Last Spring, SphereMagazine.com asked you to nominate someone you thought was the most passionate senior of 2007 to win a free copy of Lindsay Pollack’s fantastic new book, Getting from College to Career: 90 Things to Do Before You Join the Real World. Over the next two weeks, we will be highlighting the two amazing winners of our contest by featuring their interviews with SphereMagazine.com. Below is the interview for the first of these two winners—Andom Ghebreghiorgis.

Interview conducted by: Casey Gerald

Casey: So, Andom, were you born in America?

Andom: Yeah. I spent the first few years of my life in Harlem with a stop in Boston and then grew up in Mt. Vernon.

Casey: Really? What was it like growing up in Mt. Vernon?

Andom: I’ll always remember the day when I noticed how segregated Mt. Vernon was, what true wealth meant, and who they referred to when they said “minorities”. These things never hit me because my grade wasn’t segregated and I wasn’t a minority in my school. Growing up, black people were the majority, not that I noticed at the time, because I didn’t care. But when I learned what it meant to be a minority, I looked back and was like, “Damn.”

Casey: What did that realization do for your psyche?

Andom: For me, it was about just realizing this world of ours. For some it’s different; I’d imagine for African-Americans it’s probably different than for first generation American children of African or West Indian immigrants.

Casey: How so?

Andom: We don’t see race in the same way and don’t have intergenerational racial/ethnic shock in the same way; I definitely had a greater understanding of colonialism and war than racism as a youth since those things had been an integral part of all my family’s lives.

Casey: I see. Sometimes, I wonder if first generation black Americans are at least empathetic to the “black American experience”. I guess you would have some insight on that, no?

Andom: Oh yeah, immigrants? Definitely. My family members have a lot of respect for black Americans (at least of the Civil Rights Movement), but when we speak of first generation Americans, like myself, we don’t see a difference between our American blackness and African-ness or Caribbean-ness, so I always identified with both. Dubois talks of a double consciousness. I think had more of a triple-consciousness, with the African element added, and that has to do with me being born and raised here.

Casey: (laughing) Wow, triple consciousness. I guess that leads me to the concept of the “black Diaspora”. What would you consider to be the boundaries of the Diaspora?

Andom: The boundaries of the Diaspora traditionally – and by that I mean the sort of recent academic understanding of Africana studies and what it means to be part of the Diaspora – just include the transatlantic slave trade, and not even fully because the American conception of racial identity predominates all others. The focus of Africana studies or the black Diaspora doesn’t even always include Latin America, and millions more slaves went to what are now Spanish-speaking areas than went to the American south. And you see many people in NYC, especially Dominicans and Puerto Ricans much darker than me saying they’re not black. And its so funny because people equate black with African-American; I’m not “African-American” in the sense that I’m the descendant of American slaves, but I’m certainly black and I take pride in that, and I take pride in being associated with African-Americans for their strength and perseverance.

Casey: Why do you think so many black Latinos refute their blackness?

Andom: A lot of it has to do with a sort of international scorn for blackness, and especially African-Americans, who are considered weak and lazy. But for me, the black Diaspora extends even further, including trans-Saharan slave trade into the Middle East and India – wherever Africans were lost because of their race.

Casey: You know, I think what has been lost in translation with the world, and even more with blacks (black Americans, I should say), is the vastness that is “blackness”.

Andom: Yea, I agree with you. It has so much meaning, but is ambiguous and vacuous at the same time.

Casey: I think we can look at an example of that. How do you think this limited consideration of “black” will affect Obama in ‘08?

Andom: My brother made a funny joke. He was like, “If people are going to judge Barack Obama on his blackness, they should do the same damn thing for Hillary and all those other white candidates, because they’ll lose.” Fine, he’s not “African-American”, but no one else is either. His experiences in this country certainly are like those of other African Americans, though.

Casey: Do you really think his experience is like that of other black Americans? He lived in Hawaii for a good amount of time, was raised with his white grandparents, and went to private school for pretty much his whole life. Is that the typical black experience?

Andom: I don’t think his experiences may have been typical, but he has pride in his blackness and had to deal with racism. For me, the former is all that matters, but between both, I think his experiences are like millions across the country.

Casey: Very true. Now, what effect has Yale had on you over the past four years?

Andom: Yale has only hardened the beliefs I already had. I was so surprised at how foolish so many people here could be in terms of race, ethnicity, and justice. I expected more because it’s so smart and liberal. But if anything, it made me more “militant” and unwilling to conform to society’s white supremacist norms. That’s one of the reasons why I like wearing dashikis and durags – especially at formal events and in class. If braids were easier to maintain, I’d always wear them.

Casey: (laughing) Do you think that has any negative effect on the audience you may try to reach?

Andom: Yeah, most definitely, but that has such a detrimental effect on your culture if you don’t follow your authentic identity in an effort to conform and advance. Your only audience should be yourself and your identity. Hopefully, your identity includes the rest of black people and the white majority – that is you have motives and hopes that are just and fair. I think it’s important, though, even in little ways like having braids at an interview or making smart comments in a durag. That’s culturally affirming. To many, they may see you as a radical and as someone who thinks they’re too good to follow rules and norms, but in another sense, you show people that, yeah, hip hop heads can do this, or Africans can do this, which shouldn’t be your aim, but it does have benefits.

Casey: I definitely agree. So, what is your motivation and what exactly are you motivated to do in your life?

Andom: I think I’m motivated by the injustices of society. It really makes me angry that black people everyday hate themselves, and don’t see success on the same plane as blackness; and for those that do, the tradeoff between advancement through assimilation and their own authenticity is huge and unfair. So I’m motivated to redress these problems, either through producing and contributing to global black art and culture or through organizations I create or through politics. I had a non-profit idea, Black to Africa, for a while, but I also know the importance of politics, so there are many routes. But money is always the key and I don’t want to have to be indebted to anyone, so the tangential beauty of art is that you can actually earn bank in it if you do it right. You know, be like Spike Lee or a baller author. That would be tight.

Casey: I look forward to hearing about that. Now, a couple of things on the lighter side: 1.What is your favorite meal? 2. Who is your favorite artist? 3. If you could have one conversation, and then never speak or hear again, who would that conversation be with, and why?

Andom: 1. My mom’s lasagna. I feel bad saying it because Eritrea was colonized by the Italians, but I can’t help it. 2. My favorite artist is Amiri Baraka. 3. It would be with my immediate family – to hear their voices for the last time, say I love them, all that good stuff.

Casey: Cool. Okay, one last question. In one sentence (or two): Who is Andom Ghebreghiorgis?

Andom: Well, Andom means a pillar and a leader, and I’m confident in the way my parents raised me that I could lead justly with strength if put in that position. My last name means “servant/slave of St. George” and though I don’t give a damn about religion, I definitely would like to always follow truth and justice.

Casey: So, Andom Ghebreghiorgis is a leader who follows truth and justice. Did your campaign manager put that together?

Andom: (laughing) I didn’t know how to answer the question without sounding like an ass, so I just looked at my name.

Casey: Very well. Thanks a lot man, and congratulations.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Voices, Careers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.