WHY DO “ERITREANS” WANT TO BECOME MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP)?
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NAACP!
By Wondimu Mekonnen
London, UK
Beware of the wolf in sheepskin!
Almost the entire educated population of Africa knows of the sacrifices our brothers and sisters in America have made in their struggle to liberate themselves, first from the direct bondage of slavery, and then, after achieving that tremendous objective, from the ravages of inequality and injustice. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, … and many others are household names of African youth. You, our brothers and sisters in America, have sacrificed so much to turn America from the graveyard of the blackman into a safe haven for the persecuted. We, in Ethiopia, are proud of you!
In the history of your struggle for freedom and equality, Ethiopia occupies a special place. Why is that? We all know the reason. When you were persecuted for being “black” in America, as “ the Negro”, your brothers and sisters in Africa were also taken hostage by the same kinds of people. The mighty European force, which came first with a Bible preaching Christ, a White Christ, and after stealing the people’s hearts and minds, later, with a gun to steal their land and pride, failed when it reached Ethiopia. When they attempted to come in with their perverted Gospel, a living, true Bible awaited them, humbling them with the knowledge that we Ethiopians had first known Christ while Europeans were still dwelling in Caves. They could not bring us, the Ethiopian people, their new God, for the God they sought to preach was alive in Ethiopia and by then had dwelt there for one and a half millennia. The gun could only come through the road torn open by their perverted Gospel. Ethiopia had kept holy the original Bible and its message of loving kindness, and she fought back steadfastly, refusing to accept their tainted Gospel, for the Living Word of God is a two-edged sword in the hands of the faithful. Therefore, they went about wreaking havoc until they had subjugated all of our Black brothers and sisters, all except our small corner of Africa, where we, the original Ethiopians, survived unconquered.
From that part of Africa, the Horn of Africa, the light of freedom for all Africans continued to flicker, no matter how weak and dim it might have become. All the conquerors, who tried to subdue Ethiopia, one by one, failed and failed utterly to subjugate these last defiant black people. First, the Ottoman Turks attempted to conquer Ethiopia. Ethiopia lost a great deal of land and people to the Turks, but she stood her ground on the very soil that is still her home today, including the land recently rechristened "Eritrea". Then the Portuguese came. They too badly failed. The English were the last but one to nearly occupy her. Yet the invaders soon realised that administering Ethiopia was an impossibility, unleashing a disaster of unprecedented magnitude. They left in peace. All learned their lessons bitterly and in the end left her alone. Finally, one more macho gangster by the proud name of Italy cast its eyes on these freedom-loving people and this beautiful, holy black land.
The first bitter pill the black man forced Italians to drink took place in 1887 at Dogali, not very far from the present Port of Massawa. At this spot, the invincibility of the adventurist European race was proven as vulnerable as that of any mortal human being, at the hands of an Ethiopian Ras, Alula Aba Nega. An entire contingent of the Italian army, armed to the teeth, was wiped out, leaving only eight people to escape and tell the tale. This event was not considered by the Italians as the victory of courageous Ethiopians, but as the horror of their soldiers being devoured by wild animals. There were cries of outrage, mourning, and gnashing of teeth in Rome, where everyone demanded vengeance. Yet vengeance was not that easy against Ethiopians – The Africans!
The death of Emperor Yohannes IV gave rise to a period of confusion among Ethiopians. The Europeans were giving arms to each rival group of contenders to the throne and waiting for the right time to strike. It was during this period, in August 1889, that for the first time, Asmara was sacrificed to the occupant white race from Europe. There was no one to guard the city, for everyone was busy holding onto the reins of leadership. It was too late to save Asmara. The Italians quickly settled into dismantling every trace of “Ethiopianness” from the hearts and minds of our people of the Red Sea Coast. Immediately, they changed the name of the newly acquired territory from Behir Medri to "Eritrea." They then launched their psychological warfare against the rest of the Ethiopians. They ruled over the people with a heavy hand and bred among them ignorance and forgetfulness. No Ethiopian in “Eritrea” was allowed to learn beyond the Fourth Grade. Many escaped to the Southern free land and obtained their educations there. The rest were subdued and dehumanized into mindless animals.
After settling well in Asmara, the Italians used Eritrea as a stepping stone for launching their heavy assault on the remaining territory of Ethiopia to finalize their dream of uniting their ill-gotten Italian territories from Eritrea to Somalia. Menelik, the Warrior King, arose with his people and devastated the power of the “Mighty Whiteman from Europe” once again, in March 1896. This victory opened the eyes and minds of our brothers and sisters under subjugation in Africa. From horizon to horizon, the Victory of Adwa was engraved in the minds of our brothers and sisters.
From this moment onward, resistance against colonialism mushroomed throughout Africa. Our brothers and sisters in America rejoiced more than anyone else. That was why Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, Abyssinian Baptist Churches, and Ethiopian Methodist Churches everywhere became established and remain well-known to all members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP.) I come before you now only to invoke your memories.
The mischief of the colonialists did not stop there. Although Italy was deterred from penetrating into the deeper heart of the Blackman’s Holy Land, Menelik and his men were unable to push the wretched oppressors into the Red Sea. The reasons reside in the historic fact that the Italians had earlier introduced new human and cattle diseases into Ethiopia, including rinderpest, which had badly hurt our nation. Forcing the Italians to sign capitulation papers and exacting from them a vow never again to try, Menelik left them in "Eritrea."
However, from that moment on, the Italians began their strategy of avenging Dogali and seeking revenge for their humiliation in Adwa. For the next 40 years, they varied their tactics. They began by working with the local people. They recruited the ignorant and rejected of our subjugated people, those degenerated and humiliated in our lost territories, and refashioned them into Askaris, "local soldiers." This includes kids, which were called "Belilas"
When they grew up, they were called "Askaris". They trained these Askaris, both physically and psychologically brainwashing them, to hate their blood brothers in the South. These Askaris thought the blue-eyed Romans that administered them were angels who fed them when happy, and destroyed them when angry.
The Italians stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, tanks, planes and all modern weaponry to launch their assault against Ethiopia once more in 1935. Our Ethiopian brothers forgot their roots and fought for the colonialist Whiteman against their own people, like mad dogs in service to their Italian masters. The Italians rained down nerve gas by planes from the sky and assaulted us with rocket propellers and grenades from the land.
Temporarily, the Italians gained the upper hand with war tactics cowardly planned and inhumanly executed. The last, defiant black nation stood at risk of falling. This moment marked a significant solidarity of “coloured people” across the globe in support of the heroic Ethiopians. Especially our African American brothers and sisters in the US and the Caribbean islands identified themselves with Ethiopians. This was a time many African Americans volunteered to fight for Ethiopia and to die an honourable death alongside their brothers and sisters.
They did so gloriously! They contributed money and fought the Ethiopian war in their own way. Ironically, the majority of the Italian forces who were massacring our people were the newly created Eritrean Askaris. That was the worst pain Ethiopia had to endure. What can you do when your brother becomes your enemy's servant and shoots to kill you? With the help of God and the invincible spirit of Ethiopia, together with the British army and African American support, within five years that ordeal was over.
This time, despite their nerve gas and barbaric cruelty, crimes not yet accounted for, despite their sycophant Askaris, the Italians were driven out for good, not only from Ethiopia, but also from the territory they had occupied for 70 years, from “Eritrea.”
After bitter diplomatic battles with the British, the land and the people were reunited with joy, hoping to become one happy family once more in 1952.
Alas, the Whiteman left the territory only after burying a time bomb.
After the last and decisive victory over the occupying Italians, a question remained: What was to be done with the Askaris. Emperor Haile Sellassie I and his men, ardent Christians, chose the path of reconciliation and forgiveness, in understanding of the conditions under which these people were used by the forces of the occupying enemy. Therefore, no punishment was brought upon a single Askari for the crimes committed against their blood brothers and sisters, forgiving crimes against humanity that involved even mass genocide.
The “Eritreans” became once more Ethiopians, without even converting their place names back to their original African forms. They lived everywhere within Ethiopia. They prospered.
To keep the lost and regained territory, at least economically, at the same level as the Italians left it - although the economic benefit was always for the Italians and never for the local people under occupation - the Emperor pumped every meagre resource into Eritrea. The best schools were opened and Eritreans got the best educations, while the rest of Ethiopia was still illiterate. The best hospitals were built in Eritrea, while millions died of malaria and other curable disease elsewhere in Ethiopia.
All these benefits failed to win the appreciation and loyalty of the Askaris. They developed a perverted nostalgia for serving their white masters. They continued to rebel against Ethiopia for no reason. They secretly entered into alliances with the enemies of Ethiopia. They stealthily worked at it day and night, forging again the old, Italian grand plans of destruction for Ethiopia. To this very day, they are working towards that goal, and will not rest until they have achieved that final, wicked goal.
One of the main aims of the children and grand children of the Askaris is the defamation of the struggle Ethiopia waged against colonialism. They desecrated our Ethiopian history and heritage wherever they went. But, what is to be expected from such "Uncle Tom" servants? They are hypnotized and controlled. We often cannot but feel sorry for them.
They found sympathisers within Ethiopia and managed to overthrow the military regime following Emperor Haile Sellassie I. They found a regime that would accept carrying out Mussolini’s plans for Ethiopia. They executed these plans to every detail through their chosen puppet regime in Ethiopia. As for themselves, they declared independence and started building their “Piccola Roma.”
Then on 06 May 1998, however, they have fallen out with their puppet regime in Ethiopia, who refused to accept their orders any longer. With a very lame excuse for conflict, a mythical “Colonial Border”, they opened war over our remaining people, killing tens of thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians. They are still at it when this open letter is written. To begin with, their question of “respect for colonial borders” is a disgrace to the black race. Ethiopia had never signed into existence any such colonial border with the European invaders. Why should she now be bogged down with their Askari arguments today?
Recently, I was horrified to learn that the same children of the Askaris who had migrated to America have decided to join one of the sacred communities of the African Diaspora, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP). One wonders, why they might have wanted to do that? The very people who had rejected their own African heritage, the very people who had fought so vigorously to become members of the Arab League, are now pretending to be honourable Blackmen in order to qualify for membership in the NAACP! It might have been acceptable to affiliate with this distinguished and sacred society on an individual basis, but why as a group? Given their idolatrous worship of a Whiteman, what is the purpose of their interest in becoming members of an organisation sworn to fight the injustice of domination by one race over another?
For many Ethiopians and other Africans, who know the so-called “Eritreans,” it is an open secret. They seek to become part of you just as they became part of Ethiopia, and to work from within you, to eat you like a cancer from the inside out, and destroy your historic solidarity with Ethiopia. I personally protest as a free and proud African against their admission into your sacred society, for I know the underling motivation of this group purportedly seeking your friendship. They are in fact your deadly enemies.
I urge you to exercise caution. I implore you to safeguard this wonderful society of and for our African American brothers and sisters. Launch your own research. Find out the validity of my claims for yourselves before admitting this group, who target you for evil motives. Discover and reveal the true motivation behind this sinister move by these so-called “Eritreans”. When you face the truth, you too will be horrified just as I am in this moment forced to write this open letter to warn you. Demand answers to the question: If becoming members of the NAACP is so important to them, why only now, when their leadership is engaged in a life and death struggle to destroy the remaining part of Ethiopia? If their intentions are genuine and pure, you have nothing to lose in patiently awaiting an end to this war. And, in truth, you will yet see who they really are.
Beware of the wolf in the sheep-skin!
ETHIOPIA REACHES HER HANDS UNTO GOD!
PS: Dear Web readers, Please forward this open letter of mine to whom it may concern in the NAACP. Thank you very much for your co-operation
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