Helen - I am writing in response to the reply you gave to Yohannes regarding Eritreans
in the US.
Now, while I do not dispute your findings of the way Eritreans behaved during the
soccer tournament in Toronto (I was there and I agree with what you observed), I do,
however, resent and regret the apparent conclusion you have reached about us Eritreans
who live in the US. Specifically speaking, I resent your statement where you advised
Yohannes:
"All I wanted to say Yohannes, is that if you want to go to a place
where Eritreans are nice to each other (generally speaking), live in Canada."
Now, Helen Haftey, please enlighten me how an educated and intelligent individual like
you (and I'm using the adjectives "educated" and "intelligent" based on my observations
of your previous postings in Dehai:-) can reach to the above conclusions based only on
what took place in Toronto, be it at the hotel, the soccer field, or the guailas? In
other words, Helen, how can you imply that we Eritreans in the US are not nice to each
other and are incapable of behaving in a civilized manner based on your observation of
a bunch of soccer hooligans? Do you honestly believe the behaviors of the soccer
players and their fans are a representative sample of the entire Eritrean-American
population?
Indeed, kibirti Helen, there are ERITREANS (be they American-Eritrean,
Canadian-Eritrean, German-Eritrean, Asmarino-Eritrean, or what have you) who behave in
a manner that is inconsistent from the virtues our "shy and very conservative culture"
taught and instilled in us. As to why these individuals behave in such manner once
going abroad is beyond me. I have not done or read a study that examined the reasons
for such outlandish behaviors, and so the only thing I can do is speculate, and
speculate I will not.
But an attempt to label such behaviors as a unique brand of Eritrean-American attitude
and an attempt to use it to tarnish the reputation of the entire 40-50 thousand
innocent Eritreans residing in the US, I believe, is wrong. Unfortunately, Helen
Haftey, I do not see any difference between your generalization of Eritrean-Americans'
attitudes and other generalizations I hear about other groups, i.e. "Eritrean girls are
like this..." or "Eritrean guys are like that...." With all due respect, my Eritrean
sister, your generalization is like the others: it serves no purpose other than to
create ugly stereotypes in people's minds by creating this false notions of "we/us" are
better than "they/them."
Honestly, Helen, if I believed or took seriously all the generalizations I've heard in
the past, then my mind would have been clouded with illogical and baseless stereotypes.
As an example, if I believed all the idiotic generalization I heard about our Eritrean
sisters, then I should be subscribing to stereotypes such as: "Eritrean girls are easy
..they are clue-less... they are subservient and obedient...they need to be told what
to do...," and so forth. But, Helen, you and I know very well these are nothing but
ugly and false stereotypes created by senseless generalizations made by moronic
individuals. The individuals, for one reason or another, will resort to making a
groundless generalization of a particular group of people based simply on a single
incident or occurrence, if any. And in doing so, these individuals help build the
stereotypes that serve to divide our people and create suspicion and distrust amongst
us.
Kibirti Helen...please do not take my above comments as a scolding of you for the
statements you made in reply to Yohannes’ posting in Dehai. By no means was my
intention to criticize you. Rather, my objective was to show you how sometimes we
humans tend to make generic statements based on one or two incidents we observe of a
"sample" group of people and we then turn around and apply our observation to the
entire (general) population, and, by doing so, we help in the fostering of ugly and
baseless stereotypes. That's all.
Hope I did not tick you off :-))))
Respectfully,
Your brother
John Tesfazghi
Honolulu, Hawaii
*****************
You wrote:
>
>Yohannes and DEHAIERS,
>
> All I wanted to say Yohannes, is that if you want to go to a place
>where Eritreans are nice to each other (generally speaking), live in Canada.
>
> Unfortuneately, I have to say that I agree with you about
>Eritrean-American's attitudes. This summer there was a soccer tournament in
>Toronto, Canada. It was the only time (besides visiting the States) that I
>got a chance to observe you guys, and to really notice the way you act. To
>say I was appalled is an understatement. I mean, you guys were jumping up
>and down at all the wrong times. Screaming and shouting for no reason (and
>it wasn't even at the soccer game). It's not like I'm some adult who's mad
>that Americans are sort of distruptive, because I'm not. I'm young, and I
>am definately not the only one who thought this way. I mean, even when the
>guys approached you, it was rude and disgusting. I was embarrased because
>we all come from a "shy", and
>a very conservative culture, so-to-speak, and the fact that moving to a
>Western society can corrupt you like this is...stupid (lack of a better word).
>
>The hotels the soccer players stayed in was upset because they were so
>messy, loud and obnoxious. I understand we all came to have fun, but
>couldn't we have done it in a more mature, civilized manner? What about in
>the years to come? Who's to say that we will ever get hotels to accomodate
>us, and if you were in their shoes, would you blame them? I think not.
>
>I hope I'm not the only one to tell the American's how they acted was rude
>and embarassing. Maybe next year they'll get the point...
>
>Helen Tewolde.
>
>P.S- Yohannes, do you have a sister named "Luam"?
>
>