Beware of Mediator Bias and Mediation as a Tactic: A word to the Wise
Oromo Affairs - September 30, 2007
So, who is Prof. Ephrem Isaac? Imagine this.
It is the 1940s. You are born from an Oromo mother. You are uprooted from your birth place in a small town in Oromia at about 13 years of age and taken away to Finifinnee for “education.” At the educational institution you joined, you are probably the only Oromo boy. You are forced to learn the Amhara language because it was the medium of instruction and without it you cannot communicate with others around you. You look all around you and find out that no one speaks your language. Those that you hear speaking it once in a while are ridiculed and laughed at. At such a tender age, you are not old enough to have formed and be comfortable with your identity. You grow up with the feeling that your culture and language are not as good as theirs. No mention of your people’s history in your history class while the Habasha history is glorified. Then you start believing your people have no history or you find your people’s history embarrassing. You want to be like “them.” You try as hard as you can to dissociate yourself from this “embarrassing” history, culture and language. Before you know it, you have become an assimilado. You have become more Habasha than the Habashas around you. They, the habasha masters, are so happy with your performance (academic and assimilation wise) they ship you off to America for further education. You are very grateful and want to make them happier. Once in America you “fall in love with Ethiopian [habasha] culture” all over again. To you Ethiopian costume is the Habasha shammaa, Ethiopian history is Habasha history, Ethiopian food is the Amhara dooroo wax, Ethiopian dance is the Amhara skisttaa, etc …