Displaced Oromians race to free their homeland
Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, MN - August 8, 2007
Although it is one of Africa’s largest nations, Oromia is either forgotten by or unknown to the majority of the world today. A July 29 first-ever race around Lake Calhoun was intended in part to rectify that oversight.
Only four nations in Africa have larger populations than Oromia (estimated at 40 million), which is located in the Horn of Africa and makes up a large part of Ethiopia. It is about the size of Texas.
However, throughout most of their early history, the Oromo people have been utterly mistreated. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Oromia was colonized by Abyssinia, a Black African nation that received help from the European colonial powers of the day. Between 1870 and 1900, the Oromo population was cut in half from 10 million to five million. Many were killed by the colonial army, while others died of famine and epidemics and others were sold as slaves ...