At night, when we were still in elementary school, my brother told me the most hilarious stories. They usually starred these five Chinese brothers who had moved to the United States. Each brother had his head shaved in the front and long hair in the back, sometimes braided. All five brothers lived together.
Tewolde spun his stories from the top bunk and I heard them from the bottom. They always featured the same plot: The five Chinese brothers craved peace and usually tried to mind their own business. But some ill-willed Americans would always mistreat them.
Like all Chinese people, the Chinese brothers had mastered kung fu, karate, and every other martial art. My brother and I knew this about Chinese people because of a TV show called Samurai Sunday that came on right after church. All the Chinese people in that show could really fight.
Tewolde's Chinese brothers would be doing something innocent, such as watering their garden, and then, out of nowhere, their neighbors would insult them or hurl a rock through their window. Having no choice, the Chinese brothers would use their kung fu to beat up the Americans.
Eventually, it got so bad that the brothers had to whoop the whole town; every last citizen, five citizens at a time. It was a lot of work, but the brothers had no choice.
Sometimes I wonder why my brother and I loved the Chinese brother stories. I used to think it was because they were funny.
Lately, though, I have come to believe that the brothers were more than stories. They were our kid way of dealing with our unfriendly world.
Even if we couldn't beat up all of the cruel kids at school, the five Chinese brothers could. They could whoop the kids, they could whoop their parents, they could whoop the entire town.
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From Of Beetles and Angels: A True Story of
the American Dream, by Mawi Asgedom (Megadee Books, 2001).
Click here to go to Part one, "Memories."
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In the Forum: "Growing up, I came to know many "habesha" (related ethnic groups in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and neighboring countries) refugee families in the U.S. Like mine, many of the families came from extremely third-world environments and found adjustment hard. Also like my family, many of the families stayed on welfare for more than 10 years. Given that so many families have such a hard time adjusting and that so many families do end up on welfare, should we keep our doors open to unskilled third-world immigrants?" Mawi Asgedom moderates this month's featured discussion, on immigration.
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Of Beetles and Angels
A True Story of the American Dream
By Mawi Asgedom
Megadee Books, 2001
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The five Chinese brothers