The symbol for Kujichagulia is the "Ahenwa" The Akan Throne. A symbol of national identity, cultural grounding, & rightful governance.

Kujichagulia demands that we as an African people define, defend & develop ourselves instead of allowing and/or encouraging others to do it for us.

The first act of a free people is to shape its world in its own image. It is a statement about their conception of self & a definitive spiritual commitment to self through determination.

To answer the question "Who am I?" correctly, one must KNOW & LIVE one's history & practice one's culture.

To answer the question "Am I really who I say I am" one must have & employ a cultural criterion of authenticity (What is real and Unreal, what is appearance versus essence, what is culturally rooted versus foreign)

To answer the question "Am I all I ought to be?" is to self conciously posess & use ethical & cultural standards that measures quality of thought & practice in the context of who one is and who one ought to become.

Kujichagulia supports the assumption that we are the fathers and mothers of humanity from the Nile Valley Culture. We (African People) have introduced & develtoped some of the foundational disciplines of human knowledge (Astronomy, Geometry, Literature, Math, medicine, ethics, etc.). This urges us as a people to not surrender our historical or cultural identity to fit into the culture of another.

Afrocentricity does not seek to deny or deform others' history & humanity, but it does affirm, rescue, & recontruct its own history & humanity after the holocaust of enslavement (Maafa) & various forms of oppression throughout history.

Afrocentricity at its optimal is an ongoing quest for a historical & cultural anchor (Foundation upon which we raise our cultural future) that we measure our authentcity and cultural value against.