eurocentric lifestyle. This is why I couldn’t believe Barack Obama could become President of the United States–my underlying Eurocentrism wouldn’t allow it.

Barack Obama is not Eurocentric–this is why he won. His Afrocentrism wouldn’t allow anything else.

His being elected President of the United States made me reassess everything that I have ever learned about history, this country and myself. His election compelled me to cleanse my mind of the years of forced Eurocentrism and replenish it with the much-needed mental and psychological nutrients of Afrocentrism.

Before Barack Obama was elected, I would not have questioned anything regarding his loss, if he had lost. But now I question everything, especially my own views and thinking.

I ask myself often now, “What perspective are my thoughts coming from?” I guard what enters my mind. I carefully evaluate what I think and say about my people and myself.

Because I now believe that I really can win at anything, I have decided to make good use of myself. I no longer consume alcohol ( I have never done drugs). I have started to exercise and eat right. I have decided to let go of a lot of meaningless things.

I read now —a lot. When I read now, it is as though I’ve just learned how—old words now have new meanings. I now have an insatiable appetite for anything related to politics, especially the politics that affect African Americans. I make a concerted effort to think in an Afrocentric way. “How is this affecting me and my people?”, is one of the questions I often ask myself now. “How can I help?”,  is another.

Years ago I received a degree in Computer Information Systems. Up until now, I have only used it to entertain myself and make an occasional attempt to impress my family and friends. I didn’t see my degree as anything useful because I was never able to land a job in the computer science industry.

However, through my newly formed Afrocentric eyes, I now see my degree as a valuable tool. Not for landing a job. No, I will use my degree for a much greater purpose. I will use my degree to help create businesses. Businesses that enlighten, inform and yes sometimes entertain but whose main purpose is to create wealth. Wealth for me, my family and my community.

This Afrocentric transformation of mine can be directly linked to one defining moment. That moment happened on November 4th, 2008. That moment changed the world. It changed the world because at that moment, at least one African American saw what Afrocentrism could accomplish. At that moment, at least one African American began to see himself in the world as truly “equal with” and not “inferior to “, anyone.

At that moment, at least one African American watched the entire world as it focused on a man that looked like him and although I know it was unintentional; on November 4th, 2008, the ENTIRE WORLD was–at that moment—AFROCENTRIC!

So…I say to you all…

Hello World!

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