Even though we in the AJC promote non-violence, many of these groups formed in order to defend their own people from Woyanne forces and oppression. In fact, the Woyane are using double-standards when they claim that those using violence are terrorists because Woyane are acting as terrorists against their own people who are rising up to defend themselves.

All should be held accountable if they go too far and break international law, but Woyanne have led the way, killing thousands of Ethiopians over a thirty-year period and it is absurd for them to point fingers when even now, they are doing the same thing in the Ogaden. Yet, even those in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces are Ethiopians who must be incorporated back into our civil society. How will we do this? We must start to think about these things and will need help from many fellow Ethiopians to do it effectively.

We must place hope and expectations on our civic groups to be at the grass-roots of bringing about the change we want, groups like women’s groups, religious groups, youth groups, journalists, educators and human rights groups who all can greatly help in improving Ethiopian society and government. We need the religious leaders—from the mosques, the churches and average people of faith to give us the moral underpinnings and courage to stand up for right and the fear of God. Different approaches will be taken and their work will be best judged by the results; yet, none will be perfectly done, without any mistakes.

This will be a turbulent time, but remember, it is only when we are in crisis, that most of us are motivated enough to actually change our ways. Otherwise, most people continue to make the same kinds of choices, even if those choices lead to their own destruction. Let us Ethiopians learn from the mistakes of the past millennium so our descendents can look back with gratitude and respect for what we have accomplished through the help of God at such a time as this. Will we be willing to change before the next millennium, that is, if we as Ethiopians make it to the next millennium as a country or will we disintegrate into pieces like Yugoslavia?

If we are to remain a nation, we must break free from our bondage of societal dysfunction marked by our ethnic hatred, selfishness, inequality, greed and injustice. Some will represent the side of change and others will fight against such change—some for all the wrong reasons—an insatiable thirst for power, privilege and more money. The clash will begin and let us pray that God will help the majority of Ethiopians to choose those things that will lead to a better future for all Ethiopians in the Third Millennium.

During these difficult times, you never know from where your help will come. It might not be from where you expect it. The forgotten, disposable people of Ethiopia may be those who are critically needed in our transformation—like the beggars who were recently forced off the streets of Addis Ababa to prevent tainting the “image” of Ethiopia. Consider this Biblical account of how Christianity was introduced to Africa, not through the powerful and the rich, but through the marginalized and the oppressed.

In Acts 8:26-39, an Ethiopian was the first known African to accept Christianity. In this passage, an angel of the LORD tells the disciple of Jesus, Phillip, to take a certain road where he met an Ethiopian eunuch, on his way home from worshiping God in Jerusalem, who was reading a prophetic passage about Jesus from the Biblical book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. This Ethiopian eunuch had questions as to who was being talked about in that passage and unexpectedly, Philip was there to answer those questions by telling him about Jesus. The eunuch reportedly enthusiastically accepted the explanation because he asked to be baptized and became the first recorded believer in Jesus in Africa.

Now, Ethiopians take pride in being the first African country to receive Christianity, but interestingly, it came through a eunuch, the servant or slave to Queen Candace of Ethiopia, rather than through a person of royalty or of high esteem in that society. Slaves were most often taken from the oppressed classes of society—frequently a minority group—and this was probably no exception even though he was obviously highly educated and trusted to oversee the entire national treasury.

Now, when we hear Meles talk about the “golden people of Tigray,” or when we hear of the Amhara being “the chosen people,” as mentioned by Ethiopian professor Dr. Messai Kebede, from the University of Dayton during the Ethiopian millennium symposium at Howard University in Washington D.C., we may be seeing things too much through our own human perspective. This is exclusive language that leaves out many of us. Instead, we should be including all people along with the beautiful people of Tigray and Amhara as God loves all of us. Yet, the Biblical account gives us good reason to believe that this eunuch was from the “lower classes” of that society. This unexpected emissary is the one God first entrusted with Christianity on the continent.

What does this have to say to us about not overlooking the present-day eunuchs of our society who have been “cut-off” from the mainstream power-holders, but who have things of great value to contribute? Who are the eunuchs of today? Could they be the beggars, the homeless children, the prostitutes, our housemaids, the guard at our doors, our disabled, our women, our minorities and the other marginalized of our society? Any movement that does not include such people is one that will never bring about the Ethiopia that God may have in mind for us.

Some of us have had more access to privilege, education, opportunities, wisdom, health and power. Such assets should benefit others as well as ourselves as we openly share them with others. This Ethiopian eunuch who was serving those around him, passed this gift on to other Ethiopians, something we now have as part of our past…