The United States is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities, with multiracial families as a result. In recent scientific advancements, the new and cutting edge technology of DNA Ancestry Testing has been known to provide answers for those seeking answers of their heritage.
In a video segment by KPBS NewsHour, author of the book, “The Social Life of DNA,” Alondra Nelson, tells of the benefits of this scientific discovery. Nelson explains how this technology has the possibility to “repair social ruptures from transatlantic slavery”. She further explains that many African Americans today feel the need to identify with a certain part of Africa. For instance, one would be referenced as “Nigerian-American” rather than just “African American”. She continues to state that there is a connection between a person’s ‘story’ and their ‘identity,’ and that this test would provide them the answers to complete their story.
While it is understandable that one would want to personalize and specify exact parts of their history, it is only natural to question this new technology and the accuracy of its results. For starters, what specific part of cells from a cheek cell swab are helping the scientists decipher that a person is from a specific part of a continent? Many scientific articles have claimed that DNA does not equal race, and therefore there is no direct correlation between the two. As race is a social construct, it is only inane that a science could be based off of it. This can only lead one to question: the accuracy and legitimacy of DNA ancestry testing. Could this just be one of the many scams, taking advantage of those who are desperate to seek answers about their past?
The real question is; once we send in our DNA in and receive our results, how will this influence our lives today? I have even thought about having a DNA ancestry test done myself but after I really thought it through, I asked myself, will I change or go about any part of my daily life any differently afterward? Will I feel or look differently at myself? Or others? While it is perfectly understandable that one would want to identify with and have personal ties with a specific part of the population, it is also only reasonable to ask what major impact that knowledge will have on the rest of one’s life-- if there were any impact at all. In addition, it would only lead a person to wonder and ask more questions of how the path of their ancestors created the lives that he or she live today.
The reality of it all is that we are all Americans today, whether it be by acquiring citizenship or being born as a native. Our past should not dictate how we go about our lives today. Our ancestors may not have had control over the country in which they were born, which country they ended up living in, or how they made a living, so why allow these events to have such an influence on our lives today?
Despite where we have originally came from, we must refrain from our nature to segregate and categorize everything and everyone. Instead of further seeking differences between each other, we should try to find similarities or rather things that will unite us. We must learn to accept, not dwell, on the past and live to improve our lives today, specifically not making race an issue in the first place-- as it is a social construct. Nonetheless, DNA ancestry testing seems to people with more questions rather than provide answers to the pre-existing ones.
