There's an article in today's NY Times that either details a "scientific" way to undermine Affirmative Action or points to the absurdities of the racial divisions we've created. The article deals with genetic testing that allows people to find their "ethnic ancestry". The testing can find out if you have African, European, Asian, etc. ancestry in your genome. Whether governments & institutions will officially recognize these tests is still an open question, but...
Prospective employees with white skin are using the tests to apply as minority candidates, while some with black skin are citing their European ancestry in claiming inheritance rights.
One Christian is using the test to claim Jewish genetic ancestry and to demand Israeli citizenship, and Americans of every shade are staking a DNA claim to Indian scholarships, health services and casino money.
When I first read the article, it made me think of the
segregation rules in the South that said
"one drop of Black blood" equaled being Black. What makes someone part of a racial group? Physical features or genetics? If it's genetics, then how much genetic information is
enough to be considered a part of that group?
The DNA testing discussed in the article has resulted in things like...
Ashley Klett's younger sister marked the "Asian" box on her college applications this year, after the elder Ms. Klett, 20, took a DNA test that said she was 2 percent East Asian and 98 percent European. Whether it mattered they do not know, but she did get into the college of her choice. "And they gave her a scholarship," Ashley said.
How about
Native American?
...slave descendants, known as the Freedmen, see DNA as bolstering their demand to be reinstated as members of the Indian tribes that once owned their ancestors. Under a treaty with the United States, the "Five Civilized Tribes" -- Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles and Cherokees -- freed their African slaves and in most cases made them citizens in the mid-1800's. More recently, the tribes have sought to exclude the slaves' descendants, depriving them of health benefits and other services.
At a meeting in South Coffeyville, Okla., last month, members of the Freedmen argued that DNA results revealing their Indian ancestry underscore the racism of the tribe's position that their ancestors were never true Indians.
Or being considered a
Jew?
...Israeli authorities have so far denied John Haedrich what he calls his genetic birthright to citizenship without converting to Judaism. Under Israel's "law of return," only Jews may immigrate to Israel without special dispensation.
Mr. Haedrich, a nursing home director who was raised a Christian, found through a DNA ancestry test that he bears a genetic signature commonly found among Jews. He says his European ancestors may have hidden their faith for fear of persecution.
Rabbis, too, have disavowed the claim: "DNA, schmeeNA," Mr. Haedrich, 44, said the rabbi at a local synagogue in Los Angeles told him when he called to discuss it.
Do you have to
"look" & be treated by soceity as Black, Asian, Jewish, or Native American, or does having 20% African genetics make a person with
"white" skin an African-American?