Menelik II ---------------------------------------Rapper Rick Ross


Menelik had been infected by syphilis when a youth, and had recently been
affected by a 'tingle' in the bottom half of his left leg, the reflexes of
which had slowed considerably-a symptom connected with the venereal disease.
SOURCE
Already weakened by syphilis, Menelik suffered a series of strokes that left him incapcitated in 1909. He died without offical announcement in Demcember
1913...
SOURCE
Menelik II aka blacker than Shaq's elbows said he was a caucasian.

'I am not a Negro at all; I am a Caucasian' the Emperor Menelik told the West Indian pan-Africanist Benito Sylvian who had come to Addis Ababa to solicit the Emperor's leadership in a society for the 'Amelioration of the Negro race.' Haile Sellassie confirmed that view in a declaration to Chief H. O. Davis, a well known Nigerian nationalist, stating that the Ethiopians did not regard themselves as Africans, but as 'a mixed Hamito-Semitic people
SOURCE
Menelik is also again on record telling the then Italian representative to Ethiopia, Count Antonelli,
"that he loved Italy so much that he felt 'half Italian and no greater wish that to go there and see it'"
Chris Prouty, Empress Taytu and Menelik II page 57
Here's the whole quote of Menelik's identity issues and his claims as the Italians as his friends:
""i love italy and I love it so much that almost I feel myself Italian, and I have no other desire than to go if it were possible, I myself (want) to see this Italy, to which many years of friendship bind me.
Source
Look at Menelik asking the Italians to occupy Eritrean highlands.
"Via Antonelli's courier, Menelik informed the King of Italy that he would like the Italian soldiers to occupy Asmara, in order to discourage the imperial pretensions of Mengesha Yohannes (the son of Emperor Yohannes)." "There after," added Menelik, "God will give me the throne that for many years I have had the right to have."
Chris Prouty, Empress Taytu and Menelik II p. 6
Menelik II also had wrote to King Umberto of Italy and said, among other things, that this region was theres to share with:
"I beg Your Majesty to defend me against every one as I don't know what European kings will say about this let others know that this region is ours."
Chris Prouty, "Empress Taytu and Menelik II," p. 54
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When Haile Selasie, the emperor of Ethiopia, was interviewed by the Nigerian
Daily times about Ethiopian racial identity in the 1930s, he said, "That
Ethiopians were not, and did not regard themselves as negros [sic], as they
were a Hamito-Semitic people"
Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization By Asafa Jalata, p.96
SOURCE
When Haile Selassie fled to London, Gravey tried to contact him
but was snubbed, and it was reported that "the emperor did not
desire any contact with 'Negroes.'"
The New World of Negro Americans By Harold Robert Isaacs p.153
SOURCE
Menelik II and Selassie both agreeing they are not Africans but rather in Menelik II own words as a "Caucasian".
Some say the fastest Ethiopian track star that ever lived is none other than Haile Selassie. When Mussonlini invaded Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, their general (that never seen war), ran away and fled for his life faster than any long distance star.
"In his desperate act to hold power, Haile Selassie now made a secret peace overture to Mussolini, sending a former Ethiopian Minister in Rome to contact the Italian consul in Djibouti. He offered to sell a large part of Ethiopia to Italy for one and half milliard Lira and to appoint six Italian advisors to direct the policy of his government. Mussolini sent sourteous reply to the intermediary, expressing his pleasure that the Negus had at last decided to negotiate directly with him; but he said the offer was unacceptable."
J. Ridley, p. 270
ASKARI ETHIOPIANS: Menelik was the biggest Askari but here are some honorable mentions:

Ethiopians Admiring Mussolini Poster
Original caption: 11/19/1935-Ethiopia-Natives of a captured Tigray province pay their respects, Italian fashion, to a huge likeness of the "Great White Father."
Source

Ethiopian Woman Wearing Soldier's Fez
A barebreasted Ethiopian woman, representing the native Ascari soldiers fighting for Italy, is photographed wearing an Ascari fez in order to motivate the Italian soldiers.
source

Abyssinians Who Guard The Italian Legation in Abyssinia.



