US craze for DNA tests may bolster racism
washington — Millions of Americans are using DNA test kits sold online to research their ancestry, either out of simple curiosity or to find answers about their identity.
But some academics warn the craze could reinforce racial stereotypes and divisions.
For around $100 and a few drops of saliva, a number of companies offer to decipher the genome of their clients and, by comparing their DNA to other profiles, tell them whether their ancestors came mostly from West Africa, southern Europe or from the indigenous peoples of the Americas, for example.
In a country whose population, for the most part, arrived in various waves of migration — and where genealogy has caught the public imagination — the DNA tests have proven wildly successful.
The main companies offering the service, Ancestry and 23andMe, say they have tested between 15 million people between them.
“I know my family tree, but there could have been something from another country that I did not know,” said Beverley Shea, a 67-year-old pensioner who did the test because she was “just curious.”
“My test was boring,” she joked. “I am exactly what I thought I was: Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh...”
Promoters say the new technology shows people their diverse backgrounds and will only increase racial tolerance.
“There is spectacular human diversity in the world and we celebrate
and embrace it,” says the 23andMe website.
By way of proof, the site showcases an African-American descended from a slave and a white person descended from a slaveowning family who found out through the company’s tests that they have a common ancestor.
They now meet at that ancestor’s grave in the spirit of “reconciliation.”
However, researchers from the University of California have shown that when white supremacists are confronted with evidence of a black ancestor, they scramble to explain away the results. —