Sunday, November 1, 2009

My Peoples be slightly racist....

ok when i say my peoples.....I am including both Eritreans and Ethiopians....actually this prolly also could branch out to the entire horn-Somalia, Djibouti and North Sudan as well.

So over the weekend my archnemesis and I were chillin with Wai and her friend Abdi. Eventually the discussion truned to Habesha people ...and how we as a people are a bit elitist..especially when it comes to other Africans.

Example working in Kenya..Habesha person in Ethiopia or Eri says

Habesha peeps: Ohhh you are working in AFRICA! How is it working in AFRICA?? -Said in a facinating "the dark continent" Indian Jones and the temple of doom sort of tone)

Me (thought process): Uhmmm homie...aint you in Africa as well.

Although archnemesis and I tried to defend our peeps as best we could. Explaining there is a different history..and maybe the horn doesnt fit into the Western Stereotypes (YES we blamed the white man!!!) of the peoples of Africa, so maybe the horn feels the need to distance itself....yada yada yada....

this was all BS!!!! Why?

Well the next day we were at Habeshas...my favorite Eri/Ethio food grub place in Kenya. So archnemesis doesnt speak Amharic (ethiopian) very well...and also is slightly darker than what the average image of Ethiopians/Eritreans are (...see where this is going)

SO...as we were talking to the waiter...archnemesis said something in Amharic...and the waiter looks at her STUNNED!

(paraphrased convo)
Habesha Waiter: Are you ETHIOPIAN?!?!!?

Archnemesis: Yes I am. I grew up mostly in the states and dont speak Amharic very well.

Habesha Waiter: ..i thought you were "African"...and I was thinking...wow how is this "African" so pretty?? Where did she get these Eyes from...and where did she get that nose from. Now that I know you are Ethiopian...it makes sense.

*note this guy was serving us for the last 30 mins or so...and thinking that Archnemesis was "African" must have rocked his motha F'in world)


Archnemesis and I: Yeaaaaah... :-/

We were meeting Wairimu and Abdi that same day ....and explained...yeah we as a ppl be racist. Sorry.


*~* note...this does not mean all Eri/Ethiopian ppl or ppl from the Horn are racist...it just means that...culturally we have some racist stereotypes.