DOUBLE ROASTED: BLACK IDENTITY, HABESHA ROOTS

In the United States, I am unequivocally Black. My skin, my features, my experience moving through this world — all place me within Black American reality. When I walk down the street or enter professional spaces, I carry the weight and resilience that comes with Black identity in the United States.

Yet within Eritrean and Ethiopian communities, conversations about Blackness get complicated. Some distance themselves from Black identity, emphasizing distinct history or proximity to the Middle East. Others embrace pan-African solidarity while maintaining cultural specificity. This tension often stems from colonial messaging that created hierarchies among African peoples, or survival mechanisms in new countries.

The reality? We exist in both worlds simultaneously.

Our ancestors built kingdoms, traded with Rome and India, developed written scripts. We are also part of the African continent, connected to struggles and triumphs across the diaspora. For Eritreans, this complexity deepens through our contested history — not just under European powers, but Ethiopian annexation itself, lasting thirty years until independence in 1991.

In predominantly white spaces, the Black diaspora becomes vital support — knowing nods, shared microaggressions, collective joy. Here, being Habesha adds texture to Blackness rather than negating it.

This project holds space for multiplicity. We can be proudly Eritrean, proudly Ethiopian, proudly Habesha, and/or proudly Black — not in contradiction, but in conversation.