Accidental American: From Proud Ethiopian to “Naturalized” USian

By Yonnas K. Kefle

About the BookA 17 year old proud Ethiopian youth found his country gripped by a military dictatorship, which persecuted his generation and made a daring odyssey into exile ending up an accidental American. For over thirty years, he lived the American life and experienced everything from the coveted American Dream to the dreaded African-American Nightmare. Now a mature adult, Dr. Yonnas reflects on the rich history of his country of origin and on his life story and the factors that shaped his destiny and the fate of Ethiopia. In this autobiography, Yonnas portrays the history of his country highlighting the period from the Era of Princes to period of benevolent Monarchy, preoccupied with building the Ethiopian nation and maintaining its sovereignty and territorial integrity. He pays tribute to his ancestors who defied the white supremacist ideology that white men were entitled to conquer and subjugate all other men, by stopping Italy in its tracks in the Battle of Adwa, and unifying the formerly fragmented Abyssinia into the renowned Empire of Ethiopia. Emperors from Yohannes to Haile-Selassie guarded the Solomonic Dynasty and the independence of Ethiopia throughout the colonial era of the scramble for Africa, and continued to frustrate the conspiracy of Europe's colonial powers to appease Fascist and Nazist dictators in the prelude to World War II.Yonnas narrates how the proliferation of communist ideology in his country led to the replacement of the imperial government by the military's People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE), who reigned an aura of red terror that targeted his generation of Ethiopian students for extinction. The quest to survive prompted him to make a daring flight/escape through the eastern border of Ethiopia to the land of the Afars and Issas, where, against all odds, he secured a travel document from the French authorities in Djibouti which enabled him to seek political asylum in Paris and advance his education in French. Owing to the immigration policy of President Jimmy Carter, he, along with other Ethiopians and Vietnamese refugees, was repatriated to the United States.In America, he describes his unwavering efforts to thrive through hard work and educational attainment to reach the ostensible American Dream. Reaching the highest level of achievement he entered the professional world in the Department of Labor and Department of State. To his unpleasant surprise, he discovered that race discrimination was being exercised even in those revered federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Labor. The ideology of white supremacy continues to block the entry and the advancement of qualified African-Americans in the federal workforce. Though America had come a long way from the era of black codes, Jim Crow Laws, and lynching, racial discrimination in the workplace is alive and well and continue to turn the lives of aspiring African Americans into living hell. Long after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, it still lives in the American society as well as in its federal bureaucracy. In the author's case, the author's premature end of his federal career was a wake-up call to reflect and redirect his life to teaching and bringing about positive changes both in his community and his country of origin. This book is a comprehensive presentation of the trials and tribulations of a proud Ethiopian who unwittingly turned into an accidental American.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1705487092
• ISBN13: 9781705487099
• Release Date: February 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 646 Pages
• Weight: 2.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.0" x 10.0"