by Teddy Fikre  written: Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Question! When is a business zone one block away from the Convention Center on 9th St NW considered a residential area?  Answer! When there is a black business is located there and the white folk who recently moved in and gentrified the previously all black area and are hell bent on reshaping the neighborhood in their own image.  You see, this is the one thing I have always suspected of liberals and my father (RIP) probably knew more than most—most white Liberals are compassionate from a distance.  Let a black family move into their neighborhood and they get all ice Tea Party with it.  I am not saying this is the case with all white folk, but I can say that is the case with a significant amount.  Liberalism—to a major extent—is nothing more than a white man’s burden and that burden is lifted ASAP as soon as they are confronted by the thought of living next to a black neighbor.

This brings us to the topic which has me in a sour MOOD!  You see, I have a dear friend by the name of Abeba Beyene better known as Mimi who is one of the most driven and enterprising entrepreneurs I know.  She is a self-made woman, a fierce and dedicated lady who—through sheer determination—went from being a bar tender at the DOPEST night clubs in DC ten years ago to being the owner of the DOPEST club in DC currently.  You see, while most of us dreams and drink Yohannnes Aramaji at clubs, Mimi was chasing a dream while pouring her clients drinks.  Mimi collected years of tips, amassed assets from years of back breaking work and decided to think and dream audaciously.  Thus one day she changed up the MOOD of the city when she opened up Mood night club on 9th St and became part of the tapestry of business owners who revitalized a once run down part of DC.

Now in any other part of DC, and in any other ethnic community, Mimi would be lionized and heralded as an innovator and commended as a model for kids to aspire.  If Mimi was white, Jewish, or hell part of the GLBT community, she would be hauled in front of City Hall and given plaques and commendations for the efforts she is making.  But now, not Mimi, she happens to be Ethiopian and for that she has drawn the ire of Councilmember Jack Evans of Ward 2 and the endless harassment from Charles Reed, the ANC Commissioner serving the neighborhood around Mood Lounge.  I won’t go as far as to call this an example of racism, but it sure does have a whiff and a tinge of race based inferior treatment.  Why do I say that? Because you see, Mood Lounge a few years back was a Gay club, and these same neighbors who complain about Mood Lounge had a different mood back then, Jack Evans was nowhere to be found with his pitch fork, and Commissioner Charles Reed was nowhere to be heard with his pitched fork. 

So let me give you the back story.  On New Year’s Eve, two men were stabbed in the vicinity of Mood Lounge.  Ummm, notice I said in the vicinity of Mood Lounge let me Google Map something real fast—oh yeah there happen to be 25 other businesses including 3 other bars/clubs in the area.  But guess who caught the flack for this incident.  I tell you who did not, the white and Asian establishment.  You know why, cause they are a powerful voting block and a source of funds for politicians like Jack Evans and Charles Reed, they dare not touch them with a 10 foot pole—instead they tap dance to those constituents for the sake of a few thousand shekels.  So fearing the shekels of those constituents, who do they shackle the blame onto instead? You guessed it, Mimi, the Ethiopian who does not belong in a powerful voting block or have the financial wherewithal to make politicians tap dance for us.  So having found a convenient scapegoat, they gave Mimi hell for the past few months by tap dancing on her beautiful soul.

Enough is enough, we as Ethiopians and Eritreans are responsible for revamping the whole of U St and 9thSt.  I used to roam the streets of DC in those neighborhoods 15 years ago when all you saw were rats, roaches (blunts and insects) broken hope and bottles, sniffed out lives and crack pipes.  It was Ethiopians the likes of Dukem and Etete Restaurant that block by block rebuilt a neighborhood that was left for dead by politicians like Jack Evans and Charles Reed as they tap danced their asses for shekels elsewhere.  It was Ethiopians that attracted other Ethiopians to 9th St and U St and turned that area into a Mecca of black hope.  It is Ethiopians that fill up the midday and the midnight skies with the smell of doro wot and fresh Injera.  Without Ethiopians, that area would still be infested with roaches and roaches, rats and vacated row houses.

So what do we get for our contributions to the city, well we get the back handed treatment by the likes of Jack Evans and Charles Reed.  Mr. Evans and Mr. Reed, last Sunday there was a stabbing in Southeast DC where Robert Leroy Wright was murdered while he was walking his dog.  I am 1,000% sure that you will be heading right to the crime scene to insist all the businesses within 1,000 feet of the crime scene need to be shut down—regardless if they are White, Asian, Latino, Gay, Straight, or Ethiopian right? Right? Of course you won’t, you only chomp at the low hanging fruit—the immigrant community—who don’t vote like we should and are too stressed out by day to day living to much care about the back handed deals that you make in City Hall.

But that day is going to come to an end Mr. Evans and Mr. Reed.  You see, Ethiopians are fast becoming Americanized and we are learning the ways of your crooked dealings.  We too are beginning to organize politically, we too are holding fund raising events for politicians so that we can have our voices heard.  Have you heard about Ethiopians for Obama—go ahead Google it—we learned the ins and outs of community organizing from Obama himself.  You see, Obama realized the vitality of the Ethiopian community when he released a letter to the Ethiopian-American constituency thanking us for our contributions to this great nation and asking us for our votes.  Have you done that yet? Of course you have not; but trust me, you will soon or else your names will be former Councilmember Evans and former Commissioner Reed faster than you can tap dance and say shekel. 

Which reminds me Mr. Evans, don’t you have a primary challenger nipping at your heels in April??? Let’s see…what was your challengers name…thinking…thinking…thinking…oh right you are unopposed and sit with $88,000 in your account—why not give a few dollars from your coffers to the family of Robert Leroy Wright (RIP) instead of harassing the jewel of the Ethiopian community our own Abeba Beyene and trying to shut down her business that is part of her American dream? What are you, a Tea Party member now, do you want your country back, do you want your block back from Ethiopians even though it was Ethiopian businesses that were a vital component of building the brand spanking new Nationals Baseball Stadium—a stadium that you attend on almost a religious basis as you are treated like the Pope of Baseball in your VIP suites thanks to the fact that you are the Sports Commissioner in the DC Council. I am pretty certain you will not be unopposed this next election cycle; I will work my ass off to identify an Ethiopian-friendly politician to take your spot in Ward 2 in the near future.  But for now, call off your blood hounds from our Mimi or you will be inundated with a thousand phone calls a day from thousands of Ethiopians in DC. 

Now in closing, let me for a second stop wagging my finger Mr. Evans and Mr. Reed and instead wage my four fingers at my own community.  You see, I blame you—I blame us—for this issue taking place.  Do you think if we were more organized that Mr. Evans would dare lay a finger on Mimi? Do you think if we voted more often, if we spoke with a purpose instead of sipping buna, that we would not have politicians tap dancing for our votes and asking us for our birrs too?  Our inertia is our downfall, our lack of situational awareness and our inability to give as shit has us  being treated like shit.  I beg you people wake up; politics impacts us more than you think.   I will leave you with a great quote from a great poet named Martin Niemöller (1892-1984):

First they came for the communists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me

Just remember, today they come after Mimi, tomorrow they will come after you Etete, Dukem, Habesha, and all the Ethiopian businesses in DC.  Band together or they will pick you off one at a time; that is what politicians do, they identify the weak and pick off the weakest.  Be strong or soon enough you will perish and you will see the very corners you revitalized (9th St and U St) with your hard work and money morphed into Gay clubs and Asian restaurants because you chose to be unlike the most vibrant communities in DC (Jewish, Asian, GLTB, Muslim I love you all dearly know that I am not attacking you but begging my people to emulate your wisdom) 

Learn from the powerful communities in DC, learn from the Asian-Americans, the Jewish-Americans, GLTB-Americans, and of course white-Americans and form a collective of Ethiopian-Americans for DC and see how much the politicians will drool over you.  Learn to fight for the things we want not only for Ethiopia back home but for our communities here in America, look at how much influence the Cuban-Americans have in Florida and thus nation-wide, with 300,000+ of us in America, we can make politicians locally, state wide, and nationally do eskista for us, if only we would organize.  If not, our asses will be right back to where we started, GENTRIFIED and TERRIFIED as entrepreneurs and owners turn back into parking lot attendants and bar tenders.  Keze Behwala Mercha Yenantu New!  Selam::

“I think there are some very evil things about gentrification.” ~Jim McKay  

[see the ugly face of Gentrification]

 [click to RSVP to Defend Mimi from Jack Evans and Charles Reed]

Event: Public Hearing of Mood Lounge

Location:  Reeve Center 2000 14th St NW # 2, Washington, DC

Date:  Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Time:  9:45 AM EST (please come support Mimi)

Lynch Mob Antagonists

[click to view Jack Evan's website]

contact him at the following and inundate his staff with your displeasure::

Amorde Brabham Constituent Services Liaison (202) 724-8058

Schannette Grant Chief of Staff (202) 724-8058

Sherri Kimbel Director of Constituent Services (202) 724-8058

Andrew Huff Director of Communications (202) 724-8058

 [click to see Charles Reed of the ANC]

Contact info for Charles Reed, inundate him with calls and emails and let him know it is not cool to touch our Mimi

Charles ReedANC Commissioner, SMD 2F011310 Q St., NWWashington, DC

 Phone: (202) 262-5030Email:

click petition picture to sign petition to defend Mimi against Jack Evans and Charles Reed and let them know that they can’t push around Ethiopian and Eritrean Jegnas in DC or anywhere in America or else we will vote their asses out PRONTO!

[click to support Mimi and Mood Lounge, one of our own]

Feature Event

[click to RSVP to Brown Condor Open Mic Poetry Night at Bati Lounge]

AUTHOR

Teddy Fikre

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