Milko Abdurahman Narrator

Ayano Jiru Interviewer

October 16, 2016 Saint Paul, Minnesota

Interview conducted in English

Milko Abdurahman -MA Ayano Jiru -AJ

AJ: I’m Ayano Jiru recording for the Minnesota Historical Society Oromo Oral History Project. Today is Sunday, October 16, 2016. We are in the city of Saint Paul. I’m here with Milko Abdurahman, who is representing Oromos born in America in this project. Milko, thank you for sitting with me for this interview today. Welcome.

MA: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

AJ: Milko, I really appreciate you for doing this project with me. Your perspective in this will be very different from the rest of the group I have because you’re born in America and you also visited back home. We will talk about it and how that will make your Oromo history in modern day time. To begin our interview, let me ask you this question off hand. Where were you born?

MA: I was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

AJ: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

MA: Yes.

AJ: What year was that?

MA: Nineteen ninety-four.

AJ: Nineteen ninety-four. Were there many Oromos around here?

MA: There were about, like, ten.

AJ: Ten, in Sioux Falls?

MA: Maximum, ten.

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AJ: In Sioux Falls?

MA: Yes.

AJ: How long did you stay in Sioux Falls?

MA: Four months.

AJ: Four months. Where did you move?

MA: Saint Paul, Minnesota.

AJ: Saint Paul, Minnesota. The home of the Minnesota Historical Society.

MA: Yeah.

AJ: Yeah. You were an infant when you moved here. How was it like growing up here in Saint Paul?

MA: It’s pretty diverse. A lot of different people from different areas of the world, including Oromos. It’s not bad. I enjoyed it.

AJ: Your parents came from where in Oromia? MA: My parents. My dad came from Dodola—well, the countryside of Dodola [in the Oromia region of Ethiopia]. They call it Tuticha or Jafara.

AJ: Jafara.

MA: Yeah. And my mom is from the countryside of Adaba, which is called Hunxee Alola [in the Oromia region of Ethiopia].

AJ: Hunxee Alola. How did they come to America? What year did they come to America?

MA: My dad came in, I believe, 1992, and my mom came in ’93.

AJ: In ’93, and then they had you right away.

MA: Yeah. They got married, and then nine months and four days later, I was born. [Chuckles.]

AJ: Do you know what they did in Oromia, what kinds of jobs your parents had in Oromia? What did they do there?

MA: Gosh, my dad could tell this when I was growing up. I don’t remember. They sold cows, they sold animals. They do like profit. They’re like the middle man. What do you call it? Nagade [merchant].

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AJ: Nagade, yeah. Do you know why they had to leave Oromia?

MA: Poverty and war.

AJ: War and poverty.

MA: Yeah. Growing up when we were younger, they always told us there was a war and that was why they left. My dad came through Kenya. They escaped, and then they made it here.

AJ: When they made it here, how was the life that they had. Did they have a hard time adjusting to life in America? I mean, you were born after, obviously, they adjusted, but how does it look to you now? Have they really adjusted to the America life as you may know it now?

MA: I mean, they work fulltime jobs, they have their own house. I’d say they’ve adjusted. Through struggles, of course. When they tell us stories of how they raised us, the differences from the nineties and now are very different. They came, and they didn’t know anything. They didn’t know English. They had to learn how to drive, they had to learn how to communicate, they had to learn how to use money, and then raise kids—because they had us right away. It was me and my sister who were the first. So it was very difficult on their terms, but for us it was never difficult because when we were growing up and adjusting to everything, everything was already there.

AJ: As you came up in Saint Paul as a child of an immigrant family, what is it like? What was it like as a kid, as an Oromo kid?

MA: You balance two lives. You juggle two worlds. You’re Oromo, and then you’re African American. It’s two different worlds. At home you speak Oromo, you live the Oromo lifestyle, you eat Oromo food, and then you go out and you’re having a burger and you have a little slang to your tone and the way you talk. Everything is different. You have to balance it. I did it very good, but it’s not easy.

AJ: It’s not. The interesting thing is you said African American. What about the American life? Why African American?

MA: Because of my skin color. I’m black. That’s the circle I chose to hang out with. The other people I got along with were African American people. But from the color of my skin, I’m black, so I have to juggle being black and being African at the same time. It’s two different worlds. I have that culture, and then I have this culture. It’s like I have a culture you have to understand because I’m African, and then I have a culture you don’t understand because I’m black. It’s two different worlds.

AJ: Yeah. Eye opening. A lot of people have a hard time balancing the two cultures, like you’re saying—the Oromo culture and the African American culture. But for you, also, it seems like there are two Oromo cultures. There is the Oromo that is back home and the Oromo that is developed here in America. And then there is the American view of an Oromo taken for African American, or like some people say to me they take me for Somali. What do you see in that?

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MA: Some people take me for Somali, but I don’t pay attention to that. I let them know what I am. I tell them I’m Oromo. But when it comes to balancing the different Oromo life—because I’ve been back home, you know. So when you balance from back home to here, it’s very different because as a woman back home, you have to do a ton of things. You’re the one who does laundry, you’re the one who does the cooking and the cleaning. You do everything there. Over here, growing up here, your mom does everything. You don’t do anything, even in the Oromo household. They taught us as a woman, you’re supposed to do this and this, but when they tell us, they tell us you do it for your husband—you know, when you grow old and move into your own home. But in Africa, even little kids do it. That’s the difference between back home and here, being Oromo. Between Oromo and the African American culture, there’s tons of differences and tons of things that you have to juggle at once.

AJ: So at home you learned your Oromo ways from your parents.

MA: Yeah. My mom and dad. How do I say it? They taught us the language. We speak the language. But growing up they always said, “Adaa keetii mitii [it is not our culture],” which means, “That’s not your culture. That’s not how you do it in our culture.” But they never said, “Well, this is how you do it in our culture.” For instance, when we take on the African American ways or talk a certain way or act a certain way, they say it’s, “Akka gurrachaa godhanii [behave like an African American].” You know? You’re acting like a black person—adaa keena mitii [it’s not our culture]. That word comes in again. It’s not our culture. But they never sat and showed us our culture or taught us this is the way you act, this is the way you respect people, have manners. We didn’t have any of that. It was just always adaa keena mitii. Then what is our adaa [culture]? Show us. There was none of that.

AJ: You know how they say it takes a whole village to raise a child? It sounds like what your parents teach you at home and when you go out to the American mainstream, it’s different.

MA: It didn’t apply.

AJ: Yeah, it doesn’t apply.

MA: Yeah. That applies back home. [Chuckles.] Their culture applies back home, not here.

AJ: So back home, you went back home you said. So what year was that that you went back home?

MA: The longest I went was six months. That time was in 2014.

AJ: You went more than one time?

MA: Yeah.

AJ: How many times did you go back home?

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MA: Four.

AJ: Four times you went back home? What’s the shortest time you stayed there?

MA: A month.

AJ: A month is the shortest. The longest is six months.

MA: Yes.

AJ: So how did you see that culture—what the parents teach at home—when they go out to the Oromo mainstream it applies?

MA: Like, respect. That applies. Because here in America, you can tell somebody to shut up, that’s fine. Over there, even raising your voice is disrespectful. There are certain rules that apply when it comes to respect and manners. Like when somebody comes in, you get up and let them take your seat. In America, if there is nowhere to sit, then there’s nowhere to sit. Sit on the floor, you know. That’s your fault. [Chuckles.] That has nothing to do with me. I’m not going to get up and let you sit down. But in Africa, you have to get up and sit down if they’re older than you— even by a day, if they’re older than you. Any elder, you have to respect them. It’s very different. It’s just different.

AJ: In America, here in Minnesota, are the Oromos able to keep that culture? Here in Minnesota, are people doing it? Do you see people doing it?

MA: No, I don’t. Barely. I see people talk about it. I mean, yeah, people talk about it. It’s like more of a competition. People compete with each other. Like elderly friends, people our parents’ age, they compete. “Oh, yeah. My kid speaks Oromo very fluently.” “Oh, mine does too. He doesn’t speak English in the house, he speaks only Oromo.” “Okay, does your kid know about the gadaa system [traditional Oromo sociopolitical system]? Does your kid know how many regions are in Oromia? Does your kid know the capital city of Oromia? The Oromo version of saying it, rather than Addis Ababa?” Like really, simple things.

AJ: What is the Oromo version? [Chuckles.]

MA: Some parents don’t sit there and teach, they don’t sit down and teach their kids any of this. But then they want to complain and say that’s not our culture. We’ll never know our culture unless you take the time to teach us.

AJ: What is the Oromo way of saying the capital city?

MA: Finfinne [Addis Ababa].

AJ: Finfinne.

MA: Yeah, we say Finfinne.

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AJ: Why is this all so important for the parents? Are they able to assimilate into the American culture or are they able to keep the Oromo culture?

MA: The parents have the Oromo culture. But they keep it to themselves. They let us just… They don’t teach us. The let us just go follow the American culture, and once it gets to the point where it’s not okay for them, that’s when they address our culture to us. But it’s never consistent, where we choose to follow just our culture. You can’t really follow your culture, you know. It’s not that easy. We live in America. It’s not easy.

AJ: How is it when you go to your school? You said, here in Said Paul, you finished high school here too.

MA: Yeah.

AJ: Which high school did you go to here in Saint Paul?

MA: Which high school did I go to? I hope they don’t write this down in the recording. [Chuckles.]

AJ: Well, it’s okay. It’s your high school. It’s representing the city of Saint Paul.

MA: I got a GED [General Education Development].

AJ: A GED?

MA: Yeah.

AJ: Okay.

MA: Yeah, I didn’t get a diploma. I got it outside of Saint Paul in Maplewood. But I was living in Saint Paul at the time. Yeah, I got a GED.

AJ: Do you want to share the story of how you got your GED?

MA: Well, in my senior year, I dropped out. I moved out of my parents’ house while I was a teenager. So then getting to school… I just gave up on everything at that time in my life. I just never cared about school. Eventually I wanted to go back to college, but I didn’t want to go back and do all my credits. So I was like, you know, rather than going back and doing all my credits, let me just get my GED so I can enroll in school this coming semester. That’s why I got my GED rather than going into depth about getting my diploma or using up much more time. I just wanted to get into that semester faster, so the GED was an option.

AJ: With your school, are you able to now find a job?

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MA: Oh, there are jobs. If you have a high school diploma or GED, there are jobs. There are connections. It depends on how outspoken you are. You can start off in customer service and work up to a manager within a year, and people go to school to be that manager. They waste two years reading books and taking exams to be that manger where you can work up in a year. There are connections, and it’s motivation, self-motivation. You can go as far as you want if you want to do it. If you want to do it, you can do it. If you don’t, then you’re not going to do it. So you can do it with a high school diploma or just a GED. You don’t need an associate’s degree, none of that.

AJ: What’s the level of Oromo youth motivation, these young people your age, like twenty, twenty-two, twenty-five and up, entering the workforce? How do you see their motivation? Especially the ones born in America, like yourself.

MA: There are different groups. There are people that don’t care, there are people that do care, there are people that almost care. There are people that do it for their parents’ sake because their parents care and they’re not happy with it. It’s different. It depends what category you fit in, you know. For people that are born here, I don’t know. But some Oromos are motivated.

AJ: You have the motivation.

MA: Like I said, there’s different groups. And different groups, there are some that are born here that are accustomed to the American ways. There are some that come with student visas first. There’s people that come from Oromia with student visas to study here, there are some that come with the DV [diversity visa] lottery, there are some that family members bring. Whatever way they come here, there are some that are motivated that get on top of their thing. They go to work, they go to school, they get their own place, they leave whoever they were dependent on. There are some that are really motivated, and there are some that just get accustomed to the welfare ways also. It’s different.

AJ: For this young generation like you, the ones that you’re saying are really, really motivated, how is it balancing with our elders who are very conservative in their thinking, the old ways? Like you were putting it, they’re culturally very strict.

MA: How is the what?

AJ: How is this motivated generation—like you guys, for instance, the American-born—how are they able to balance it with the culture?

MA: Well, in our culture, for women, women are required to stay at home until they’re married. So they bring that culture here. The older folks want you go to go school from home. They want you to drive to school, they claim they will support you and give you gas. “Just stay at home, you don’t have to pay rent. Just stay at home and go to school.” But there’s others that their motivation wants them to go above and beyond, and go out and seek their own independence, and go out to the universities, and go above and beyond like they believe they can. There are some families that have strict parents that hold them back and have their adaa, like their cultural

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AJ: Do you have any personal experience of that struggle with the cultural repression? Anything that you can share?

MA: I’d say with just college. My parents wanted me to stay at home and go to college rather than go out to the university and stay at a dorm. They said, “The dorm? Oh, it changes you. You’re going to party, you’re going to hang out with the wrong people, the wrong crowd of people. You’re going to do the wrong thing. When you’re at home, you can drive to school, come back and just study at home. There’s wifi [wireless internet].” Stuff like that. I wish I didn’t listen to them and went out and went to the university and made mistakes and learned from my mistakes and just did whatever life was about. You live and you learn.

AJ: Were the parents very protective?

MA: Yeah. We’re women. They don’t want us to be out there.

AJ: For sure, for sure. The Oromo parents, when they have kids in America, they also feel like since they didn’t have that good life in Oromia—political experiences and poverty experiences— when they come to America, they really want their children to have the good American Dream. You know the America Dream?

MA: Yes.

AJ: They want them to have that. Were you able to experience that?

MA: At the end of the day, the family that came here, they sought their own American Dream. Let the children go out and seek their own American Dream. Don’t give them the American Dream, don’t tell them how to get that American Dream. Our family took their risk to leave their country and come here. Let us take our risk and leave our home and go expand and find ourselves as well. You feel me?

AJ: The roles for men and women in Oromia, you’re saying, are different. How different are they?

MA: Men go out and work. Women stay at home and take care of the kids and clean. They don’t work. The men work. They do everything outside of the house. Women do everything indoors.

AJ: How do the Oromo American-borns think about that?

MA: Some are accustomed to it. It’s all about how the parent wants to teach them the culture. It’s either the kid takes it as a cultural difference or they take it as being a slave or something. If you teach them, they’ll appreciate it, they’ll learn from it and do it. But if you enforce it on them, they’ll feel as if they’re a slave and they’re doing all the work in the house. So it’s different how you put it upon them or address it.

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AJ: In Minnesota, do you think the difference is big between Minnesota and Oromia. You went to Oromia, what, four times?

MA: Yes.

AJ: Do you think that the change is big—the idea that the men are breadwinners and the women are more like the stay-at-home thing? Do you think that there’s a big difference in Minnesota?

MA: Well, now, the countries are both accustomed to be the same, to be honest, right now. Our parents, our family members, when they came years ago, they came like twenty years ago when it was the way it was in their head. They’re still stuck in that head, even today. But now when you go back to Ethiopia or Oromia, the women work. Women go out and go to colleges and dorms and things like that—the same things they do here. Oromo women work. The elders are becoming accustomed to it. They’re letting their women go out and work and be the breadwinners and all that. They’re learning, they’re getting the hang of it.

AJ: They’re assimilating into the American mainstream.

MA: Yeah. Here and there.

AJ: What do you think the biggest difference is between Oromos born in America and Oromos that are coming or came from Oromia?

MA: The difference in…

AJ: The difference in way of life, in their thinking, in their economic progress, in the way they view life.

MA: It’s different because some people that come from there have family there that they’re always focuses on and worried about trying to help. They always have their family on their mind—the majority of the people that come from there. But us that are born here, our mom and dad is here, our siblings are with us. We don’t have anybody to worry about. We live different lives. The majority of the Oromos that were born here live the American life. The majority of the Oromos that came from out of the country and live here are still living that Oromo lifestyle. It depends, though, on years. If they came maybe let’s say before 2005, then you’re Americanized. Because the Oromo Americanism changed after 2005. The FOB-ness [“fresh off the boat,” referring to new immigrants] changed. But if you came after 2005, you still have that Oromo mentality in everything that you do. You’ll always be Oromo in every act that you do with yourself. But the people that have been here and were raised here are accustomed to the American ways, just like the ones that were born here. So we’re basically, even though we’re Oromo, we’re American. Everything we do is American. The way we invest in our house is American. Everything is different.

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AJ: In Minnesota, have the Oromo been able to keep up the language? You mentioned that your parents were serious about teaching you Afaan Oromoo [Oromo language], but how is it for the rest of other families?

MA: In Minnesota, they’re good. In Minnesota, that’s one thing I won’t ever doubt. Maybe with the new upcoming generation, but Minnesotans, people my age, the upcoming youth that are coming up, like thirteen year olds, fourteen year olds, they know their language. A lot of people know their language. A lot of families are teaching their kids language, and a lot of families only speak Oromo as their language. That’s one thing that will go on forever.

AJ: Let’s talk more into the future now. Economically, what do you think of Oromos’ current position here in Saint Paul? Are they economically pretty organized?

MA: Economically organized? No.

AJ: [Chuckles.] They’re not.

MA: No, not at all!

AJ: How come?

MA: They all live off welfare. Seventy percent live off welfare. That’s more than half. That is not okay. What are you doing living on welfare? I think it’s because they went from getting nothing, no money in Africa, and then they came here and the government helped them through welfare and they got accustomed to that. So that seventy percent sat around, you know? They live in public housing, townhomes. The other thirty percent were the ones that came and lived off those seventy percent and saved up all their money. They opened up grocery stores and bought houses and raised their family in the suburbs.

AJ: What you’re saying is seventy percent of the Oromo immigrants, when they came here, thrived off of food stamps or welfare?

MA: Yes. Welfare and low income.

AJ: Why such a large population, do you think, is on welfare?

MA: Because I feel like… [Chuckles.] I don’t know. I feel like they feel like they’ve got something. They came from nothing, and they got something for free. It’s easy. You don’t have to do anything. It’s probably part of their culture too. You know how the women have to stay home? First of all, in the Oromo community, some people, when they’re really married, they’re just… I don’t know kanaraa oli yo kajiruu [chuckles] nu qaabani. [I don’t know if there is more to say than this, we will get caught with not being politically correct].

AJ: [Both laugh.] Just talk. You’re free to just speak any cases that you see. This is history.

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MA: What was I going to say? Some Oromo people that are married, they’re not on the same lease or their not married in this state.

AJ: They’re not legally married.

MA: There you go. They’re not legally married, so the woman would be living off food stamps, while the man is not on the lease, making real cash money, and that’s how they survive.

AJ: I see, I see. They’re doing whatever they can do to get by and achieve the American Dream.

MA: Yes.

AJ: What about the American-born, the Oromos that are born in America, like you?

MA: We do real live American stuff. We go to school, we get degrees, and we pay off school and get houses and live life. Or just hustle, you know. Join businesses, shares, invest.

AJ: Speaking of businesses and investments, can you describe some of the key places of Oromo community life in the Twin Cities? Like restaurants, mosques, churches, cafes.

MA: Yeah. Shabelle.

AJ: Shabelle.

MA: That’s the kickest bar for Harar Oromos. Ashama and Star Food is the Arsi kicking spot. They’ve got the new Awash [grocery store] right next to the Oromo Arsi masjid [mosque]. The reason why I emphasize on the Arsi is because Oromos in Minnesota tend to have this ongoing battle between Arsi and Harar, which is tribal or groups within the Oromo region. They have a little conflict between them. The Harar masjid just got their second one. So now they have two masjids. They’re ahead of the Arsis. I’m telling you, they’ve got shenanigans going on. There are kicking spots. There are restaurants. There’s one Oromo restaurant in South Minneapolis. What is it? Katar. That’s an Oromo restaurant.

AJ: Do you go out and eat at any of these places?

MA: To be honest, no.

AJ: Do these Oromo businesses get a lot of non-Oromo customers or do they get a lot of Oromo customers?

MA: No. The majority of them get only African customers. They have some Somali customers and some non-Oromo, like Habasha [Amhara] customers. But the majority of them are just East Africans customers. They don’t have any popularity outside of it.

AJ: So is there any Oromo business that is truly thriving within the American mainstream?

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MA: Thriving?

AJ: Yeah.

MA: [Shakes head.]

AJ: None?

MA: Within the Oromo community. Yeah, they’re thriving within the Oromo community. They don’t have any commercials on TV. [Both chuckle.] If you don’t have any commercials on TV, you’re not thriving. Only Oromo people come in the shop.

AJ: What about churches? Is there competition in churches? Seems like there’s competition in mosques and building mosques. You said there was competition.

MA: I don’t know much about that because my family is Muslim.

AJ: Are you Muslim too?

MA: I don’t claim to be Muslim. No, I’m not Muslim.

AJ: What would you say you are or is that not…

MA: I’m the real Oromo religion—waaqeffataa [waqeffanna, traditional Oromo spiritual religion]. We believe in one god. That’s all we believe in, that there’s a god. God is god.

AJ: How is that like? Is that a challenge from religions if you don’t follow Islam or Christianity? Is there pressure for waaqeffataa in Oromo?

MA: Pressure, no. Because if you’re waaqeffataa, you’re waaqeffataa. But between Muslim and Christian, there is. In Oromia, back home, Muslims don’t go to Christian restaurants—Muslim Oromo. They don’t go to Christian restaurants and eat meat because it’s a religion thing. It doesn’t matter if I’m Oromo, you’re Oromo. It doesn’t matter. I can’t eat your meat because my religion doesn’t… It’s very important there. But here, people go to McDonalds and Taco Bell to eat.

AJ: Key places in the community, we talked about restaurants and mosques and churches. But what about the Oromo Community Center?

MA: The Oromo Community Center? What goes on in the Oromo Community Center? To be honest, the only time I go there is when mini-weddings go on or funerals. They don’t have classes. They have all those rooms downstairs with offices with people sitting behind desks. I don’t know what’s going on there. We don’t hear anything. They don’t even have their own Facebook page. I’m so serious right not. I don’t know what goes on there. I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t know anything.

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AJ: What other key places in the community or groups or organizations that you know that are thriving in Oromo?

MA: July Fourth.

AJ: What’s going on July Fourth?

MA: It’s popping July Fourth.

AJ: What do Oromos do on July Fourth?

MA: Oromos shut down Riverside Park. They shut it down! Thousands of Oromos. Food, soccer games, cultural billboards for people to learn about their culture. There’s a lot of things that go on. That’s a Minnesotan thing. That’s why I speak about that. That happens every July Fourth, every year. What else in Minnesota? Oromo Week. That just started. But I’m confused about Oromo Week. I’m not sure if it’s because of OSFNA [Oromo Sports Federation in North America]. I’m not sure it it’s an official week that happens every year. Like if OSFNA is not in Minnesota, is there still Oromo Week?

AJ: Oromo Week is an initiative of OSFNA, I think.

MA: I heard something like the mayor signed it over.

AJ: Yeah. So in Minnesota, whenever we bring OSFNA or wherever OSFNA goes throughout the whole America, Oromos try to make it Oromo Week. In bigger cities it’s recognized, like in Seattle, Colorado, and DC type of stuff. When we have events over there, it gets recognized. What do you think of OSFNA?

MA: OSFNA?

AJ: Yeah. That’s Minnesota-made as well.

MA: Is it? I thought it was made in Toronto.

AJ: Eventually.

MA: It got popping in Minnesota. The Little Oromia people made it popping.

AJ: It got established in Toronto and made in Minnesota.

MA: OSFNA, I think it’s a good big gathering. You know, thousands of people come. They even made it possible to where people come from different countries, like as far as Australia, Europe, all things like that. I’m young, so for me it’s a gathering place, where I just go meet people. I don’t watch the soccer game at all. I just go to meet people, have fun, laugh, buy stuff, eat good food. That’s it. That’s for a week.

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AJ: How important is OSFNA for the Oromos?

MA: OSFNA is important. Well, I don’t know why it’s important. [Chuckles.] It started off as a soccer thing. Back then, don’t get me wrong, back in 2001 when it first started coming to Minnesota, I enjoyed it when I was younger because it was like the get together where lots of people got together. We actually watched the soccer game. They had chants going like, “Hin dabalama, hinn dabalam [more goals].” That’s when that started. It was fun. Now, grown up, it’s just different. It’s more of an entertainment thing. It’s all about entertainment.

AJ: Do you think the future generation will continue making OSFNA the number one event that people come together for?

MA: I think the youth is going to take over. The youth is going to take over in a positive way. The people that started it are the older generation. The older generation who started it, the elder generation were the ones that kept it going for so long, and then these mid-twenty year olds, like yourself and other people… [Phone rings.] The youth are going to take over OSFNA. Now they have the mid-twenty, almost thirty year olds. Then it’s going to be the mid-twenties, just turned twenty year olds. Then it’s going to be eighteen year olds taking. Just like right now, the youth is going to take over everything. Politics, youth is going to take over. The new leaders are going to be youth. The new prime minister is going to be youth. I’m serious. Everything is going to be youth. Youth, youth, youth. The leaders in the organizations in American and outside of America. Anything that has to do with Oromo—youth.

AJ: Is that what’s taking over the Oromo politics in Oromia right now?

MA: Qeerroo [youth]. That’s there…

AJ: What does qeerroo mean?

MA: I don’t know what qeerroo means.

AJ: Qeerroo means youth.

MA: Is that what it means?

AJ: Yeah.

MA: Qeerroo means youth. Oh, I didn’t know that. Now I know. [Laughs.] I learned something. Yeah, qeerroo, the youth.

AJ: You said youth is taking over. How are you? Are you getting politically involved? Are you taking over anything?

MA: Here and there. I get the message out. I write poetry. I write spoken word. I’ll say what I have to say in a more spoken word, lyrical, musical way because that will grab somebody’s attention rather than just making a status [Facebook status]. That’s what the majority of people

14 do. When we’re all alike, how are you going to pick up a string out of a pack of strings? They’re all strings. If you find a string in a pack of needles, it stands out. Somebody has to do something different to get the message out in a different way. That’s what I do.

AJ: You said you write poems and literature. This generation of Oromos are also known as the Qubee Generation [Literature Generation, Oromos born since 1980], indicating that this generation is the educated generation. The generation before us didn’t get a chance to be educated because of the political policies during Haile Selassie’s time in power of Ethiopia back in the 1950s all the way to 1974—almost fifty-plus years of one party leadership. To that, you said you write literature. A lot of Oromos now are writing literature. This literature is known as the Qubee Generation in Oromo. Into that Qubee Generation, you’re saying the youth is taking over, which a lot of people are seeing now throughout Oromia and a lot of Oromo politics is driven by the youth. You also said currently you’re working on Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the 2016 [presidential] election. So what is your experience like working in that American election as you see the Oromo election?

MA: Well, it works hand in hand. My job, I work more focused on the Latino community. So let’s compare the Latino community to the Oromo community, as far as in America.

AJ: Okay. Go ahead.

MA: The Oromos are not wanted, let’s say, in Ethiopia. They’re like bugs to the other ethnicity groups and the government. So are Mexicans and Latinos in America. They’re like, “You taco, you beaner,” whatever. They make fun of them. So what I do is go talk to these Latino people and make them feel wanted and tell them to stand up for themselves. You are not what they say you are. You’re more than that, you’re better than that. Same thing that should go on to these Oromos. Hey, you’re not trash. This is your land. You’re going to fight, you’re going to get it. You get what you deserve. That’s what I do. The right way.

AJ: From your work with Latinos, they’re voting for Hillary Clinton by majority?

MA: The majority, yes, they’re voting for Hillary Clinton because Hillary Clinton is working on improving immigration rights and immigration reform and the Mexican border line—all these immigration things. Hillary is for it. We need that. You, yourself, you need that as an Oromo.

AJ: How so?

MA: Well, let’s say your mother lives in Africa and she wanted to come and visit you. You know? Wouldn’t you want your mother to come visit you?

AJ: I mean, I’d bring her as a citizen.

MA: But what if they shut down the doors to let immigrants in? Like when Donald Trump does that, how are you going to let her in? You can’t. There’s no more immigrants allowed. We’re full. We can’t take anymore. But if Hillary wins, she’s for it. Your mom can come in and out.

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AJ: In and out as she wishes?

MA: Well, with a visa! With a visa she can.

AJ: I mean, I don’t want to fight for Donald Trump. How about the Oromos? You say the majority of Latinos are for Hillary Clinton. You see the majority of the Oromos for Hillary Clinton as well?

MA: Yeah.

AJ: Why?

MA: Because they want to keep their EBT [Electronic Benefit Transfer]. I am just playing. [Both chuckle.] That’s not why. But because Hillary, she’s… How would I say it? She’s for black rights. She likes black people.

AJ: In what ways?

MA: In America, you’re Oromo, you’re from Ghana, you’re Liberian, none of that matters. Black. You know? And she wants to stand for us. We can’t get tortured in our own country back home, escape that, come here, and get tortured again. So we have to go with what’s best for ourselves, and that’s Hillary.

AJ: For politics back home, how are the Oromos thinking right now, as the country is in a civil war?

MA: Well, the leader that they want to lead them is locked up.

AJ: Yeah. What’s his name?

MA: Bekele Gerba [activist and leader in the Oromo Federalist Congress]. So now they’ve got to look for another one. There’s no one brave enough. People, I feel like their mind is foggy. They’re not more concentrated on trying to find a leader, somebody to lead them. They’re all just going to go, “Rrrrrrrrrr,” all together. You know, just, “Let’s go!” They just want to go all together, like stampede all at once, you know. They don’t want any leader right now. The leader that they want is locked up. They can do Jawar Mohammed [Oromia Media Network executive director and political commentator], but Jawar Mohammed works best behind the internet, so that’s not going to work.

AJ: In Minnesota here, we went on a lot of Oromo protests. Did you participate in any of those?

MA: No. I participated only in the hunger strike.

AJ: Hunger strike. What are these protests for? Like what do they want?

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MA: They’re trying to get America’s attention. America doesn’t care about us. America funds them. America pays them to kill us, obviously. Why would America care? America didn’t care about Israel. They didn’t care about Palestine and Syria, which has been going on for so long. Places that they benefit with oil, et cetera from, that they make millions from, they don’t care about them. America doesn’t make money from us. They help us. They don’t make as much money that they’ll make from the Middle East or Israel and all that. So if they don’t care about them, what makes you think they’re going to care about us? And we’re black.

AJ: Do you think the Oromo people know that?

MA: No! I don’t understand. Even if they had a protest today, I’m not going. I’m not.

AJ: Why?

MA: My leg hurts. I’m not going to go waste. I’m not wasting my breath. That’s a waste of time. They’re not listening.

AJ: You said all these people think Hillary will make the difference for it. So would they go out and vote? Why would they vote for Hillary? Like Oromos, why would they vote for Hillary, then?

MA: I don’t know. What do you mean? Explain your question, because I’m going to give you an answer! [Both chuckle.] Explain your question.

AJ: You said America is not for Oromia and America doesn’t do anything for Oromia. But at the same time, we believe in these candidates when we go out and vote. We work for them, we help them get elected. Why do we do all of these processes?

MA: For our own benefit here, as we live here. They let use live here, you know? They let us in their country. So you have to have one way to contribute, like pay taxes, go vote, park on the right side of the street. There are things you have to do. They let us here. At the end of the day, it’s their country. Remember that. It’s the white man’s country.

AJ: What about for the civil war in Ethiopia? The reason that many Oromos here are going out and protesting is because of the civil war that is taking place in Ethiopia. In this election, who do they think is better for them? Or this election is no good for what is going on in Ethiopia?

MA: This election has nothing to do with what’s going on in Ethiopia.

AJ: Yeah.

MA: This election is America’s problem. Americans have their own thing to worry about. America is in jeopardy right now. They’re in their own crisis, and they have their own thing to worry about. So let Ethiopia worry about their own thing as well, with the Oromos, with whatever they have within them. Because just like we have blacks and whites over here fighting under Donald Trump and Hillary’s bullshit, it’s the same thing with them. It’s the Oromos and

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Tigrays. Simple. Every country has their own issue. Don’t make it America’s fault. Don’t go crying to a country that helps the people that are hurting you. Don’t do that.

AJ: I see your point. For American-born Oromos, like you, what are the top concerns that exist for the civil war that is taking place in Ethiopia? Would you guys want to contribute to the civil war and someday go back to Oromia?

MA: To fight, or after the freedom to go live there?

AJ: Yeah. Are there interests for American-born Oromos in America? Do they have an interest in Ethiopia?

MA: Yeah, a lot of them do. A lot that I know, a lot of people that I know that were born here have interest in it. They would like to go back and fight if they were going to fight. If Oromos decided to ever fight, there’s plenty of people ready to go fight. There’s plenty of people ready to go do something. There’s just the matter of time. People are ready to do something from outside of the country, because they’re not there. The people that are there aren’t ready to start what they want to do.

AJ: American-born Oromos, would they want to go back and live in Oromia?

MA: Yeah.

AJ: Would you go back and live in Oromia?

MA: Oh, yes! Tomorrow if there wasn’t a war. If it was peaceful. Once it becomes free, yeah, I’ll definitely go live there.

AJ: Why do you like Oromia over America more?

MA: Because I feel like it’s like you have to let go of materialistic things. When you reach that time in life when you let go of materialistic things, you’re capable of living in Ethiopia or Oromia. The reason why people don’t want to live there is it’s an external thing for them. They’re mad that they don’t have Jordans [shoes] on and they have these sandals. I’m fine with wearing the sandals. In Ethiopia, in Oromia, it’s the internal happiness, it’s the internal peace. People don’t judge you. They don’t bother you. You can live as free as you want. Everything is cheap. That’s happiness. Over here in America, you have to find your happiness, you’ve got to build your happiness. You can be happy there with nothing.

AJ: Are you in touch with your family and friends over in Ethiopia now? Do you have any family and friends in Ethiopia that you stay in touch with?

MA: Yeah, I have family and friends.

AJ: Do you call them?

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MA: We call each other on Facebook. Yeah, I have some that I keep up with. I just had a cousin, he’s been in jail for the past two months. He just got out like a week and a half ago.

AJ: Why is he in jail?

MA: Kids burned the waajiraa [city administration building], which is like some government building in Dodola. They burnt it, and they said he was a part of it, so they arrested him.

AJ: This is during the Oromo protests?

MA: Yeah, like two months ago or a month ago. It was August. Yeah, during the Oromo protests.

AJ: Since you’d like to go back and live in Oromia sometime, are these family and friends you’re staying in touch with right now, are they able to help you establish, if you would say you wanted to move back to Oromia? Would they help you get established there?

MA: I could do it by myself. I’ve lived there for six months. I know what to do. It’s easy to get your own apartment. Everything is cheap. You can do it. It’s easy. And everybody will love to be your friend too. If they hear you’re from America, you’ll have a whole audience, like everybody. You’re from America. It’s luxury there. It’s amazing.

AJ: Would it be easy for you to go back to Oromia and start a business and everything?

MA: Yeah. I know my language. I can speak the language. That’s what makes it easy. It would be hard to do it in Addis Ababa, because many people speak only Amharic, and I don’t speak Amharic.

AJ: If you go back to Oromia to start a business, what would you bring back with you? What kind of business would you bring back?

MA: I’m going for a nonprofit all the way. I’m not going to open any store. I’m doing something to do with humanity and helping people. That’s what I’d do. Open a clinic, a library, a community center, something.

AJ: Wouldn’t that take a lot of wealth to start things like that, though?

MA: At the end of the day, there are organizations that you can work through or with here in the States that will sponsor you or give you grants to help you get started.

AJ: For sure. Now we’re going toward the end of our interview. Could you summarize what you think of Oromos in Minnesota right now?

MA: Oromos in Minnesota right now need to learn how to come together for better things, rather than meetings or anything to do with politics. The only time they come together is religious events, a meeting when something goes wrong.

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AJ: Something like what goes wrong?

MA: Like with the protests right now. They have all these meetings to collect money and stuff like that.

AJ: Yep. Eruptions, political eruptions.

MA: They need to come together more often, as in they need to have entertainment days where people come and learn about each other. Or they need to have cultural day.

AJ: What about OSFNA? They have eight days of all those people getting together.

MA: That’s eight days of other people coming from different states.

AJ: I see.

MA: That’s including other people and other things. They have July Fourth, of course, but they need consistency. They need to have, like let’s say, “Oh, today is Oromo Friday.” Let’s just say quote-unquote Oromo Friday. “Oh, what’s Oromo Friday?” “Oh, it’s an event that happens once a month every Friday in Minnesota where Oromos come together and do this and that.” They need consistency of coming together. But it needs to be more educational because a lot of youth nowadays, they know they’re Oromo but they don’t know what Oromo is. They don’t know about the region they come from.

A lot of people grow up here, raised and born in America, thinking that they come from a place called Ethiopia, when in reality there’s much more than that Ethiopia that they claim. There’s much more to where they come from, there’s much more to their culture, their traditions, their language. There is much more to being Oromo than just saying, “I’m Oromo.” There’s a lot to it. There really is, and not many people know that. Minnesota needs to come together as a whole and teach their youth that. Because a youth, me being a qeerroo, what you said our youth is right now, there’s a big difference between me being a youth here and me being a youth there. A youth there, they’re more motivated to go fight because they learned what their history has been through. They know everything about their history. They know about all the generals, they know about the massacres, they know about everything. Here, though, the ones like myself that are born and raised here, we don’t know about our history, we don’t know about Aannolee [site of atrocities committed against the Oromo during Menelik II’s reign], we don’t know about Menelik II [Ethiopian emperor from 1889-1913], we don’t know about things that went on a hundred years ago, so we won’t be more prideful to go fight as the qeerroos that are there back home today. We need to come together and give ourselves more pride than ego. We have ego. Yes, I’m Oromo, diimaa magarisa diimaa [red, sun red]. We’ll scream it to the top of our lungs, but what does it really mean to be that or scream it or be proud of that? We need to learn what our pride really means. That’s all I have to say.

AJ: You would say to bring that kind of education.

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MA: Education, that’s knowledge.

AJ: And bring the right pride and the right knowledge. What kind of institutions would you suggest that are currently missing from the community, then? Like the Oromo Community [of Minnesota, nonprofit] is not doing enough?

MA: There you go. They have the institution. They’re not using it. The Oromo Community is enough room for youth to come together and learn. There are other states that teach language to the youth, that teach culture, tradition, manners, respect, everything, cooking classes. These kids know what buddena [Oromo flatbread, or injera] is and how to eat woxi [sauce] and all that. But they don’t know how to chop up onions. That’s shameful in our culture. That’s not our culture. That’s qanyii [shame] in our culture. Don’t tell your kid what qanyii is, show them what qanyii is, help them understand what qanyii is so they feel that qanyii themselves. If they don’t feel that qanyii or shame when they do something, you didn’t teach them enough of what shame means. Real stuff.

AJ: What do you think Oromos in Minnesota will be like in twenty years from now? Do you think we will improve this?

MA: Once Oromia becomes free, which I believe it will in twenty years from now, Oromos are done being worried about being Oromo. They don’t have anything to worry about anymore. Everyone is going to scatter and do them. I’m sure there will still be events there already are, like July Fourth, in Minnesota, but coming together, I feel like they will let go of everything. What is there to come together for? We’re not fighting for anything. We won, so let’s enjoy. That’s it. Some are going to move back. Minnesota is filled with a lot of immigrants, more so than people that have adapted to fully living here. So the majority of the folks that live here are most likely going to go back within the next twenty years. It’s not going to be as much Oromos as it is today. They call it Little Oromia today because there are millions. There’s damn near maybe a million Oromo people. Forty thousand? What? Five thousand? I don’t know. Ten thousand? I don’t know how many. Fifty thousand? I don’t know how many Oromo people are here.

AJ: Yeah. [Chuckles.]

MA: But it’s not going to be that much in twenty years from now. It won’t be. People are going to get married off to different states, different countries. Twenty years from now, I doubt it.

AJ: The mayors from Minneapolis and Saint Paul say we are forty thousand to forty-five thousand. Sometimes they say we’re about thirty-five thousand.

MA: Yeah. It’s going to be maybe ten thousand in twenty years. They’re going to be elsewhere.

AJ: You’re saying the young generation will carry the Oromo torch for the next twenty years, and within this next twenty years they will bring Oromo freedom. When the Oromo freedom comes, Oromos don’t have to worry about any of the social and economic issues that they have.

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MA: It won’t even be in the next twenty years. They’re fighting for freedom right now. Let’s say freedom comes in two years. My kids, let’s say, in twenty years? In twenty years, your daughter will be twenty years old, dude, okay? That’s a full grown adult! I’ll be surprised if that full grown adult had that much pride of being Oromo as I do right now. It’s not going to be like that. It’s going to be different because you’re going to give up on it, you’re going to forget about it. You’re not going to have something to stress you, something to talk about, because it’s given, it’s done. Like the Jews, the Jewish people, do they talk about Hitler anymore? No, he’s gone. They’re done. They don’t go through that. Same thing with Oromos. Once they’re done going through that, they’re not going to have anything to talk about anymore.

AJ: You’re pretty confident, to close it out, that Oromos’ freedom will come within the next two, three, four or five years.

MA: Yeah. Today is, what? October 16, 2016. October 16, 2018, freedom is here.

AJ: Freedom is here.

MA: Yes.

AJ: We will end our interview right there. That’s the best place to end—with attaining Oromo freedom. Milko, thank you so much for sitting with me for this interview. I really appreciate it. Do you have any last thing? Or whatever you want to say to the ending of the interview, feel free.

MA: I don’t know what to say. [Laughs.] I don’t know what to say.

AJ: You close it off with a laugh. A laugh is really good, to close it off with a laugh.

MA: [Chuckles.] Adios.

AJ: Thank you. Adios.

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