COMMENTARY
By Teddy Fikre
As an Ethiopian, and a person of the African Diaspora in general, it saddens me to see my people–our people–keep routing for our individual differences instead of coming together for our collective enrichment. I don’t know about you, but hollering about my culture, trying to earn distinction as a child of a Gondere and a Menze, or bragging about being Ethiopian has not earned me one break in life. I work like everyone else to make it, if I missed a secret club that offers benefits of being of a “special” ethnicity or culture, please someone let me know. Assuming that there is no such club, why then do we constantly go out of our way to elevate our egos at the expense of another group?
While the unfortunate many are living in an impoverished state in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, etc., the blessed minority of us–whether in the United States or elsewhere–obsess about our ethnic individualism instead of coming together to revive our respective countries. We have been blessed with the gifts of intellect and ambition necessary to advance our cause; instead we use these gifts to attack each other. Trust me, you are not helping out the average Ethiopian, Eritrean, or Somali by constantly disparaging your supposed enemy; the only thing you are doing is enabling the “ruling class” who use these differences to enrich themselves at the cost of the people.
It’s easy to attack someone in the abstract, to denigrate an intangible individual, but next time you feel like uttering a word of hatred–regardless of your nationality or ethnicity–look at the Eritrean woman in the store with two kids who did nothing to you–your words are aimed at her the same as they are at your supposed enemy. Look at the Ethiopian man who is working the midnight shift, trying to put his children in college–your words of ill will are affixed at him the same way they are affixed to your abstract foe. Look at the Somali child who is trying hard to attain the American dream–your word of derision target her as much as it targets some amorphous adversary.
We all know that there have been historical injustices and that no one group’s hands come out totally clean, but how many generations have to fight the same battles before we call a truce. We should not be ensnared by the sins of our fathers or the bitterness of past generations. The vitriolic venom that is spewed in the name of ethnic pride is nothing but empty rhetoric that diminishes our collective aspirations.
The fingers of the hand are weak, a pinkie alone cannot pick up a brick, nor can a thumb by itself build a house, working together, they can move mountains, clenched they become a powerful force to protect our collective rights. Imagine if we banded together in America to advocate for policies that advance our collective interests. After all, we have more in common than we have that sets us apart. The way forward for Africa is not through ethnic exceptionalism, rather it is through economic collectivism—we have to enter into a new age of a post-ethnic philosophy. Think about the impact our unity can have back in Ethiopia , Eritrea , Somalia and the rest of Africa .
Patrick Henry knew of the power of Unity, during the Revolutionary War, he proclaimed, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.”
Next time you want to point a finger in the air to brag about being “number one”, just remember that the finger you point upwards will not do anything to build or protect the very ethnicity you are so proud of. Collectively we are powerful, individually we are always going to be impotent; letting others exploit our resources and historical wealth while we stand apart bragging about our ancestors and past accolades–but hey who cares, at least “we” are number one right?
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]