Race in Greater Ethiopia

Word to the wise: the links are for seekers, but don’t let them stress you out. TL;DR humankind is different before each other, but equally small before God.

Let’s start with me:

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. I was a promising Physics student derailed by my Pre-Calculus teacher who sat wickedly on a tribunal that prevented my access to AP Physics. For reasons. I childishly responded by taking normal Statistics (the lowest bar for those who finish Pre-Calc at my college prepratory independent school was AP Statistics, with most doing Calculus and the best doing AP Calculus) as a senior in high school. None of my peers from Pre-Calc even thought to do this. My peers in normal Statistics were the students known for being bad at Math, and never took Pre-Calc. Furthermore, my homeroom teacher, who taught advanced Math classes, also taught Humanities introducing me to and having me fall in love with Philosophy of the Greeks to the Religions/Philosophy of East Asia. All of this resulted in me eschewing the Natural Sciences and Math for the Social Sciences and Humanities throughout my undergraduate and graduate experiences.

After law school, where I got a M.A. in Dispute Resolution rather than a M.S. or a J.D., and after having worked at a couple of research universities in Grand Forks and Merced, I understood the lay of the land better in terms of the dissemination of information. I was also exposed to STEM scholars making a splash in the non-prestige independent media networks: Brett Weinstein, Heather Heying, Jordan Peterson, Geoffrey Miller,Diana S. Fleischman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Razib Khan et cetera et cetera. Like Saul of Tarsus, later Paul (the belittled one), was painstakingly aware of his exceeding persecution of the church of God, I was aware of the crime I committed against my own brain and the sciences themselves.

For the past 6-7 years I have tried to remedy this by reading and hearing as much as my curiosity will allow for in computer science, physics, and biology. This does not make me an expert. Far from it. “But I know a little bit, enough that you won’t illegally search my shit” (Jigga, Nov. 14, 2003). I’m an amateur who knows a thing or three, and is willing to share with thee!

What am I? I am a living being animated by the breath exhaled out of the nostrils of yahweh. I am human. I am a homosapiens sapiens with a wee bit of homosapiens neanderthalensis (<2%). I am an Ethiopian. I am an Amhara. I am ~45% East African Hunter-Gatherer. That means if Black is a purely genetic construct, and includes all Africans, I am 45% Black. Slightly less than half. Ouch. Good thing others and I would argue that culture plays a role in this question in addition to genetics. The 4,500 yrs old moTa man, or OG East African highlander troglodyte, is a good stand-in amongst ancient populations for who I was back then in what we know now as the Ethiopian highlands. Amongst modern populations he is closest to the Ari people. But the Nilo-Saharans, who are much taller, hoopers and hoop fans are encouraged to think of Manute Bol and Bol Bol and Luol Deng, are not that genetically far from the Ari, relatively speaking.

I am ~46% Natufian. WTF is that? They were dark-skinned Eurasians, meaning they were a part of the bottleneck event ~50,000 yrs ago of ~1,000 people who left Africa whilst Africa had ~100,000 total population, and now they (Eurasians) make up the majority population of the world. Specifically, the Natufians were somewhere in the Near East, from the Levant to Iran/Irag to the Caucus mountains from which comes the term Caucasian. I have no steppe ancestry, nor am I a Northern European. I double-checked with Razib. So h/t him. That North African New Stone Age Farmer is a bit of a curve ball, but seems to approximate Natufians. Natufian is the closest thing in the gene bank of Illustrative DNA, which I used in conjunction with 23andMe to learn. But due to my outside knowledge of Ethiopian History, I believe this is my Cushitic Agew heritage (and perhaps a little Oromo).

I am ~6% Zagrosian New Stone Age Farmer. Razib says these categories in general are a little made up or arbitrary in name since it’s prehistory, but especially this one is. The Zagrosians were light-skinned Eurasians from around the mountains of Iran. Maybe both the Natufians and the Zagrosians came back to Africa from the Levant at different periods. The Zagrosians came back ~3,000 yrs ago. This is around the time of the Bronze Age Collapse in ~1177 B.C. Again, due to my outside knowledge of Ethiopian History, I believe this is my Semitic Agazyan (the Ge’ez People - the Free Folk) and later Aksumite heritage.

23andme says, “Henok, your paternal haplogroup is E-V32.” and “Henok, your maternal haplogroup is T1a.” Haplogroups are your father’s fathers and your mother’s mothers. Men cannot pass along their maternal haplogroup, so my son could not test himself and learn my mother’s, he’d have to ask me or read my blog. Likewise women with their father’s. My haplogroups match stories circulating my family and the information above. I am predominately an Amhara, on both sides, but I am told that I am patrilineally Oromo beginning with my great-grandfather. My paternal haplogroup is found in ~30% of Oromos and ~70% of Somalis. No one knows for sure, but seems like this man may have just moved around in Africa, or left and came back quickly without going to far away.

My maternal haplogroup goes “back to a woman who lived in the Middle East about 14,500 years ago. The world was just warming after the last great peak of the Ice Age, when the freezing climate had trapped much of the Earth's moisture in the ice sheets that covered not only the poles but also reached far down into all but the most southern reaches of Eurasia. The dry cold also created extreme deserts in the Arabian peninsula, restricting humans to a limited range of hospitable pockets. Then, as the ice gradually melted over thousands of years, the land outside of these refuges became habitable once again, and communities began to grow and re-expand. Some of the women in these migrations carried T1a to far reaches of the Middle East, North Africa, and all the way into western Europe. Haplogroup T1a, though not exceedingly common, shows a remarkable geographic spread. Members of this group have been found in the range from the west in Scandinavia and the Baltic to the south in Morocco and to the east in Central Asia.”

This is a rough visual for where my ancestors have spent their time over the eons. You can see why I identify as Afroasiatic, and want it to stick. I originally learned that term as an umbrella for our language family in Greater Ethiopia (or the Horn of Africa), but came to see it means so much more. It’s a turn-of-phrase that is a great conversation starter, and not ender.

This data plot shows me (the asiatic black man from zion) in the midst of the range of Horners compared and contrasted to North Africans, South Africans (not the Elon Musk and Dricus du Plessis kind) and West Africans. West Africans are great stand-ins for Foundational Black Americans / African Descendants of Slaves; whom are ~80% West African and ~20% Northern European.

Okay we addressed ancient populations. But Illustrative DNA (they are not paying me, just feeding my insatiable curiosity), also has this feature that allows me to compare modern populations by mixing-and-matching them myself to my DNA.

Here are the results and distances from my research:

ethiopian 2.412

egyptian + nilo-saharan 5.571

magrebi + nilo-saharan 6.802

levantine + nilo-saharan 7.530

somali 8.435

sephardic jew + nilo-saharan 8.903

levantine 29.527

nilo-saharan 32.537

bantu 41.773

han 62.177

oceanian 63.133

I don’t quite know what exactly the numbers mean, but the lower the closer to my DNA, and the higher the further in genetic distance. Surprise, surprise I am closest to Ethiopians. In an automated mix-and-match mode it had the Ari, but not here, only Nilo-Saharan so I stuck with that as my base for admixture, and you can see three different dialects of Arabic are the closest to me. Of course the Somali are not far off, but as you see the mixes are closer. The Sephardic Jew is no surprise, had they been more Levantine and less Iberian their admixture with Nilo-Saharans would be even closer. Levantine by itself being closer than Nilo-Saharan was a bit of a surprise, but I get it, I may be 55% Levantine (from thousands of years ago). The Bantu are a little further away. The Chinese and the Melanesians are as far from me as can be, genetically.

Now let’s bring it back to Greater Ethiopia:

‘Race’ is a word that even Charles Murray et al. don’t use anymore. It’s safer to speak of population groups. If you like, cousins. And tribes. The elephant in the room when we have anything approaching these conversations is scientific racism; which following Darwin and then Godwin’s law, brings us to Hitler. That is one end of the two extremes my writing tries to steer clear of. The Other, is social constructionism.

In high school psychology I learned about the nature vs. nurture debate, and that ~50%-70% of who we are is genetic and heritable. Through my college education brainwashing, I unlearned this. In order to avoid scientific racists, who say 100% of who we are is genetics, I made the error of hearing social constructionists, who say 100% of who we are is culture, with ears that hear. My alma mater taught me explicitly what I knew implicitly, “truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in all disciplines." The truth is somewhere betwixt and between.

The truth is some balance of genetics and culture. Be it 50/50, 70/30, or something yet unknown. We should boldly pursue knowledge of our genetics and knowledge of our culture. I do. And I will. Without fear. And with glee. Join me.

When the TPLF began their nation of nations (bihér bihéreseb) agitprop in the 1980s and 1990s, they said Ethiopia has 80+ ethnicities derived in 80+ languages. And that each of these groups deserves its own nation within the nation of nations. Furthermore, as the infamous Article 39 of their wicked and slothful constitution states, each group has the right to secede and from a totally separate nation. It’s giving 20th century worldwide, aka ‘international community’, communism.

I break bread with any opponent of the TPLF, but some opponents of the TPLF are also communists. In fact, some are not less but more communist! They just can’t stand Ethno-linguistic Federalism. But alas, this is the fate of all revolutionaries. The left eats its own, from Robespierre to Ana Kasparian and Ana Kasparian. Be careful. Some of these opponents of TPLF, in trying to rightly dismantle Ethno-linguistic Federalism, wrongly and naively spout, “we are all the same.” One such occurence was the spicy debate of Prof. fiqré tolosa vs. lij tedla melaku.

Without totally rehashing the ‘Dr.’ discourse surrounding Jill Biden, let me simply say a Phd., Psy.D., M.D., and J.D. are a difference in kind and not just degree *pun intended* from doctors of education, ministry, and leadership. Put your feelings. You know this to be true. lij tedla has a B.A., and Prof. fiqré a Phd. So, credentialing and signaling wise, I would lean toward the prof in an intellectual debate. But, I know the lij. We have shared ancestry beginning with Emperor susnyos…

I will be the first to admit to not having read the prof.’s book True Origin of Oromos and Amharas. But, I watched and heard them debate for hours. As not all doctorates are created equally, not even all Phd.s are created equally. The credential bothered me so much, because the drivel and doggerel I heard was so fantastical that I couldn’t fathom the credential and signal was real. Guess what? It is real. But it’s in comparative literature and creative writing. Por supuesto.

I don’t mind allies with diverse thoughts. Diversity of opinion is one of my deeply-held values. But, a unity rooted in fiction is harmful and not helpful. I am willing to sing kum ba ya ma lawd with you, and the Gullah Geechee, as long as it is rooted in truth. For example, Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. That’s why I love to sing kumbaya.

When I oppose the Ethno-linguistic Federalism of the TPLF, it is in truth and in love. Greater Ethiopia does not have 80+ ethnicities. That’s egregious hogwash. It is equal hogwash to say Greater Ethiopia is one race. So, how many races are there in Greater Ethiopia? Let use some samples to explore this question.

These are the Ari people. One race.

We already named some Nilo-Saharan hoopers, but here’s the political activist obang metho. I love his emphases on Ethiopia and humanity. There are ~400,000 Ethiopians of his race. And ~800,000 South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia like him genetically. If the next King of Kings of Ethiopia hears my cry in the digital world via the wilderness of North America, obang will be crowned Gate-Commander of the gambéla Region of Ethiopia. He’ll know what to do.

This makes two races.

mohamed abdullahi mohamed is the former president of the Federal Republic of Somalia. So, why is he here? Well, first off, his republic is a fake country à la the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Global Anglo-American Empire props of the Republic of Somalia as it propped up the Republic of Afghanistan. If my short-term memory serves me, the Republic of Afghanistan fell in a week, after the US forces left, to the freshly-minted Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. An emirate is a princedom, a dukedom, a fiefdom, a monarchy. I love that form of governance. Not that everything monarchs do is great. But, at least it’s not fake. I’m allergic to fake. I love real.

Secondly, a Somali Twitter friend says Captain Phillips lead actor Barkhad Abdi is too frequent a stand-in for Somalis, and I quote, “seems like a nice guy…” but “he’s *extremely* homely in a striking way.” That’s funny. I’ve seen him irl filming something in Little Ethiopia Los Angeles transformed into Little Somalia, and I didn’t think so, but I’m also not Somali, even though I share my paternal haplogroup with most of them. Somalis are stand-ins for agews, biléns, afars, sahos, and oromos.

The Republic of Somalia is said by spooks to have ~12 million people, but that is not accounting for the autonomous states of Puntland and Somaliland. Djibouti has ~600,000 Somalis. And anyway you cut the cookie Ethiopia proper has no shortage of Somalis; ~5 million Somalis in the Somali Region. Maybe more. After the Civil War of 2020, there may be more Somalis than Tigrayans in Ethiopia. Somalis are historically not a part of Ethiopia proper, unless except as tributaries, and are virtually 100% Muslim whereas Tigrayans are 95% Orthodox Christian. These things matter to forging a shared national narrative, which we have been lacking for 50 yrs. In recently released USFG transcriptions of discussions between Emperor hayle’silasé Pres. Tricky-Dick Nixon, the Emperor says at one point in the 70s he was willing to give the Somalis the Ogaden (Somali Region). That didn’t happen. He was captured and murdered by communists without a trial. And a few years later the Ogaden War ensued. The whole Somali question is a mess. We need to find a peaceful and prosperous solution sooner rather than later.

This makes three races.

The benee hamer boy represents the tigré of modern-day Eritrea. His face is well-known to many Ethiopians and Eritreans, alongside the thought-provoking motto “13 months of sunshine”, and sadly is sometimes the topic of vitriol betwixt and between these plainly sibling peoples. A Twitter friend of this ethnic group shared his DNA with me, and that of one of their friends from the same group, and that of a friend of akale guzay (one of the three historic tigriña speaking highlands of modern-day Eritrea). Their DNA had the same material as mine but with different ratios. They is 37% East African, 49% Natufian, and 10% Zagrosian. Their tribesperson is 30% East African, 57% Natufian, and 11% Zagrosian. This surprised me. I thought there ratios would be closer to me. And still, the material is the same.

This makes four races.

The tipo abissino dello acchele guzai, like the tigrayans across the mereb melash river from them, and the guragé (allegedly from gura, eritrea, but situated deep in the south, southwest of adees abeba) are not significantly genetically distant from my people the amhara. Sorry, not sorry. Thems the facts, Jack.

This is the face of liul ras (high-born duke) kasa haylu, of the Solomonic Dynasty of Ethiopia. A dynasty that ruled for at minimum 700 yrs; 1270 A.D. - 1974 A.D. At maximum 3,000 yrs, plus or minus a few hundred years. I spoke with his granddaughter Ms. meemee and his greatgrandaughter Dr. menen last month (POAAS 127):

Ms. meemee attended the Sandford British School contemporaneously with my mother and my mother’s brother. Her father, liul ras asrate kasa and my maternal grandfather Governor dañew welde’silasé knew each other personally. Though dañew was also high-born (of the gwenderine rather than shewan line, currently in power, of the Solomonic Dynasty), out of respect, he would ij mensat (obeisance, or a special greeting of a junior to a senior in the feudal society) asrate, and this confused my mother at the time, no doubt unwittingly making her feel queasy, but it was right and just.

Anyhoo, this makes 5 races.

If we don’t include Eritrea, for obvious reasons, we have 4 races. And the Nilo-Saharans and Ari are distinct, but it wouldn’t be crazy to call them one race, which would bring us to 3 races. So, Ethiopia has 3-4 races. If you desired accurate and not fake Ethnic Federalism, which I do not, you would have 3-4 zones or regions in Ethiopia for each race or nation within the nation.

An alternative that a good friend and mentor of mine proposes, is to scale down the system into a patchwork or confederation of city-states or weredas. Who knows what would work? God knows.

What do you think? I hope I have given you plenty of savory and sweet and umami food for thought.