The Mother Tongue is Comforting

By: Henok Elias

Do you know why your brethren and sistren Oromo speakers are protesting? Do you care? What can you do, besides reading about your homeland on the internet, and informing others? Why don’t you build community with the Oromo speakers closest to you by learning their language? If the Lover of Languages Dr. Richard Benton can devote time to learning the Somali and Oromo tongues in order to make their speakers more comfortable in Minnesota, how much more should Habesha peoples do?*

*The term Habesha, like any term of identity, is mazelike, and interpreted in sundry ways. I have met self-identified Somalis and Oromos who identify as Habesha, and those who distance themselves from the term..