Tag: haile selassie

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Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

The Farewell of Princess Hannah Mariam Meherete-Selassie before the Revolution (1974)

“This evening was unusual. I had to tell my great-grandfather that I was going to Europe. I was excited, and yet something did not feel right because my mother only gave me one day to pack my bags. I remember how she persuaded me to go. She said I was going to see my two cousins who had recently left for boarding school in England. Also, I would go on a skiing vacation to Geneva, Switzerland. I would be back in two weeks. After a lot of agonizing, I resolved to tell my mentor the impending news. I opened the door to his private residence area and saw him standing in the middle of the room near where he had his desk. I bowed down and greeted him with a kiss. He smiled at me and said, ‘Mendin new wedaje? [What is it, my friend?]’ I restated what my mother had told me in a flippant sort of way, hoping he would disagree with her. He had disagreed with her in the past about her insisting on me not wearing any pants because girls only wore skirts. I hoped that he would rule on my side again. I was feeling sad, and my eyes were almost filling with tears. My heart sank when he looked at me and said, ‘Malefia, yihun. [This is acceptable. So be it.]’

Knowing I could not change his mind, I sucked it up and told myself it was going to be OK. At the same time, I did not relish the idea of leaving my home and my family. Besides, I knew I had to travel alone, and that made me concerned. I had this feeling in my gut that this might be the last time I would see my great-grandfather, who had raised me like his daughter since a very young age. I thought to myself, ‘This can’t be happening. No way. I have to come back to Ethiopia one day. This is my birthplace. This is my home.’

While all these thoughts were speeding through my mind, I noticed he slipped a small, sealed white envelope into my hands. ‘This is for your journey,’ he said. I accepted the envelope and bowed again—this time with a lump in my throat—but I was determined not to cry. I turned around toward the door that led out to the hallway. When I opened the envelope, I found several crisp US hundred-dollar bills, which I placed in my purse.”

(Taken from “It was Only Yesterday”, Hannah Mariam Meherete-Selassie, 2018)

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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

President of the Foreign Press Association in U.S. – 1963

Press Conference at the U.N. Headquarters
New York, 4th of October 1963

President of the Foreign Press Association in U.S. :

“With deference, we are happy to pay tribute to Your Imperial Majesty, and in so doing, on behalf of many of us, I should like to express our emotion at seeing You in the United Nations. For men of my generation, particularly, brought up in our youth in the cult of freedom and dignity, you already, twenty-eight years ago, were an authentic hero of legends, namely, a man who dedicated his courage and faith to the defence of human rights, be they of His country of anywhere else in the world.

The destiny of Your Imperial Majesty was and still is a great one, and Your presence today in this great home, a distant heir of the League of Nations that was so tragically unjust to You, is one of the very few symbols of poetic justice. But You have seen the immense emancipation of Africa, and it was You who were the first and the greatest inspiration of it. It is, therefore, only fair and just that the forward of African independence be organized and decided upon in Your capital.

We, Sir, are extremely honoured at the visit of Your Imperial Majesty, and we sincerely hope the best for You, Your person and Your country, Sir.”

EMPEROR: “I wish to thank you for your kind words and I trust that all you have said will be found in history. You have repeated it, and I thank you for so doing.”

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HIM Visits USA 1954

Chicago Defender June 12, 1954 – SELASSIE’S SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR NEGROES

Chicago Defender, Saturday June 12, 1954
By James L. Hicks

“SELASSIE’S SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR NEGROES

Emperor Haile Selassie Wednesday advised the colored people of the United States to continue to press their social and intellectual advancement forward ‘with Christian courage’ and to be confident that justice and equality will eventually triumph throughout the world.

The direct message to Negro Americans was given by the Emperor in the first exclusive interview he has granted since arriving here May 25.

The message came after this reporter had informed the Emperor’s staff that there was confusion in the minds of colored Americans as to the Emperor’s position on the racial question and asked the Emperor directly if he had a message for the colored people of America.

The Emperor’s direct reply to this reporter’s question was:

‘My message to the colored people of the United States is that they continue to press forward with determination, their social and intellectual advancement, meeting all obstacles with Christian courage and tolerance, confident in the certainty of the eventual triumph of justice and equality throughout the world’. #QHS

During the brief but exclusive interview the Emperor also exploded the oft repeated rumor that the people of Ethiopia do not wish to be identified with the colored people of America or associate themselves with their problems.

With this rumor in mind I asked the Emperor this question:

KINDRED FEELING

‘Is there a kindred feeling between your people and the colored people of America?’

The Emperor replied: ‘The people of Ethiopia feel the strongest bond of sympathy and understanding with the colored people of the United States. We greatly admire your achievements and your contributions to American life and the tremendous development of this great nation’. #QHS

‘I have’, the Emperor said, ‘been deeply impressed by the warmth of the reception which the colored people of the United States have reserved for me’.” #QHS

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Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

Nkrumah’s Resistance at OUA Conference (1963)

“Yet however different the delegates’ political standpoints may have been, Haile Selassie threw all his weight behind ensuring that the conference was a success. When Nkrumah saw that his plan for a United States of Africa was not well received by his fellow leaders, he was determined to leave the conference without more ado. Even the most impassioned pleas could not alter the Ghanaian president’s resolve, and the meeting seemed on the verge of imminent failure. At the eleventh hour, however, Haile Selassie took Sekou Toure on one side. Clutching his hand, the emperor looked deep into his eyes and addressed the president of Guinea: ‘Mon fils, je vous prie’ (‘My son, I beg you’), imploring him to prevail upon his ‘brother’ Kwame Nkrumah to come back to the conference table. Moved by this intervention, Sekou Toure replied: ‘Oui pere, je vais essayer.’ (‘Yes father, I’ll try’). And he did indeed succeed in getting Nkrumah to return to the negotiations.”

(Taken from “King of Kings”, Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haus Publishing, 2015 p. 232)

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Babylon

“Free Palestine” JAH said

Ethiopian Imperial Government communique, 23 October 1973:

“Consistent with her stand on opposing territorial annexation, Ethiopia has done her best to effect the withdrawal of Israel from the territories of Egypt, Jordan and Syria which she occupied in 1967 (…) Because Israel has failed to withdraw from the occupied territories, Ethiopia has decided to sever diplomatic relations with Israel until such time that Israel withdraws from the occupied territories”.

The territories they still occupy today, against UNO resolutions and international law. An international mandate of arrest for genocide has been promulgated over the head of their ministers now. Every Rastaman got the responsibility to condemn these criminals and not to defend them or shun public exposition, as certain puppets among us are doing because of their own personal gain and profit.

FREE PALESTINE !!!

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Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

The Gospel Choir in Harlem (1954)

“Even this triumphant ticker-tape parade (in Manhattan), though, could not match the rapturous welcome given to the emperor by a jubilant crowd of African-Americans when he visited a Baptist Church on 138th Street in Harlem. The pastor of the church, Reverend Dr. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., greeted Haile Selassie ‘in the name of the 700,000 Afro-Americans of New York City, men and women of every faith, belief, and disbelief’. Powell extolled the emperor as ‘the symbol around which we place all our hopes, dreams, and prayers that one day the entire continent of Africa shall be as free as the country of Ethiopia.’ A 200-voice choir then sang the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s ‘Messiah’; the emperor was visibly moved when he heard the refrain ‘and he shall reign forever and ever’.”

(Taken from “King of Kings”, Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haus Publishing, 2015 p. 191)

Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ is a song from his work in english language, an “Oratorio” called “Messiah”, composed by him in 1741. In Harlem, they sang unto His Majesty the following verses:

“Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become
the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ,
and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
and Lord of lords,
and He shall reign,
and He shall reign for ever and ever,
for ever and ever,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And He shall reign for ever and ever, for ever and ever.
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Hans Wilhelm Lockot – German Scholar and Librarian – 1989

Testimony of the German scholar and librarian Hans Wilhelm Lockot, who for many years was head of the Ethiopian National Library, about His Majesty:
“As well as a vast quantity of administrative detail, he stored personal information about thousands of individuals away in his brain: he knew the names, faces, positions, functions, tribal connections and family relationships of officials, military officers or students. All of them he had personally appointed, promoted, transferred or dismissed, or he had supported their education; and reports on all of them had been submitted to him. It was said he never forgot any conversation he had ever had and indeed from his early youth he had been trained to store everything in his memory. He avoided leaving any written records of his actions and never took notes: only his final decisions went into the files. For the population it was a matter of course that the Elect of God should have supernatural qualities, but for officials it was deeply portentous, and it kept them constantly in a state of apprehension. Even when unexpected situations arose, the Emperor would be able quickly and effortlessly to recall accurate detail of events which had taken place many years before without consulting files or asking his aides.”
Taken from Hans Wilhelm Lockot, “The Mission. The Life, Reign and Character of Haile Selassie I”, London 1989, p.53
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Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Nelson Mandela, from his autobiography “The Long Walk to Freedom” – 1994

“Ethiopia has always held a special place in my own imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African. Meeting the emperor himself would be like shaking hands with history.” (…)

“Suddenly we heard the distant music of a lone bugle and then the strains of a brass band accompanied by the steady beating of African drums. As the music came closer, I could hear — and feel — the rumbling of hundreds of marching feet. From behind a building at the edge of the square, an officer appeared brandishing a gleaming sword; at his heels marched five hundred black soldiers in rows four across, each carrying a polished rifle against his uniformed shoulder. When the troops had marched directly in front of the grandstand, an order rang out in Amharic, and the five hundred soldiers halted as one man, spun around, and executed a precise salute to an elderly man in a dazzling uniform, His Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, the Lion of Judah.

Here, for the first time in my life, I was witnessing black soldiers commanded by black generals applauded by black leaders who were all guests of a black head of state. It was a heady moment. I only hoped it was a vision of what lay in the future for my own country.” (…)

“The conference was officially opened by our host, His Imperial Majesty, who was dressed in an elaborate brocaded army uniform. I was surprised by how small the emperor appeared, but his dignity and confidence made him seem like the African giant that he was. It was the first time I had witnessed a head of state go through the formalities of his office, and I was fascinated. He stood perfectly straight, and inclined his head only slightly to indicate that he was listening. Dignity was the hallmark of all his actions.”

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Anecdotes

Cultural Sayings of His Majesty

“The other cultural sayings His Majesty often repeated were ‘Ke ras belay nefas’ (no one more important than yourself) or ‘Ha le fe semayu new’, which is an example of sem ena work (wax and gold). The denotative (or wax) translation of the saying “Ha le fe semayu new” is that the sky has passed by. The connotative (or gold) translation is that the character Ha ሀ (which appears first on the Ethiopic alphabet chart) is greater in value than the character Fe ፈ (which appears twenty-fifth) because of the order in which each character appears. The Ethiopic alphabet has thirty-three basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is pronounced in the syllable. Therefore, we are to conclude not only that Ha is more important than Fe but also that in life, we should see all things as related and relative. If you are last on the list, you might think that being first is greater. While your position in the alphabet (or life) is obviously relevant, it does not determine everything about you or how important or not important you are—most of life depends on how you perceive something and how much you allow it to impact you in positive or negative terms.”
(Taken from “It was Only Yesterday”, Hannah Mariam
Meherete-Selassie, 2018)
ከራስ ፡ በላይ ፡ ነፋስ ። (litt. “The wind is above the head/self”)
ሀለፈ ፡ ሰማዩ ። (litt. “The heaven has passed away”, but also “Ha is the heaven of Fe”)
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

M.Mansfield, Majority Leader of US Senate – 1963

Senate of U.S., Washington, 2nd of October 1963

“It is a great honour and privilege to welcome to the Senate an outstanding Head of State from the great continent of Africa. He governs a nation which is among the oldest, in a historic sense, in the world. It is also among the newest in its dynamic search for a more satisfying participation for all its people in the main-stream of progress in the second half of the 20th century.

The man whom I am to present to the Senate is the Emperor of an ancient land. He is also an exceptional international statesman whose constructive outlook has made a profound impression upon the contemporary councils of the world.

This man has been a living part of the great events of our times. He has experienced these events personally, and He has experienced them as the personification of a peaceful nation, determined to live its own life and to work out its own way of life. He and His nation were both caught up in the feaful tragedies, the high hopes, the illusions, and disillusions – in short, in the cataclysmic upheavals – of a globe in massive transition since the end of World War I. He has suffered much. He has risen above suffering with the wisdom which suffering alone brings; and he has triumphed, not in arrogance, not in vengeance, not in pride. His has been the enduring triumph of humility and a deep human understanding.

The Senate will remember his lonely appearance at the League of Nations in 1936. He spoke, then, from his heart, not only to save his people from invasion, but also to arrest the course of self-destruction upon which a smug, a glib, and an indifferent world was embarked. He was listened to, but He was not heeded. He was persuasive, but the nations of the world were not persuaded. And a few years later the smug, glib and indifferent world began to crumble about those who did not heed, who were not persuaded.

Once again, on Friday, our distinguished visitor will go to address the nations of the world, assembled in the 18th General Assembly of the United Nations. The times are different now; the faces are different; even the nations are different than they were when He appeared in Geneva almost 28 years ago. One would hope – and I am sure that it is a well-founded hope – that His words, enriched by these decades of tragedy and triumph and by profound personal experience, will find in that great assemblage of the world a deep response of heart and mind.”