Thinking back on how we grew as close to one another as a Siamese twin, I have often tried to look for explanations. One vivid memory which I have kept alive over the years is how my sagacious father instilled this love in us. Not infrequently, my father would find ways of presenting us with object lessons that we couldn't forget if we tried. One time, the two of us were prancing in the house. It so happened my father was drinking tea. He stopped us and asked a question. "If I were to give you this cup of tea how would you share it?" My brother and I looked at each other startled, and finally came up with a suggestion that we would take turns sipping. We did so right in front of him. To this day, I can see the joy in my father's face at having taught his boys a great lesson in sharing. 

As we grew older, Alemu often found it difficult fitting into what the culture we were brought up in consider a "respectable career." He loved words and had ways with language. He enjoyed making others laugh. Acting was as natural to him as breathing. The letters he writes me to this day - in Amharic - are nothing short of masterpieces. But because he was born in the part of the world where such gifts are not appreciated, encouraged and developed, Alemu for a time tried to do what was expected of him. He was enrolled at Addis Ababa University upon completing his high school education. Sadly, he couldn't find his niche there. I could see him becoming disillusioned at not being able to pursue his dream. 

Alemu was not one to abandon hope so easily. Against strong protestations coming at him from all directions, he left the university and began making a name for himself acting in Addis. He gave a deaf ear to all who criticized him for "throwing away his future." But he knew where his heart and genius lay more than any one else. And nothing was going to stand in his way. As providence would have it, and true to his sense of who he was, he went to Europe to study theater. When Alemu returned to Ethiopia seven years later, he was on the stage where he always wanted to be - where he belonged. He became one of the finest and leading Ethiopian playwrights and actors. He produced some of the memorable plays. I know of few people who are as determined as my brother to realize a dream - no matter how unpopular the dream might have been in the sight of others. 

When I went home to visit a few years ago, my brother and I slept in the same bed for much of the time talking the night away. We reminisced about our childhood. On the days he performed he took me as his special guest. How proud he was of his achievements, as he should have been. He has become one of the most recognized faces and names in Ethiopian theatre. In the performing and creative arts circle of Ethiopia he has become an icon. Here in the United States, you go to many homes of Ethiopians, and even Eritreans, his videos seem to be ubiquitous. People are often surprised to know he is my brother. The chasm of years and the choices we have made about our respective identities have molded us into two different individuals. But across this chasm, none of the filial bond has diminished. 

My brother was born and raised in Addis Ababa. He lived all his life in Ethiopia (except for the years he spent in Europe as a student). His late mother was ethnic Amhara, the ethnic group that has ruled Ethiopia throughout the last century. He is married to an Amhara and has three beautiful children. Some eight weeks ago, my brother was notified by those in power in Ethiopia that he can no longer be considered an Ethiopian. He was given his "pink slip" from the Ethiopian national theater. As far as Ethiopia is concerned, Alemu is now an Eritrean. 

What makes this hard to fathom is the fact that Alemu never considered himself anything else but an Ethiopian. He has never been to Eritrea. He doesn't speak Tigrinya, nor can he understand the language. He neither voted in the 1993 referendum, nor contributed so much as a red penny for development projects in Eritrea - two acts that were completely legitimate until two months ago, but now retroactively considered a crime by the Ethiopian government. In short, participation in anything Eritrean was the farthest thing from Alemu's mind. His Ethiopian nationality has never been a mere flag of convenience. In his heart of heart my brother is an Ethiopian national, pure and simple. 

What is more surprising is that when the present regime took power in 1991, they were looking for people who had no involvement in the Dergue's politics to help during the transitional period. Consequently, he was one of the people who was elected in his particular kebele to help the regime restore peace and order. Aside from this brief act, he is as apolitical as they could come. 

How devastated must Alemu be today at being told, "You really are not who you believe yourself to be!" One forges an identity for oneself. You operate and live all your life long according to this identity. All of a sudden, someone comes along and tries to stamp a whole new identity on you. And then, as a punishment they strip you off your livelihood. Those who are bent on assigning new ethnic identities to people based on what percentage of what ethnic blood flows through one's veins must have become so blind as to fail to see the absurdity of the whole exercise. If this weren't so revolting and repulsive, it might actually be humorous. But, where will this madness end! And where will it take Ethiopia, a country seething in ethnic cauldron! Will events spiral out of control - if they already haven't? 

Today, as I write this letter I feel the pain Alemu must be feeling. I feel for his wife whose life is being shattered in an instant. She is essentially being told that she had married a person with a spattering of the wrong blood. I ache for his three children, two of them studying at Addis Ababa University. None of them are old enough to have met their Eritrean grandfather, my father, whose ethnicity is now considered in Ethiopia a crime of the highest order. It has come to "haunt" their youthful innocence. Will they now have any future in this strange and ethnically configured country? 

I don't think I would be too presumptuous to draw a parallel between what is taking place in Ethiopia today and the Germany of the 1930s where Jews, for no other reason but being a Jew, were dispossessed of their property and businesses, and were denied from practicing their professions. Eventually, they were made to wear the Star of David for easy identification. Through the infamous Nuremberg Laws, the Germans went so far as defining what constitutes a Jew. Anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent was considered a Jew and marked. What followed was what the Germans termed the "Final Solution." 

The Ethiopian government has already gone far in the same direction. As of the writing of this article, it has expelled over 20,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean ethnic origin. It has confiscated their property worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It has established concentration camps where ethnic Eritreans have been detained. Thousands have been fired from their jobs. This action continues without let up. Will the present regime in Ethiopia that is so blinded by hatred towards anything Eritrean - leaders obsessed with ethnicity as being the highest form of the citizens' identity - resort to forcing any Ethiopian who might have any Eritrean blood wear an identifying insignia? Heaven forbid! But considering the events of the last couple of months, I am afraid this is no longer beyond the realm of impossibilities. 

The fetid miasma of ethnic hatred so prevalent in Ethiopia certainly mirrors the Germany of yester years. It is continuously and irresponsibly being fanned and orchestrated by government sponsored propaganda. The country is ever sliding on a slippery slope. For heaven's sake, I hope that this is where the comparison between today's Ethiopia and the Germany of the 1930s ends, and pray to God that the proverbial repetition of history is anomalous, at least in this case. God Save Ethiopia, and thei innumerable "Alemus" of Ethiopia!