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 Open letter to Senator James Inhofe

By Abiy Zewde / October 19, 2007

“When it became clear the presiding government had suffered an overwhelming loss to its opposition, ballot counting stopped, the government proclaimed itself the winner, opposition was quelled with death or imprisonment.”       Rhonda Williams

Not in Her Name, Senator!!

Senator James Inhofe,

Although I have heard your name on few occasions in the past, I must admit that I did not know much about you as of yesterday evening. As I write this, I still do not know a lot about you, but I do know more today than yesterday. You are from Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city you once were a mayor of, a city I visited on many occasions during my college days in Northwest Arkansas. You have a daughter, Dr. Molly Rapert, an alumnus and a professor at University of Arkansas (my alma mater too!). You also have a beautiful adopted granddaughter from Ethiopia, Zegita Marie, whose mother is Dr. Rapert. It appears that the family prefers to use the name Marie. I have learned few other things but the above will suffice for my concern in writing you, which incidentally is my first public letter to a public official!

Sen. Inhofe, you will forgive me for delving into your personal life uninvited, but I feel that I must after seeing that you have decided to thrust your own family into public debate when you took the floor of the United States Senate yesterday to speak about a bill regarding Democracy and Human Right in Ethiopia.

Sen. Inhofe- as the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. I now know you take this proverb to heart when you decided to give a speech opposing HR 2003, but before uttering a single word, you proceeded to flaunt an oversize photograph of a private moment between you and your precious granddaughter, Zegita Marie, to your audience in the senate. You left this photograph on display for the duration of your speech.

Sir, what did you intend to accomplish with this act? Did you seek to gain instant credibility on matters Ethiopian by thrusting your own innocent 6 year old granddaughter into a public debate? Senator, were you concerned that your words would not be persuasive enough to sway the minds of your colleagues, and therefore must display a photograph of a young child to “mis-tell” a thousand words? Did you think through the ramification of your act beyond the political stage you commanded for a moment?

Sen. Inhofe- it would be very interesting to hear whether you had the permission of Zegita Marie, or her parents, to use her beautiful image to score a political victory on a public debate. And not just a public debate, but a charged one regarding the democratic nature of an Ethiopian regime that killed hundreds, maimed thousands, and jailed tens of thousands for voting against it! Sir, is this a debate that Zegita Marie should be inserted into by her own grandfather? Especially when the debate is regarding her native land of Ethiopia and its people?

Sen. Inhofe- yesterday, as you were taking the floor of the Senate to defend the current Ethiopian government, other news outlets were writing about Jessica McClure, the famed Baby Jessica of midland, Texas, whose rescue from a well we all watched with high interest exactly 20 years ago. In catching up on the story of Baby Jessica, I was quite surprised to learn that Jessica has spoken to the media only on two occasions. Quite understandably, she has shunned the public limelight and has chosen to lead a very private life. Her parents waited till she became an adult to decide for herself how much public exposure she wants. It was a very wise decision by the McClures.

I regret to inform you that you have not afforded your own granddaughter Zegita Marie the same care the McClure’s were wise enough to provide for Jessica. Thanks to your Senate speech of October 17, 2007, the whole world now knows another American adopted Ethiopian child, Zegita Marie, in addition to the famous Zahara Jolie. And the whole world knows Zegita’s grandfather has used her as a political pawn in an attempt to support and prop up a regime widely rejected by the people of Zegita’s homeland.

Your attempt to influence the debate over HR 2003 with the image of an Ethiopian child- your own granddaughter Zegita- is miscalculated at best and right down unconscionable at worst. As a parent of two little children, I am strained to find an explanation to the tactic you have chosen to employ. I am even more concerned about the soundness of your judgment in such matters after discovering the attached picture of Zegita Marie shaking hands with the current Ethiopian Ambassador. Sir, I hope for her sake, that the ambassador is a personal relative or friend to Zegita’s birth family, and that she did not meet the ambassador through political channels.

Sir, lest you misunderstand my persuasion regarding the substance of HR 2003,  distracted by your posturing I took offense to, I want to let you know that I, along with the entire United States Congress, support the bill titled Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007. Despite your condescending remark that some of the Congressmen would be hard pressed to find Ethiopia on the map, I assure you that the unanimous consent they gave to the bill is the only correct and moral stand that one can take. And I say this because I have close family members who suffered the wrath of a regime defeated at the poll but armed to the teeth. One cousin lost a leg after being shot on the streets of Addis by government soldiers and another one went into exile after being jailed for more than a year and half at the notorious Kality Prison.

Sen. Inhofe- the name of your granddaughter Zegita means unhurried, calm, and collected. Sir, I do not believe these are virtues you employed neither in arriving at your decision to oppose HR 2003, nor in using the image of Zegita to advance your political agenda. May I implore you to reconsider your decision, and most definitely your tactic, in an unhurried, calm, and collected fashion? I highly recommend you review, prior to voting on the bill, the well documented “Crime and Nourishment” found at http://www.ethiomedia.com/courier/crimes_in_ethiopia.pdf  You will have the opportunity to learn about the true color of the regime you are supporting.

It was clear that your Senate speech was not well thought out as you repeatedly glanced at and read segments of prepared and packaged sentences sprinkled with adlib utterances of your experience and knowledge about Africa. You did not present any hard fact but reverted to using sweeping and factually incorrect statements such as “unprecedented progress the country has made” and “the government … has taken significant steps to regain a democratic process…”

Senator, do you realize you are making these statements about a regime that gunned down children not much older than your own Zegita during the post election protest? Do you really believe your statements are fair representation of a government that jailed its opposition en masse? And not just any opposition but one that consisted of the best and brightest the nation has to offer, including a Harvard scholar, a Senior Prosecutor for a United Nations tribunal, engineers, economists, linguist, a judge, etc. All of them had won a parliament seat, and in the case of Dr. Berhanu Nega, he had just become the first ever mayor-elect of Addis Ababa. Sir, what would you have thought of a Jimmy Carter led federal government that wanted to jail you for becoming the mayor of Tulsa in 1978?

I know the people of your birth place Iowa well because I lived with them for four years. I know the people of your home state Oklahoma because I lived next to them and learned with them for seven years. But most of all, I know the people of Ethiopia because I am one of them. In all cases, I can tell you for certain that none of these people, and most of all no Ethiopian suffering in and out of jail under the current government, would appreciate your opposition to HR 2003, the Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007. Sir, please do not campaign against HR 2003, and especially, not in the name of little Zegita Marie!

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Abiy Zewde can be reached at azewde@aol.com