Intro

On Nationalism

Surprise Still Pending

Speechism

Ethiopianism

Arif Wear

NYU Habeshas

Amadou's Reminiscing

Kimo's Korner

A Hazardous Peace Of Mind

Hi My name is...

Aman Mchugh

Poetry: Rahel Hailu

In your AREA

Photo of the Month

Artwork

Webpage

Question posed: Why choose tibs over a burger? Why shiro, over chicken noodle soup? Think carefully, cause this is a matter dealing with more than just the average taste bud kicks...Would you rather go to a doctor that knows something about Inkutatash, or Turkish line dancing? Let's say you have a choice. If you come across a cab driver that speaks Amharic, would you rather choose him over the one that speaks French?

"Well, of course..."

Good answer. However, 9 times out of 10, brilliant responses like that are made for the completely wrong reasons. And in this case, more often than not, the reason probably had something to do with the fact that you wanted a HOOK UP. Well, like I said…wrong reason for a brilliant answer.

SPEECHISM of the month: Reinvest in your respective communities, people…if for no other reason than the fact that it's yours.

Why am I harping on this? Simple…as a member of the larger immigrant community, I truly feel we have no business cutting each other short of anything. And this includes service tips. If a buck doesn't mean much to you, give it to someone who needs it AND that you have something in common with. Need I spell it out any further? Keep the green in your life close to those around you. It's smart economics.

How smart? A simple analogy: Say you have the family of Bereket and his wife Brukti, and their children, Anchi and Ante. Brukti gets a Christmas bonus at her Wall Street job for $100,000,000. Sound too good to be true? It is, because her bonus comes with a stipulation…she MUST give away ALL of her money to someone else 10 minutes after she receives her check. Who will she give it to? a) the random man on the street b) her husband's sister's husband's ex-wife, or c) one of her offspring? C is for those who have common sense, because it is the right answer. I can explain why in two words:

Self-sufficiency.

You see, Brukti is too smart not to consider the fact that out of all the above-mentioned individuals, it is her son or daughter who will most likely think to care for her in her old age. Likewise, we too must think who it is in this society that has the most similar needs/wants to our own. And since money equals power, the more money circulates within that certain group with a similar interest (i.e. the more self-sufficient they are), the more powerful they can claim to be. NOTE: power is the means by which you get things that you want done, done. To rephrase, the more self-sufficient a minority is in a society, the more chances they get to say 'up yours' to the majority powers that be, and do the things that are most important to them.

Take for example the case of other non-habesha minority groups in the US. Mormons and Jews are rich because their money circulates about 10 or 15 times before ever leaving the community circle. Remember, Jews have the option to go eat at Jewish restaurants, who then buy meat from the local Jewish butcher, who buys cows from the Jewish farmer, who then sends his son to a Jewish university, where he gets sick and goes to a Jewish doctor, who in turn turns around to watch television (name a national network), and…does it ever end? Contrast this with the income of the average African American. After being paid, he or she may eat at a Soul Food restaurant, where the cook may choose to get their hair done, where then the hair dresser goes….where??? I can only think of a place that is probably owned by either a white or asian corporation.

So where can we go to have our needs met? And what are our needs? To a lot of people, those in the Habesha Diaspora have an immediate responsibility to those we left back home. It is the only possible way to make sense of the tremendous population/brain drain taking place from within the two countries. With this in mind, I question how we can ever positively effect the various situations we are supposed to help remedy back home if we cannot function as a powerful, economic community abroad. Holla back if you do or don't understand.

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