On DNA Testing

The trend to use DNA testing to find our ancestry raises concerns. Is it muddling or clarifying our understanding of race? And is it unduly emphasizing as MLK would have said "the content of our character"?

[@williamclarke5800]

I know the tests are not entirely accurate because the sample sizes are still too small. No one company can get samples from the whole region where ever they collect for data storage, but what it does tell me is that I have at least one ancestor from the region where they test or that we have similar dna. I took the test and found that I and my family have at least 17 different ethnicities that match our dna starting in the middle east. I am classified as African American and have been black all of my life and I found out that there is more to the story other than the plantation and slave ships. I have heard stories of our history but looking at the maps the test provide you can see a story. Being from Virginia mostly all of the slaves were taken from the West Indies like Barbados, Jamaica and etc. In addition to my African ancestry there was Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish, Middle Eastern, North African Italy, Greece and Central Asian. I have always been drawn these cultures, and to find out that its because I belong to them or they to me. I have all of Dr. Martin Luther Kings Speeches on audio and I am glad that you acknowledge him but I want to acknowledge 3 gentlemen that I think get forgotten in the Civil Rights Struggle they are Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman slain for Freedom drawn together for this cause, and could have had a common ancestor. These tests can be a tool to help re-gather what could have been lost to help find ones self it depends on the state of mind of the person taking the test.

[@daniellelevy674]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I am glad you had a positive experience with testing. I particularly like your saying you are classified as African American. I was born in Africa, North Africa actually, and am not. It all shows how we live in a system that can easily forget we are all homo sapiens.