By Teddy Fikre | Ethiopian-Americans For Change
I want to believe, I truly do. I want to believe that Ethiopians, Eritreans, the African Diaspora can throw off the collective chains of self imposed poverty and work together to a collective prosperity. I have the Audacity to think that we can actually work together—you thought Obama was hopeful! But it gets harder and harder each day, for each day I am proven one step closer towards the realization that Obama’s election was an ephemeral moment of bliss.
Why so jaded? Before I go forward, let me go back. Back to 2008, when Obama frenzy was at its peak—at least it was on November 4th 2008. However, the months leading up to that moment was arduous at best. We—Ethiopians for Obama—had our own audacious goals. Sure we were enamored with the idea of an Obama administration, but most of us were in love with an idea way bigger than that. We saw, through the image of Obama, a vision of our own where we could organize our community.
What we imagined was a bloc of Ethiopian voters (now expanded to voters from the African Diaspora) that would vote on issues that matter to our community. During one of our first meetings, we instantly settled trying on attempting to turn the Ethiopian community in Virginia into the same voting force as the Cuban community in Florida. Supposedly, there are well over 120,000 Ethiopians who reside in Virginia. No one really knows, nonetheless, there is a significant population of Ethiopians in the Old Dominion that has the potential of becoming a potent voice—if we band together. So that was our hope; a vision to give the Ethiopian community a megaphone.
Thus, as we set out to organize for Obama, we were also organizing for Ethiopia. We were taking notes for our community, we learned about phone banking, about networking, about viral marketing—we took a lot of notes. And our aim two years ago was to register 10,000 Ethiopians in the span of 8 months in the state of Virginia and thousands more elsewhere. Sure, a high number, but about 1,100 Ethiopians per month, I thought it was at least semi-realistic. So we set out to various churches, coffee shops, held debate watching parties—all for the purpose of registering 10,000 Ethiopians in Virginia and thousands more elsewhere. It was a slow and steady process; 10 here, 7 there, 12 elsewhere. But we kept faith, we thought in due time our community would catch on… [continued]
8 thoughts on “Undeterred”
While I support most of the issues you outlined on your essay, you have to understand that Ethiopians are tackling so many problems. This is just a recent comer community that is trying to adjust living in a new culture. Comminication with the new community(americans), work place adjustment, foolish expectations from family back home etc… are obstacle for Ethiopians. You may have it easy but most Ethiopians are living a hard life. Yes you need your coffee to stay awake to do two jobs or one job and a school. You may need your drink here and there to release your stress. You have to understand that life for the older generation Ethiopians is rough. True they can do better but who is to orient the Ethiopians on the shortcuts of achieving things. Almost every ethiopian finds his or her way through trial and error. I do appreciate the great stuff you are doing but understand the psychological trauma that most Ethiopians are undergoing while trying to achieve great things too.
Tezibt:
you are simply “SERA FET”… Do you have any evedience that says older Ethiopians are living harder than any other immigrants in N. America ? I think you are just assuming.
I agree with Tezibt.That is a good point.
Forget about the old generation brother! I’m one of them who left 1980s from Harar of Ethio-somali region. They hang on lot of issues and intra-group prejudices and old mentality. My hope for change in North America and back home rests with the young generation like you.
Keep the good bro, I’m with you!
what i don’t understand is how Ethiopians who value the idea of mariage between husband and wife, who grew up in a coservative society which considers abortion as a sin, how the hell can we say we support any democratic nomnies for anything. if you want to consider issues before you vote for anyone then try republican for your own values.
in my opinion, Obamas election opened a huge door for our kids…you know they could be a president if they set their mind straight, but on issues, he is one of the worst i’ve ever seen.
think about the idea of band together. It is simply utopian but not a bad idea to circulate it around.
I found this report to be highly educational! Just see how many Ethiopian related paltalk shows there are! Just listen to the roaring vocies of people who do it tirelessly behind the computer. But, when it comes to doing something tangible, something that counts, something visionary like what the Ethiopian Americans for Change, etc are doing. they fail to show up!
I have observed a bunch of those who sit behind the computer who make unrelenting and deafening noises doing quite the opposite to what they claim, some of their actions being helpful to the “enemy.”
I recommend blogger note to those who do an advocacy-based work.
Sisa
Let me just say that I understand your frustration in regards to the lack of adequate participation of Eth-Americans in the Obama presidential campaign waged by your organization. But I do not fully subscribe to the reasons you have outlined for this failure.
I will just site a few examples that you have not adequately addressed that might shade a better light on the subject.
1. From what I have gathered from your article, your mission was two fold; the first is to register as many Ethiopian to vote for Obama and, secondly, utilize that voting bloc to address issues that are dear to that particular voting group. Although I have no hard facts to base my assertion, African-Americans including Ethiopians have voted overwhelmingly for Obama like never before. And judging from the talk of the town, Ethiopians who have never voted before did so for Obama in a big way. Ethiopians might not have registered with your organization, but the low level of participation in your organization does not tell the whole story about the Ethiopian turnout for Obama on election day. Having said, would it have been better for Ethiopian to register with your organization to vote for Obama in order to address issues that are dear to them? I certainly see and support your point on the importance of organization in order to maximize our benefits in the context of the American political system and achieve the same effect as the Cuban vote in Florida. And my advice to you is simply not to abandon the mission you have embarked upon. Again, I believe it is not correct on your part to conclude that Ethiopians would prefer to waste their time in coffee shops chit chatting about politics rather than getting involved to change the state of affairs that affect their lives.
2. If you have followed Ethiopian politics closely, you would have no doubt seen the excitement and the huge turnout that we have all witnessed to welcome and hear the leaders of the Kinijit when they were here after being freed from prison. Thousandths of Ethiopians have contributed both in terms of time and money to further the cause that Kinijit stood for. Definitely, that is not a sign of being apolitical. It does not serve your purpose to generalize and put down a whole group of people because you have not seen tangible results for the fruits of your labor. In fact, I will strongly argue that a good percentage of Ethiopians spent a great deal of their time being involved in Ethiopian politics in stark contradiction to your assertion that they would rather waste their time in cafes. You do not have to go any further than visiting the popular Ethiopian web-sites and following the numerous demonstration that are held in western nations to see the involvement of Ethiopians where it counts.
3. Successive American administrations have ignored the plight of Ethiopians and the region and have sided with the powers that be to further their interest. And so far, judging from the actions of the Obama adminstration, the change I am witnessing is just the rhetoric, everything else is business as usual. Going forward, if the present policy continues, I am sure this will dampen the enthusiasm of Ethio-Americans towards the Obama administration and make your endeavor more difficult. Therefore, do not be hard on older Ethiopians if they see the US policy for what it is and are not so excited to participate in the political process. Although I believe we should participate in the political process to maximize our gains and benefit Ethiopian everywhere, your challenges are manifold and you should make your case in order to win all Ethiopians to your cause.