We concerned Ethiopians are petitioning against Mr. Mukesh Kapila for his hate speech and derogatory remarks made on all Ethiopians. Among his several remarks, his most recent interview he had, and we quote “The other part of Ethiopia and history of Ethiopia is no model in that regard, there is nothing but unmitigated horror in the history of Ethiopia in the decades gone by, have shown us. There is almost nothing to learn from Ethiopian history, accept that. These are horrible people who has done horrible things to each other, …generation after generation of horrible rulers, that is the most important consideration. The future of Ethiopia can’t be return to the past….” The link is attached here https://twitter.com/BekeleWoyecha/status/1467961428351062019?s=20

For someone on his capacity of leadership role and multiple access to wide array of public platform, his remarks are irrepressible, unprofessional and downright infuriating. Demonizing an entire country and 110 million people in it, while your area of expertise is global health and humanitarian affairs is baffling and shows lack of competence and responsibility. Putting aside any political differences, his actions of bigotry towards an entire nation of people with so much diverse and fascinating culture and history is intolerable. Going further and saying that there is nothing to learn from a country with one of the most ancient civilization is also disparaging. As a university whose values focus to embrace and celebrate difference and act with integrity to benefit society, this appears to be the exact contrary to your guiding principles.

As Ethiopians, we feel and take pride as being one of the earliest ancient civilizations, vast cultural depth, complex diversity and the only African nation that hasn’t been colonized. The current political turmoil is not what define this precious nation with beautiful culture and history. We realized our country’s existence is being confronted with many challenges and we are certain that we will overcome it united. We also will not tolerate hate and derogatory remarks and speech preached by people such as Mr. Kapila.

Our community is dismayed that Mr. Kapila continues to use his affiliation of your prestigious University for a purpose of spreading derogatory remarks and tarnishing the image of the entire country and culture. We would like to request your esteemed University to remove him from his faculty position as he continues to violate the very guiding principle your university is based on.