It is a beautiful night in New York. The wind is crisp, as the clouds rush by the almost full moon, possibly carrying snow to the North East. The night is still and as I look at the face smiling on the moon I contemplate writing on a subject that has been in my head for a few months but could not make it to paper, as I was too busy navigating life’s challenges.
I had planned to write about several famous mixed race people, but a few months ago while surfing the web made a discovery that was a little shocking. Those of you who have read the introduction to my website know that my premise is that we are all of mixed race. However, it was a surprise to me to find out that Adolf Hitler is reported to be of mixed race, and of all the races he’s mixed with Black and Jewish. So I am starting with the infamous and notorious Adolf Hitler.
For clarification, after having been called Negro and African American, “Black” has been chosen by Americans of African descent as their preferred definition of their race. Jewish is an ethnicity that has been commonly interchangeably used as a race. An ethnic group could choose to be identified with each other based on culture, ancestry, language or beliefs; and it should also be understood that Black and Jewish are nor mutually exclusive.
According to a story published by a Belgian Magazine, Adolf Hitler could be a descendant of both Jews and Africans. Samples of DNA were taken from 39 of Adolf Hitler’s relatives in order to establish this link. This research included DNA from a cousin Norbert who is said to “irrefutably” have the same Y chromosome as Adolf. These findings have not been substantiated and verified by a scientific source.
However, the idea that he is being identified by his genotype, when for the most part society has used phenotype to identify race shows how clouded this definition of race has been and always will be and how it has served to be a delusion of a sense of separateness. This sense of separateness is not only a product of our reptilian brain which control our primal instincts such as survival and dominance but is also sometimes bolstered by governments, religious bodies, sects, castes and “races” in order to maintain predominant order.
Unrelated to Hitler being considered mixed race, yet perplexing is an article written by Zubair Ahmed in June 2010 stating that books and memorabilia of the despised dictator is becoming a small scale industry in India. Hitler is reportedly admired and idolized by some of the youths in India, and some business students think that it helps them understand leadership. Hitler’s objective was to take over the world with the “the master race” the Aryans on his side.
An omission in this discussion of the rise in sales of Adolf Hitler’s books and memorabilia in India, is how the caste/class system that is still in India is a form of racism, and how these privileged youth could be looking at Hitler as a model.
After being introduced by the Aryan invaders thousands of years ago and incorporated into Hinduism, racism is still used to oppress and exploit over 100 million indigenous Indians who are subjected to institutionalized poverty and illiteracy.
The double edged sword of incorporating this belief system into both the secular and religious psyche of this society has allowed the ruling castes to become deluded with a sense of entitlement and fear of losing status and wealth by changing this system and the idea of not recognizing the Dalits as humans is used to perpetuate atrocities against them. Maybe one of these students, after reading Mein Kampf will have the guts to stand up against the racism and injustices and form a movement to help champion equal treatment and abolition of the slave system imposed on the Dalits.