Friday, April 23rd, 2010

by Liya Endale

Certain words have historically derogatory meanings. However, different cultures have re-invented these words which once degraded their people into words which represent them positively and the strength which carried them through a historically repressive time. Gay people can call each other queer, black people call each other N-bombs, and some of us East Africans call each other Abesha.

When I was on my journey to find “my self”, there was a time when I didn’t know many Ethiopians. I tried hard to identify with the Black American culture and even thought I got away with it until I was hanging out with some of my local Black friends. We were all in the car on the way to a performance where they would be rapping and I would be singing a couple of songs and reciting poems. Then, like an atomic bomb, I let the arsenal slip from my lips and instantly kill the conversation so there was just the bass-heavy beat looming in the air like a funeral procession song. I had said “Niggaz”.

“You can’t say that!” One of them proclaimed defiantly after a dramatic pause which made the air congeal into a thick amalgamation of tension and ambivalence. ‘Can’t I?’ I thought to myself. As though he read my thoughts, another one of my friends said, “Look, Liya. There will be no hippedy-hoppedy talk. Just be who you are.”

Who was I? Well, I am Black. And I am African. Yes, there is a local racism in America which ironically does not discriminate between a Black African, South American, Austrailian, Caribbean, or American. However, racism goes much further than that. There are social implications in our governmental system which target people of specific backgrounds, both intentionally and un-intentionally. Further, there are residual effects stemming from slavery in America which have not and will not disappear for quite some time. Because I come from a family who grew up with a completely different set of struggles, I have escaped most of these inherent prejudices which reach beyond the local-racism I encounter in America.

What am I talking about? An ignorant racist has called me a Nigger before. I call this local racism. Education, in my opinion, is the key weapon to fight ignorant racism. Further, education is a value which began in my family generations ago and has only snowballed.  Slaves in the U.S. were tortured, maimed or killed if they taught themselves to read. If a slave-child learned the alphabet, they were likely reprimanded instead of encouraged out of fear for their lives. So the value of education was eradicated with this method and has to, now, begin all over in a time when its benefit is not evident for this group of people due to various social and governmental phenomenon. Is it an utter surprise, then, that the Black American population in this country has a statistically lower % of its people in Universities and Colleges? How about the fact that people with culturally Black names in the States, like Ebony, for example, have a much lower chance at getting an interview for a job even with the exact same credentials as an Emily or Liya? So, while these jobs are being funneled to other people who will be able to pay for their children’s educations, Ebony has to find a way to make ends meet instead of saving for her child’s tuition. I do not carry these burdens. My ancestors were never called niggers. The use of this word by Black people in a social context is only accepted if that black person carries these ancestral burdens because they are the ones who strive to overcome them on a daily basis.

Instead, my ancestors were called Habesh. A derogatory term in Arabic which also refers to the color of our skin. Ethiopia even means Burned-Face People. But today, a lot of us East Africans wear this label loud and proud. The statement we want to make is, “The people you belittled actually ruled the Eastern world, are named seven times in the Bible, and fought off colonizers to keep their independence. The people you belittled have kept their ancient written language, culture from hundreds of thousands of years in history and posses the most prized religious relic, the Ark of the Covenant.” We call ourselves Abesha to really say, “In yo’ face!”.

However, this is a very personal choice. Not everyone has the same sentiment when they hear these words. Instead of trying to re-define a word which, honestly, will always carry some level of its original negativity, they would rather eradicate them from language altogether. I did not know the heavy background of the term Abesha or Habesha when I helped come up with the name of a book project which I am working on with my sister (www.habeshadiaspora.wordpress.com). Though I, personally, identify with it, I do not want to exclude anyone from this project which centers on inclusivity. Further, I have the deepest respect for all of my East African brothers and sisters and, for these reasons, my sister and I have decided to change the name of the book from “Neither Here nor There: Perspectives on Identity by the Young Habesha Diaspora” to “Let the Horn Sound: Perspectives on Identity by the Young Ethiopian and Eritrean Diaspora”.

Do you think this was the right decision?

This blog submission was written by Liya Endale.  The views of guest bloggers are not the views of Ethiopian-Americans for Change.  Guest bloggers represent the broad dissection of views and outlooks within our community.

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