时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(八月)


英语课

Ethnic 1 Politics Split US Ethiopians


America's Ethiopian community has grown quickly since the 1980s and one of its hubs is the northwestern state of Washington. Yet, even though they live a half world away from Ethiopia, these immigrants are still influenced by politics back home.

Differences

In the middle of Seattle, a group of Ethiopian immigrants plays dominos at a community center for the city's Tigray immigrants - one of the many ethnic groups from Ethiopia.

Many people come to hang out at the lively place which has a bar inside. Similar community centers for other East African ethnic groups are practically within walking distance of each other.

Washington State's Ethiopian community is vibrant 2 and growing, with anywhere from 10,000-40,000 people. No one knows exactly how many, since many don’t participate in census 3 counts or don’t report their ancestry 4.

But the population is diverse, mirroring the variety of ethnicities, languages, religions and divisions in their homeland.

“Those social divisions sometimes also translate to political divisions because if you belong to a certain ethnic group you are automatically perceived or in reality you support a certain political ideology 5 or grouping,” says Shakespear Feyissa, who came to America as teenager and is now a lawyer in Seattle.

According to Feyissa, at its worst, ethnic and political differences turn into economic discrimination against fellow Ethiopians.

“You could see people lobbying each other, saying, ‘Don't go to this certain business because he belongs to certain political group or political party,’ or they say, ‘Don't go to this business because he either opposes or supports the government.’”

Feyissa opposes the government of Meles Zenawi, who led a rebel takeover of the country 20 years ago, and says he's lost Ethiopian clients because of it.

“It is difficult for me personally, sometimes. Because I would hear certain ethnicity or certain groups saying, 'Oh don't go to him, he doesn't like certain groups', just because of my strong political conviction, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.”

The divisions are hard for people who support the Ethiopian government, too. Mekonnen Kassa works for Microsoft in a Seattle suburb while also heading a pro-government group in his spare time.

“I travel to Ethiopia and meet with the political party leaders," says Kassa. "And my group also invites government officials to come to the U.S. and meet with Ethiopians here.”

His political involvement has had personal consequences. One time, a stranger who saw him in a restaurant called him selfish - accusing Kassa of supporting the Ethiopian government for personal gain - and told him to leave.

“And at that point I got upset, and we got into a very heated argument, almost very close to a fist fight," says Kassa. "And those couple of guys who knew me that were at the restaurant had to drag me out of the restaurant.”

Since then, Kassa keeps to himself.

Coming together

Many people recognize that division is a problem within Washington state's Ethiopian community, and at least one group is trying to move beyond it.

At a summer camp, young Ethiopian-Americans learn Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. The program is run by the Ethiopian Community Center in Seattle. Even though there are community centers for different ethnic groups, the leaders here want to put ethnicity aside, and bring all Ethiopians together as Ethiopians.

“That is the first thing, and when people come here, we want them to feel that this is their home. This is their place equally,” says Mulumebet Retta, who heads the center. “What we are trying to do here is whether you are an Amhara, an Oromo, Tigrey, Guragi, Gambella, whatever ethnic group you are, you are an Ethiopian.”

Retta's group supports Ethiopian immigrants by connecting them with social services. The center staff works to solve problems which affect everyone in the community, whether it's taking care of their elders or educating their children.

Seattle lawyer Feyissa believes it's up to the next generation of Ethiopian-Americans to look beyond ethnic politics.

“The most important things for them, is not belonging to a certain ethnicity, but being Ethiopian, being immigrant," he says. "So I see hope in that regard.”



adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
adj.震颤的,响亮的,充满活力的,精力充沛的,(色彩)鲜明的
  • He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
  • She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查
  • A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
  • The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。
n.祖先,家世
  • Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
  • He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。
n.意识形态,(政治或社会的)思想意识
  • The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
  • The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。
标签:
学英语单词
Adenese
alarm bolt cover
all-carbon
ALYSON
ametrine
anastate
antik
APDEX
atom-powered sub-marine
autostereogram
azimuth rotating joint
Baal Shem-Tov
beraprost
beroko
broadcast television systems committee
burst information rate
camera-original
cash versus documents
chamber effect
common opsonin
core-fundings
counter amplifier
debiss
drop in price
Drude, Paul
earthquake safety
electron-beam process
Euboic
expugner
floating-point array processor
front cut combine
genus Anthyllis
genus Tichodroma
hammer slag
hard-disk interface
harmlessly
harzfeld
heavy-weight drilling fluid
heeling moment
hoist piston rod head block
homolodromiid
inattention
insetion sequence
international time signals
ISS (Industry Standard Specifications)
laiu wire rope
lateral slide mo(u)ld
leg room
mass morphology
material requisition summary
middle-managers
money demand
multiplier (multiplying) electrode
Murii-dake
N-acetylphenylalanine
nausea gravidarum
nested interval property
oblyrate
outcropped
pan filter
Pat and Mike
physical circuit
pneutronic meter
precision bolt
predeterminism
random access storage
recurrent parent
residual chlorine analyser
resifts
resistance-stabilized oscillator
rhinitis spastica vasomotoria
RJ-45
safety traffic
salviatis
savine oil
secondary reference standard material
shaping roll
Shimeon
side compression
sound pattern
Sphyrapicus
static cell memory
stiarne
stogging
subeffect
supply interruption costs
Tagus
Tan Ha
tape looseing
threw up my hands in horror
tidal harmonic analysis
timas
total dynamic error
transudations
TV transposer
unchoke
uniflow condenser
unselects
uranium phosphide
vaguely
vesiculobronchial
wing man