Above: Tewolde Habtemicael speaks to a group of
government students at Carson High School in
Nevada on Wednesday. Habtemicael told students
that the election of Barack Obama proved to the native
of Ethiopia that anything is possible in America.
(Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal)
By Teri Vance
In a small cement high school in Ethiopia, Tewolde Habtemicael heard for the first time the concept of democracy.
“What is this?” he wondered as American Peace Corps volunteers taught him and his classmates about a government run by the people.
“We had no concept of democracy before that because we had one king and he did whatever he wanted,” Habtemicael, 60, told Blair Roman’s sophomore government class at Carson High School on Wednesday.
The visiting Americans also helped prepare them for entrance exams for the country’s only university, which accepted just 560 students each year. Habtemicael passed. In college, he ran for vice president of the student union.
“Because I attentively listened to what my American teachers taught me, I was elected,” he said.
Invigorated by the idea of democracy, Habtemicael led demonstrations calling on the government to hold elections. Instead, he and three classmates were arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
A student boycott led to their release a year later. On probation, Habtemicael was forbidden from participating in political activities, a condition he couldn’t uphold.
Three years later, protesting a military takeover, he was arrested again.
“This time, they do not take you to court, they kill you,” he said. “We were on the verge of being executed. They killed our king. We were next.” Read more at the Nevada Appeal.
I love the title of this article as it is true that what President Obama has accomplished speaks volumes to where this nation is headed. I can only imagine where we will be in the next twenty years. These are indeed exciting times and I am grateful to be able to witness this momentous occasion of a Black president being sworn in.