Are Ethiopians a dying breed in the West?

Yes our genes are weak with mixing. My grandfather was half Italian and looked far from Ethiopian, my father too looks racially ambiguous he's passed for North African before. My friends girlfriend is half Ethiopian half Polish and looks Indian. Me personally to be honest this has put me off mixing because I want my children to resemble me and be Ethiopian. Take that how you like it, you could think it's narcissistic or whatever. I personally think it is natural to want your offspring to resemble you. However, If I can't find a habesha wife then I will mix because there is no way I'd sacrifice not having a family, over not wanting mixed kids. At the end of the day we can't control who we fall in love with. Couldn't care less about habeshas in the west preferences, we are in great numbers back home, that's all that matters to me. On the point of habeshas in the west avoiding eachother like plague, it Is more on the women's part, I don't know what got into them. My assumption is that strict father's have placed a negative connotation to habesha men in their minds.

Ethio-Americans do avoid each other like the plague. The men don't rush to talk to the women as often as they would like, while the women get preyed on by everyone as they are usually more good looking. In America it is definitely the women who marry out, but why is this? I do believe that parents stopped instilling pride in their heritage and have now just replaced it with "culture". What they don't understand is this "culture" that they love so much will die out in a 2-3 generations without the heritage to back it up. I also believe that there's a problem in not informing the women of our family that their children will no longer be Ethiopian culturally (yes it's harsh but this the same in every culture) and also through DNA (autosomal and haplogroups). Ethiopians need to instill pride and this harsh reality for us to survive the future globalization. Currently even our "royalty" will be non Ethiopian in the future. With the increase of globalization and the free movement of people in the world and between Africa, we as a people will surely be the first to go.

PSA: I have nothing against mixed Ethiopians and have some close friends who are mixed.

starchow said:

Also have you guys noticed how weak our genes are? By this I mean our phenotypes tend to not be expressed in a mixed kid (i.e. a half Ethiopian-half Black American looks Black and the half-Ethiopian-half-European looks white.

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Nice observation. It has nothing to do with Ethiopian identity. There is also no "genetic weakness" in that. But it has to do a lot with the environment, Europe and America.

In Europe: Ethiopians often look much like Europeans and less like Africans but have a "darker than normal" skin, the latter which is not the main factor in Europe to distinguish between people. Also there are not so many Africans in Europe. So in Europe chances are high that most Ethiopians are not considered to be black people. Marriages (often between natives and Ethiopians) then often result in kids which look even more European.

In America: In America the skin color counts a lot because there is a strong racial divide between white and black. Black is black, so in the opinion of whites in America Ethiopians look very much like African Americans and are considered to be black people.So marriages (then often between Ethiopians and African Americans) result in kids looking even more like African Americans.

Nothing spectacular.

Aksum said:

Are we as Ethiopians becoming a dying breed in the West? There's an alarming rate of marriages between Ethiopians and non Ethiopians. The population of Ethiopians in the west will slowly but surely disappear in the decades to come. I believe that it is occurring because we have been instilled to believe in this made up notion of being "black", which in reality is just a way to rob us of our history and identity. Has anyone else come up with this conclusion as well?? hno:

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You already see it with the second generations, The first generation has some connections to Ethiopia through its parents, they grow up hearing their language spoken in the house, their parents take them for holidays to Ethiopia and so on, but the second generation will be totally Westernized, with no sentimental relations to Ethiopia except knowing that their ancestors came from Ethiopia, the second generation will start to identify itself as African American, rather than Ethiopian, like the first generation. Its just how all immigrant populations have become absorbed into the American system.

In Europe things will get harder and harder for the immigrant populations, because the native populations started to believe that they will one day be outnumbered in their own country by immigrants, so right wing anti immigrant nationalism looks like on the increase & set to stay, which will make acquiring citizenship or equal status harder and harder.

The best advice I give to all the diaspora community is , do not pass down to your generations the heritage of an irrelevant underclass minority.They will grow up with the victims complexity looking down on their roots , America or Europe are not our natural homelands , and we will never ever feel an equal sense of belonging and pride as those who built and civilized those lands, even if those societies have been so generous , accepting and kind to us, let alone when the right wingers are constantly reminding you of you that you are a guest, so please always think of coming back home. Think that you have a homeland where you would feel naturally belong in, where you do not need to explain to anyone why you are there, where you would not be seen as stranger or outsiders, and this is the heritage that we should all seek to pass down to their generations.

I might have a different prospective on this issue than many of you due to me being apart of the second generation and still being in my early 20s. In my generation's eyes being Ethiopian is no longer something to be proud of, they have pretty much replaced their culture with that of African Americans. Of the many Ethiopians my age that I do know, I would say at least 80% of them are dating out. American culture is very divided and forces you to pick sides "black" or "white" with no other choices. The funny thing is that this is exactly what many of us are against in Ethiopia, but don't see the irony of it in our current countries. We are more worried about the gov and it's bidding while our families are being destroyed from within. No amount of Eskistaing will save us unless we fight and inform the youth of this trend. I have also noticed this trend is not only happening to the second generation , but also recent immigrants.

Ps whatever happened to the traditional Ethiopian practice of Endogamy??

Sadly my mother and her family never taught me the language properly, which I regret bitterly especially given my immense interest in Ethiopian history (and never mind my strong feelings on language policy :lol. This is the case for many full-blooded Ethiopian-Americans I know (once I realised this, I started to feel less insecure about it!). I of course am mixed so I don't look particularly Ethiopian, which always makes it a bit weird when I recognize a Habesha on the street or whatnot and a) can't be recognized as another Habesha or b) can't knowingly say something in Amharic.

I think this does raise some uncomfortable truths, though. Ethiopian Americans (at least from the statistics I've seen) tend to be less accomplished than African immigrant groups such as Nigerians. Perhaps that is simply because Ethiopian immigration has been less selective, of asylum seekers vs skilled migrants for other groups, but they do seem to be more integrated into the African American community than other groups, which, unfortunately, tend to mean sub-optimal outcomes.

I don't know how you encourage the persistence of distinctiveness, but I surmise part of the problem is that in many regions of the US you have people lean towards explicitly ethnic identity rather than national identity (e.g. Minnesota Oromos vs D.C. Ethiopians) that carry even less appeal for the second-generation or beyond.

I think this does raise some uncomfortable truths, though. Ethiopian Americans (at least from the statistics I've seen) tend to be less accomplished than African immigrant groups such as Nigerians. Perhaps that is simply because Ethiopian immigration has been less selective, of asylum seekers vs skilled migrants for other groups, but they do seem to be more integrated into the African American community than other groups, which, unfortunately, tend to mean sub-optimal outcomes.

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I have seen similar study where immigrants from english speaking African countries doing well in states, compared to thous non Englishphonic. I think Ghanians were the most successful followed by Nigerians. but Ethiopians although not English speakers they are more likely to enter the middel class within fews years of their arrival. academically Nigerians were the most achievers Ethiopians ranked third. so I would dont down play us that easy.

in Norway though ,Ethiopians are killing it , We are considered the most hard workers of immigrants next to thous from Siri lanka. both couples are likely to be working . the new arrival ethiopians have an average two employees. The second generation of ethiopians are more likely to gain a higher education. The majority of black doctors in norway are ethiopians followed by Botswana's. Get this though Ethiopian immigrants are less likely to vote .- in 2013 election only 3% of ethiopians voted hno:compared to 80%of vitenamees and 40% eritreans participated in election.

I have seen similar study where immigrants from english speaking African countries doing well in states, compared to thous non Englishphonic. I think Ghanians were the most successful followed by Nigerians. but Ethiopians although not English speakers they are more likely to enter the middel class within fews years of their arrival. academically Nigerians were the most achievers Ethiopians ranked third. so I would dont down play us that easy.

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Ghana and Nigeria are the current most successful nations in Western Africa. Nigeria is the largest economy and the most populated in Africa. Ghana enjoys a full ''Western-style'' democracy and strong development.

looking at African immigrants in USA, Nigeria rank #1 while Ethiopians are #2 so Ethiopian are not as successful as their pairs in the USA regarding their number.

my 2 cents : migrants from Ethiopia are not as wealthier and educated as Nigerians.
most of Ethiopian coming to USA are refugees, thus with limited financial asset and skills.
Nigerian are statistically more fortunate since their country is way ahead of Ethiopia.
however as you mentioned the Habesha community is performing well. good thing : the latest generation is thriving, since they grew up here, therefore speak english fluently, and mostly enroll Colleges en masse.

In Canada, Chinese and Indians outnumber immigrants at Colleges: take a tour at the University of Toronto, it's packed with Chinese and Indians students...but I'm still disappointed to see few African students. Hopefully, there is a large Ethiopian Association at UofT : I find out most Ethiopians here study computer engineering, Med schools, accounting, Law, business and Nursing.
so the future is bright ! at least parents enforce education's values (Chinese are #1)

I think we cannot compare Canada and the US : since the african community here is far smaller than in the US and the racial division is not as harsh and toxic.

to give you a taste of how diverse is Toronto, the canadian largest metropolis (it's really a global village) :
Here’s how the numbers break down for Toronto:

South Asian: 12.59 per cent
Chinese: 11.13 per cent
Black: 8.91 per cent
Filipino: 5.67 per cent
Latin American: 2.87 per cent
Arab: 1.34 per cent
Southeast Asian: 1.55 per cent
West Asian: 2.24 per cent
Korean: 1.55 per cent
Japanese: 0.5 per cent
Visible minorities not included elsewhere: 1.37 per cent
Multiple visible minorities (people who belong to more than one group): 1.77 per cent

this year, Toronto is now visible majority !
In Toronto, 51.5 per cent of respondents to the 2016 census identified as visible minorities.
In 2011, the number was 49 per cent.
we can even get served in Amharic at the Toronto Transit System (-:

look at the chart, stats below and the dramatic change :
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...e-minority-what-about-your-neighbourhood.html

Contrary to the USA which opened (until recently) its borders to almost everybody, Canada emphasised on high skilled and educated workers. they deliberately favored the wealthiest, most educated, investors and entrepreneurs no matter where they come from. obviously, we understand that Africa doesn't fit the full requirements. that's why Canada is courting Asia (Chinese and Indians).

While the US sharply slowdown immigration process, Canada 's just announced via his Somali-born foreign minister, the country will increase the number of immigrants up to 340,000 per year...expect to see more habesha here