2Airlinescould not provide for me. I woke up at 7:00 in the morning and then I awakened mychildren to take them to school. During that time my wife Liz was working on the morning shift.My first child Moudete Shekinah Shokay was 7 years old, my 2 nd child Jamal Aim Shokay II was6 years old, and my 3 rd child Jamaya Nor’Jay Shokay was 6 years old. I dropped my children <strong>of</strong>fat school and I headed to Atlanta, GA to see my sister and her family. <strong>The</strong>n my plan was totravel from Atlanta to Asmara Eritrea. I stayed in Atlanta for less than one week. After that Iwent to the Atlanta International Airport in order to check in with the U.S.A Immigration Office.After the <strong>of</strong>ficer had checked everything, she asked me for my identification card. I pulled outmy wallet and I showed her my Florida ID. She smiled and she said to me, “I am not asking foryour U.S.A identification card, what I am asking is, do you have an Eritrean ID card?” I washonest enough to tell the truth. I said to her "I do not have one" but I asked myself, what does shemean?I questioned her, “Why do you ask me for my country’s ID?” She said, “Young man if you donot have an Eritrean ID you will surely be arrested in Eritrea, believe it or not, but that’s up toyou.” At that time I did not take it seriously. I said to her “It’s okay; I am a member <strong>of</strong> the(P.F.D.J.) and I am also a student. <strong>The</strong>y will understand my situation and also I have done myduty by serving my country.” She flat out said, “<strong>The</strong>y do not care. If you have not paid yourtaxes which is 2% you will be incarcerated, and being a Muslim makes it worse.” One thing Ifailed to realize was that even if you do your duty and you are not <strong>of</strong> the Christian’s faith, or <strong>of</strong><strong>Tigrinya</strong> ethnicity, you have no value to them, but at that time I thought I would be okay. Assoon as I arrived in the Asmara Airport the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> Immigration <strong>of</strong>ficers immediatelyharassed me and verbally abused me. Also they put me in jail just like she said they would! <strong>The</strong>one thing that shocked me was, not one man <strong>of</strong> Muslim ethnicity was working as an Immigration<strong>of</strong>ficer or held any other position within the airport; that was a very sad and ugly moment for me.All <strong>of</strong> them were from ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong>. I couldn’t believe what I saw; hatred and ignorancetowards those <strong>of</strong> the Muslim faith was rampant and no one could do anything about it!Dealing with the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> immigration <strong>of</strong>ficers was one <strong>of</strong> the most difficultthings that I have ever done in my entire life. I started to <strong>com</strong>municate diplomatically. Also Itried to be friendly but that didn’t work either because their attitudes towards me, which weresupposed to be fear invoking, was oblivious to who I was. I told them who I was and what I haddone for my country and I showed them my (Harbnay)Certificate. This certificate should have
3proved to them my financial, physical, and loyal contribution to the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> people(E.P.L.F). <strong>The</strong>y said "Your certificate means nothing; Ethiopian men have done the same thingsfor us". I said to them, "If any men from Ethiopia have done what I’ve done, why do we fight theEthiopian government? That would defeat the purpose and does not make any sense at all". Onthe other hand, if you think about it they were right. After 1975 the Muslim founder <strong>of</strong> the P.L.F(People Liberation Front) groups one and two were murdered. In addition the time frame <strong>of</strong> 1961- 1973 was saw mass genocide <strong>of</strong> several generations <strong>of</strong> Muslims from babies in the wombs <strong>of</strong>pregnant women to the elders in villages, towns and nomads. With this mass elimination <strong>of</strong>Muslim population, <strong>The</strong> P.L.F. was dominated by unadulterated virginethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> powerswhich came from all over Ethiopia and Eritrea with no mass reduction <strong>of</strong> their population. Atthat time 40% <strong>of</strong> the E.P.L.F (Eritrean People Liberation Front) fighters were from TigrayEthiopia. <strong>The</strong>refore, the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> started bragging about the Tigray man power. This iswhy the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> claimed my (Harbnay) Certificate meant nothing. Also I informed themthat “Now I am here to serve my country.” <strong>The</strong>y did not give a damn. <strong>The</strong> attitude they showedtowards me was “This is our country you F****Muslim get lost.” <strong>The</strong> immigration <strong>of</strong>ficer whowas on duty that night, Colonel Ghirmay told me, “You might be from Agame, how do weknow?” I said to him, “I am not from Agame. I tried to maneuver my way through the situation.Also I tried to be friendly but that didn’t work either. As I stood there trying to negotiate, I waslooking and observing how the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> insulted the Tigray people and made fun <strong>of</strong> them.I reflected that in reality the ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> couldn’t do anything without Tigray men, like ababy without its mama. He kept saying to me “You are from Agame.” Finally, after I was sick <strong>of</strong>him continually saying that, I said to him, “Hey man, I am a red blooded Lowlander fromEritrean, not Agame. My mother and the women from Agame do not dress in the same clothesand they do not braid their hair styles the same way. <strong>The</strong>y have different cultures. Also they donot speak the same language like your Mom and the Agame women, so what are you talkingabout? <strong>The</strong> Agame women and your mom have a lot <strong>of</strong> similarities but my mother and theAgame women have big differences and I can prove it.” I could not believe how these dirty assethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> immigration <strong>of</strong>ficers with their breaths and their bodies smelling like humanbowel movements and cow manure were questioning me!I remember that night. <strong>The</strong>y had a flight to Europe and Captain Isaias was flying thatnight. Captain Isaias came to me and said, “Jamal, you could go with me back to Germany andwe will get you a Visa and you can then return back to Asmara” I said, “Okay and how nice <strong>of</strong>you." I was happy for him to say that but they never let me go with Captain Isaias I do not knowwhy. <strong>The</strong>n after a few weeks <strong>of</strong> mental and physical torturous abuse they let me go home. Threedays later I called “We and Our Objective Airlines” captain Mussei to let him know "I am inAsmara Eritrea and I would love to have an appointment for an interview.” He knew I was inAsmara, but he did not care. Not only was he nasty, but he was a hater too. He got his Airlinescareer free due to the expense <strong>of</strong> innocent and humble Muslims blood. Thousands uponthousands <strong>of</strong> civilian women, children, infants and men were buried in several mass gravessurrounded by markers. <strong>The</strong>y were viciously killed by the lapdog ethnic <strong>Tigrinya</strong> <strong>com</strong>mundas.