How should Eritreans who support us treat the word Agame?
I made an Eritrean friend who is against hating Tigrayans, acknowledges the genocide, and wants peace. Once we spoke about the state of Tigray, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, and the use of slurs came up. She referred to Agame as the "a-word." I get that she was trying to be respectful, but I don't know how I feel about the word Agame being censored to counter the ignorance of Eritreans. I'm not from there, but it's clearly a place that Tigrayans take pride in. It also feels like imposing their social norms onto us, because Agame has only been treated like a bad word by Eritreans. At the same time, I can imagine that during the genocide, that word was probably used very derogatively as people were being killed, raped, hunted, and isolated. So while Agame holds a sense of pride, it also may not be a weightless word for many Tigrayans. In a future in which there is finally a peaceful and friendly relationship between Tigrayans and Eritreans, what should be done?