Dr. Alemayehu, my friend Mahilet's father, was happy to be interviewed by me about his immigration story. We sat in his dining room after a family dinner with his family and him. He began his story by explaining how he got out of his country of origin, Ethiopia and ended up starting a life here in the DMV. Dr. Alemayehu, a first generation immigrant, moved out of Ethiopia for an academic opportunity a University in Europe provided him. Because of his close relations with the government officials of the time, chances like this were easy to take advantage of in the early 1970's. While he was away for school in Europe, the regime back in Ethiopia had changed, and people that were affiliated with the old government fled the country. Dr. Alemayehu realized that after finishing his masters in Europe, he would be in trouble if he was to go back home. He fled to the U.S. in the late 70's asking for political asylum. After years of working menial jobs, he got the chance to go back to school and finish his doctorate at Clark University. Dr. Alemayehu has not been back to Ethiopia since he got out for Education in the early 70's. He is however involved in some family-run businesses remotely, and an active participant and part of the advisory board for an opposition party that is fighting for change back home. Dr. Alemayehu brought his then girlfriend, now wife to the U.S. by applying for a visa for her. He lives here in the DMV area with his wife and three kids.
The pushes for Dr. Alemayehu's migration are mainly lack of educational opportunities and political instability in his home country, while the pulls are the abundance of Western educational opportunities and safety from political imprisonment and human rights violation. According to him, there were cumulative causations that led people to migrate out of Ethiopia during the 19th century: famine, political instability, civil war and economic instability. The bridges that made his migration possible are his affiliation with the regime in the 1970's, his education level and the support he had from the sizeable Ethiopian Community that is located in the DMV area. We also see the chain immigration as a bridge in his success of bringing his wife here and starting a life with her. On the other hand, the barriers that made the migration to the U.S. an arduous process were immigration policies, racism, and the language barrier. Dr. Alemayehu is considered to be a refugee immigrant. Even though his first intentions when he left his country was not to escape political or religious persecution, his migration to the U.S. and his request for political asylum suggests that he was a refugee. Dr. Alemayehu's continuous involvement in Ethiopian politics and economy, directly and indirectly, shows us transnationalism.
As a first generation, Dr. Alemayehu's experience as an immigrant and his children's experiences and views are entirely different. His children, second generations, do not face most of the barriers as they are born here in the U.S. and are automatically citizens of the country. However, as second generations, the children experience identity crisis with learning Ethiopian culture at home and living the American lifestyle in the society. As second generations, they are also more aware of the racial hierarchies and can codeswitch between being Ethiopian by heritage and American by citizenship.
