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The Ethnic Tigrinya Extremist ideology of Nehnen ... - Jeberti.com

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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

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