Psych vs. Psychology

In my younger days, when I was trying to play a prank or a joke on someone, I would yell, "psych!" just before they figured it out. For people of my generation, there were so many things to say psych to that I can't believe it's hard for me to find reason to use it now.

By now we know that Barack Hussein Obama is the president-elect, and much respect to him, the campaign he ran, and the fact that it will become the text book for presidential candidates in the years to come. His ascent is simply one to marvel at, but the differences between his upbringing and the typical Black experience is also something to seriously consider.

Would it be possible for a Black man in America who had a regular upbringing in the lower 48 to aspire with such zeal and confidence for the presidency? While I am not a betting person, I think that it would have been highly unlikely for the level of acceptance and coalition building that Obama enjoyed to have similarly mobilized around a typical Black guy with a presidential quest.

Fundamentally, I think the psychology of low expectations and low outcomes has been ingrained so deep and for so long that the notion of a Black president is dismissed out of hand as being a lofty goal, but ultimately one that is unatainable. That prevailing psychology stops so many people in their tracks, impedes so much progress and denies deserving people great experiences. Yet when we psych ourselves up or out, it is just a temporary thing that breaks our nerves and allows us to go for broke in spite of everything.

When we psych ourselves, we are in control, and we know what the reality of the situation is. The psychological barriers are unseen, largely unspoken but surround us in claustrophobic bondage. What gave Barack Obama the audacity to hope and to dream big dreams that he actually carried out with precision? What makes him confident in the face of naysayers? What makes many other Black people so involved in the mundane of community-police relations, job hunting and forgoing income for educational aspirations that they never stop to think about leading the nation? How is it that the psychology of 'you are nothing and you will never amount to anything' never took hold of Barack Obama and turned him into a doubting Tom?It is remarkable the impact that culture and symbols can have one attitude and upbringing.

If Barack Obama's win means anything, it really taught me how detrimental and oppressive culture or a lack of a positive one can be on Black people in America. Imagine if we all woke up tomorrow and decided that we were going to run for president--psych!