I thought Penn State students were with me on the cusp of a new era. Even though most of us live (and too often die) by the “racial” group to which our appearances give us membership rights, I thought that DNA ancestry testing would inspire us to re-imagine how we identify ourselves—and how we relate to one another.
I was wrong.
It’s not that I don’t spend time pondering these issues. I have been sitting in circles with college students scaling the mountain of race relations for nearly fifteen years. When I do the math, it turns out that I have either facilitated or observed close to 1,000 small group conversations on the topic. Given all of the straight talk and sensitivity, breakdowns and breakthroughs that have occurred on my watch, I can say that there have been no topics too small or too large for us. We talk in earnest about everything from who can call their hair “nappy,” to the nature of historical trauma, to how different cultural groups bathe, raise their kids, and think about the future. I thought DNA ancestry testing would be a welcome addition to our conversational repertoire.
So when Sam offered the opportunity to take such a DNA test (www.ancestrybydna.com) as part of the SOC 119 curriculum, I expected the experience to catalyze the weekly discussion groups in ways that we had never seen. Each student received an estimate of the proportions of their heritage drawn from West African, West European, East Asian, and Native American population groups. Most were shocked to discover that at least two-thirds of them are some “mix” that they did not anticipate. I expected that this surprise would naturally begin the process of dismantling the unsophisticated views of race to which Americans hold so tightly in our politics, our policies, and our personal relationships.
Wrong again.
Instead of critiquing the way we categorize a person as “Asian” whose ancestry may include significant influences from other population groups, or someone as “black” when barely half of their ancestry originates from Africa, the vast majority of students focused on their own results. And they exhibited the gamut of emotion that occurs when individuals learn who was chosen to be on the team or to receive the first place prize. One dark-skinned woman excitedly posted the fact that she was “27 percent European” on her away message, while one light-skinned woman angrily destroyed the CD containing her results when she discovered her ancestry to be 100 percent West European. But this wasn’t meant to be a contest to see who was in and who was out.
So much for the lesson plans.
In almost every instance, my attempts to initiate a discussion of the test were met with unusually curt replies. “The test makes no difference,” I heard over and over again. “I know who I am; a blood test won’t change anything,” many huffed. “People won’t treat me any differently because of the results,” others insisted, “so what’s the point?” This was the tenor of comments I even heard from the teaching assistants who recognized the value in untamed conversations of all varieties and who had been willing to go with me into the wildest terrain. These were not individuals who participated on the margins; these were the ones who jumped in and got wet.
I didn’t get it. Genetic science seemed poised to tear down our accepted racial categories on a massive scale by revealing the false groupings that we follow like a religion—and everyone was acting uninterested. All I wanted was for us to ponder what it could mean if science was showing us that the way we classify our groups is inaccurate, or to explore what might happen if we realized that few of us wear our precise racial affiliations on our sleeves (as so many of us believe), or to picture how things would be different if we had to ask for this information when we met someone (as opposed to determining it haphazardly for ourselves in the time it takes to notice them rushing by to catch a train).
No one seemed to care about all of that.
But finally, I have begun to make sense of the collective malaise I encountered. One insight came last semester when a student posed an intriguing question to one of the discussion groups. He asked, “How would we treat each other if we came together without the baggage of our respective histories?” The consensus was that, without our histories, none of us would be who we are. So the thought experiment was impossible, the group concluded.
Click.
I got it. The ancestry testing did not even begin to discredit our concept of race simply because…it couldn’t. We don’t know how to live without the dividing lines that we have inherited to define us. We don’t know how to identify ourselves or how to recognize one another without them. So we have no choice but to side-step new information, dutifully fitting ourselves “into” the only available categories—even when we sense that those categories are wrong.
So it seems that DNA ancestry testing is a mirror. And if we dare to behold its reflection, we get to see how little imagination we have when it comes to race, and how much we resist living without our familiar fault lines. But genetic science has found its way to the surface and is now demanding that we respond to its challenges with something more substantial than our worn stories and stereotypes.
Unfortunately, what I see every day is that individuals of all colors share a propensity toward provincial views, overly simplified assessments of issues, and thinly veiled prejudices about other groups. That means we are walking together on the edge of a perilous cliff with few among us of any color prepared to truly assess the landscape we are facing. Many seem resigned to waiting for a lightening bolt for direction—like the student who poignantly stated, “It will probably take something a lot bigger than a DNA test to really change my outlook on race and racial issues.” All I could imagine was September 11th. That was the last time I thought something large enough had happened to begin to shift the dynamic of race relations in this culture. I thought it had to offer us a clearer vision of ourselves.
I was wrong then too.
So I’ve learned that what really matters are the tiny epiphanies that happen off stage, one at a time, when one person comes to see what another person sees and they view the world with the same eyes for a moment. In that instant, all who are present feel the ground breaking beneath their feet because, when we have the opportunity to witness a change of heart live, we know something profound is happening.
Of course, these singular awakenings turn out to be more about effort and grace than about lesson plans. But I am convinced that they do more to undermine the tangles of our bigotry than the more dramatic events that we all keep mistaking for the cure. That is why I continue to sit in conversation circles, doing my part to unravel our knotty multicultural macramé, person-by-person, story-by-story—because, as my students and a DNA test have so convincingly demonstrated to me, there are just no shortcuts to undoing the breadth of our illusions.
I don’t think I’m wrong about that.
Laurie
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16 comments:
Though I understand why these DNA tests had little effect on the way people perceive themselves and how they perceive people of other races, it still is slightly puzzling in a way as well. I would think most of the results would have come back shocking students with the mixture of their past they probably did not know about before. So I would also think that the results could have brought people closer if they happened to find over-lap in their ancestry with other students. That is my opinion from the outside. But then I put myself in those shoes, and think about how I would be affected if I was DNA tested for my ancestry. I would be extremely interested, that’s for sure, but I, like many others, do not think it would change much about how I act now. Sure, it would be cool to find out other people share some history with me, but would it really change the way that I act every day? I really don’t think so.
So it seems the conclusion you came to is definitely the right one, because how could we live without dividing lines? Though sometimes I don’t realize it, being “white” shapes who I am today. I don’t think any of us know how to live without our race defining us in some way.
Someday, perhaps, our race will define us less than it does today, but until then, I guess for many, DNA testing will just be “a contest to see who was in and who was out.”
I disagree with Laurie when she says that we don’t know how to live without dividing ourselves. Just like so many other times in my life, when I feel lost, I think of my daughter. Does my seven year old see race and divide everyone into categories that they are supposed to inhabit? Definitely not. In the part she has said ‘hey black boy’ in order to get a playmates attention, and while inside I was shuddering at how that might have sounded to anyone else standing around, I though about the world through her eyes. She, although being part Italian, is very light skinned. The boy, happened to be very dark skinned. Therefore, he was ‘black’ and a ‘boy’ so they just fit together. There was no political correctness or racism or hurt feelings from the little boy, it was just two kids playing a game. I feel that racism is based on ignorance and hatred, not inconvenient words. That is why I don’t think that a blood test is going to solve any problems. I think it would be interesting to find out where my roots are, but a test is not going to change a persons hate for another. It’s like trying to use logic for an illogical act. There is no reason for racism, so I don’t think you can reason with someone to get them to stop.
I’m sure that if I got a DNA test, I would be extremely interested to find out what my ethnic background really is. Personally, if I found out that I was a certain percentage Asian or a certain percentage African American, I would think of myself differently for a second, and then I would keep living my life the way I used to. It’s not really about your ethnic background, although it can help define you culturally, but it’s about who you are as a person. I know who I am. I know my imperfections and faults, and I have accepted them. To me, that is more valuable then defining myself by my ethnic background or race. Sure, it would be pretty cool to know exactly where my ancestors came from, but still, that wouldn’t define who I am as a person. Most people have decided their opinions and views on most issues a long time ago, and they aren’t going to change. In my experience, people are stuck in their ways. Finding out your true heritage, although it would be really cool, still would probably not change the minds of certain individuals on race. Besides, is it really about ethnicity and race, or is it about who you are as a person?
I think that Alexandra is right when she says that most people are already set in their ways when it comes to most issues, and that they’d have no problem ignoring the results of a DNA test if they didn’t like what they learned. However, I think that some people would really use that knowledge to their benefits. For example, I already have a pretty clear idea of my heritage because my dad is really into genealogy, but what if I found out that my DNA had traces of an ethnicity that I’d never expected? To be honest, I think I’d be fascinated and try to figure out where that ethnicity played into my family’s history. And even if I never figured it out, I would probably become more interested in that culture. I don’t really know how my DNA results would affect my views of race relations… I suppose I’d be more likely to have compassion for a race’s current issues if I knew I was linked to it by blood. I like to think, though, that the breakthroughs Laurie mentions in her blog post would have a lot more effect on my perspective. This class has already opened my eyes to a lot of issues dealing with poverty, slavery, mistreatment, and ignorance that I think are a lot more likely to make a difference in my attitude than the results of a DNA test.
I think if I was offered the opportunity to take a DNA test to discover my heritage I would. It would be extremely interesting to find out my ethnic background. I think a part of life is discovering who you are and where you came from, your ancestry, is a part of that. I believe most people are interested in finding out more about themselves. I know that I am. However, I do not believe that a DNA test can change how people look at themselves or at other people. It’s just a grain of personal knowledge that will stay on the surface for a short time until it is stored away into memory and maybe forgotten. People judge others by appearances and that is something that is not going to change. Judging by appearance is easy and it is what people have learned to do since they were little. I somewhat agree with Jeff when he says that we can live without dividing lines. I believe that young children do notice the differences in people and categorize them in their mind. (“All of those kids have dark skin, and those have sort of dark skin, and my skin is light like the other kids.”) They categorize by appearance. However, when young children categorize by appearance, there is no hatred behind it; they just do what is convenient for them. Depending on their parents or other people they are in contact with while they are growing up, certain opinions (good or bad) will form about each group of people. Perhaps it’s not the categorizations that we can’t shake, but the experiences and formed opinions that reinforce them that we cannot.
I would be extremely interested in taking a DNA test in order to find out where my origins are. While knowing what kind of blood was within my body would not change me necessarily, it would definitely get me thinking. It would inspire me to truly research where my family comes from and analyze how I relate to others. I believe the excitement exhibited by the individuals that Laurie talks about is not necessarily bad. It’s a big shock to learn that you are not essentially who you thought you were. What this testing could do is disprove how we carelessly stereotype and classify people. I believe we would also be more open to some of Sam’s lecture points. Instead of seeing the different statistics as different types of people, we would realize that the people he was talking about were some of our ancestors, which makes it all the more personal.
I believe realizing where you come from is an important part of discovering yourself. Not only will you be defining an important part of your own history, but you also get a different perspective on how you relate to others. In the end, genetic testing may be an important step in finding peace within ourselves and one another.
I feel as though the DNA testing would not make a difference in how people treated one another. It is similar to how people look at Barack Obama. Sure, he is half white, but to a lot of people, he will not get their vote because he is also half black. People see what they want to see. It does not matter what is on a piece of paper, or even what you tell someone that you are. They see you how they want to see you. As much as I would hope that a DNA test would help people to understand themselves and their relationships with others better, I would have to agree with Alexandra. After I received the results of the test, I would probably think about them a bit and then move on with my life. I do not think it would greatly affect how I would act. Just because I was a part of a race I did not realize I was a part of, would not make me begin to identify with it. I would rather people want to be around me due to my personality and beliefs, not that I was 10% like them.
I have never heard of a blood test that could let you know from where, how much, and what kind of blood is pulsing through your veins. I think that it would be interesting and kind of fun to learn the different kind of ancestry within me. To see how many different ‘things’ I am and even possibly see how my blood differs from that of my family members would be, in a sense, enlightening for me. This would be most enlightening because I have always been taught to state proudly that I am Puerto Rican and Dominican, nothing more and, most importantly, nothing less. At one point I do remember my mother talking about West Indian something or other but that was the first and last time that was mentioned so I am back to that Puerto Rican and Dominican pride. But, as I think about it being Puerto Rican and Dominican is all I know. So, could I really change based on test results? I think that my answer to that would have to be no; as I have come across in a number of other postings, I do not think that knowing 'what else' I am would change the way I act or see myself and others in my family. We would still just be Puerto Rican and Dominican through our own eyes and either simply Spanish or just Black by the eyes of others. So, in reality would there even be a point in getting the test? I cannot see it.
I also agree with Alexandra and Katie when they said people are stuck in their ways. A DNA test may very well add some excitement to a person's life as they find out more about themselves, a part of them they may never have known, but at the same time, I could not picture majority of people all of a sudden changing the way they live their life because they discovered more of who they are genetically. The way society is today, people make judgments based on first impressions, a person cannot help what they look like even if looks are misleading in terms of a combination of different races. A person could consist of several different ethnicities, but which ever is most apparent is what people see and what people base their view points on. Without a doubt, if given the chance to take a DNA test, I would. Everyone in my family is Chinese, as far as I know, but it would be interesting to see our historical genetic makeup. I would have thought most students would want to learn more about their genetic makeup and grow from that. I would have assumed if people knew there was more to them than they knew, they would take that as a starting point to change how they view others and how often they continue to jump to conclusions about others. I guess not. People today are used to making first judgments based on first impressions, it is not normal for a person to introduce himself as being part this and part that and so on. Maybe someday people will gradually move towards a more open mindedness point of view, but for now, those dividing lines do exist and they do guide people on how they currently live their life.
What DNA Testing Cannot Do for Race Relations - Response
Reading this blog response reminded me of what we learned in class – that only about 1% of our genetic make-up determines our outward appearance. However, this small fraction is what everyone in our culture is all worked up about in terms of race relations. I think this comes from fear of the unknown, because people aren’t taking the time to get to know each other. They are just analyzing people off the color of their skin, and based off what they see, they decide if they will go a step further and get to know the person. I agree with the young man mentioned in the blog, who didn’t think there was much point to DNA testing. I think it would really only benefit the person themselves, because it would satisfy their curiosity of knowing where their ancestors were from. I think it would be more beneficial to do things like group activities with mixed grouped members, or small group discussions like we have each week for Soc 119. The DNA tests don’t do much because they reveal a person’s backgrounds, but that isn’t something that is seen by the human eye. Because it can’t see it with our eyes, it is not something people of our culture initially care about. We are too focused on color and appearance. This reminds me of the exercise we did in class where Sam put several pictures of people up on the slides and we had to guess who was of what ethnicity/origin. Most guesses were wrong, but we stuck to pre-disposed stereotypes we hold for certain colors and appearances. Our society doesn’t really care as much about a person’s background, because we never really take the time to move past their appearance. We need to take the time to get to know each other and talk if we want to get anywhere in race relations.
Katie Wiedie
On a personal level, if I found, through DNA testing, traces from unexpected origins- such as Asian or African American- I would initially be excited about my mixed background and would feel more of a connection with those other races. By “connection,” I mean that I would develop a reasoning to learn and explore more about the culture of that race, if it were one that had previously not played a part in my life. I do believe, though, that it is unfortunate that it would take something like a DNA test, a link between myself and another race other than what I had perceived to be my own, for me to gain an “excuse” to attempt to assimilate/learn about another culture. Accordingly, I think that I would feel a bit more interested about hardships/current problems that face that race- which is also something that is troublesome to admit. I believe that people become accustomed to the culture that they have recognized as their own- they grow up mourning and celebrating with the people that they share beliefs, traditions, holidays, and similarities—basically any way connect people that share something in common. The culture that I just described typically goes hand-in-hand with race, which Laurie described as a way to “divide ourselves.” At the same time, knowing that something like a DNA test could provide a reason, or “bridge,” for people like me to connect with another race/culture is great.
Receiving unexpected results from a DNA test, as Laurie has demonstrated, can waiver on the fence of good and bad. I look at the DNA test as a way to show that despite ethnic affiliations we 1) are connected in more ways that we are aware of, 2) categorizing race is impossible. I can understand the distress students may have felt if they found out they were an unexpected race. But students missed the whole point of the DNA testing, which is to show that we cannot classify ourselves. Instead many students were hurt. Imagine growing up believing you identified with a race and culture, and then finding out 20 years later, you are actually another race. I can see the discrepancy. Students shouldn’t allow their biology to dictate who they are. I believe that one chooses how to live within their ethnic culture, and that shouldn’t change based on a DNA test. You are who you are regardless of what your bloodline indicates.
I do not seem to understand the comment made by one of Laurie’s students. “How would we treat each other if we came together without the baggage of respective histories?” I think that history is an important part of learning about other people, but it is just that. It is history, and history is meant to be learned from, not to carry throughout generations. It’s sad that racism, which stemmed from slavery, has carried on throughout generations. This should mean that test results revealing that a student is a different race is a learning experience about yourself as well as others.
I would have thought that DNA tests in a class like this would open many people’s eyes to the differences between us. If I were to find out that I am of a race that I didn’t know about, I would be excited. I can see how some people may be offended, but this is because they are not opening their minds to new ideas. In a class like Soc119 the main point that Sam stretches is to forget your preconceived notions and rethink everything that he says. Many people constrain themselves to one way of thinking, when taking time to rethink ideas could radically change your mind. I think the DNA tests would work out well if they were presented to the class again in a different way. It needs to be explained that these tests are to give you a different perspective in race relations. Although the results don’t change how you act or the way you are perceived by other people, it can bring connections between people. Like in Laurie’s book, there needs to be a bridge between people in order to understand each other. I think that to define our race, these DNA tests would be great but what people are failing to see is that, this test shows our race, not our culture. Our ancestry is just what makes us look different from each other. This is why people should be willing to find out what makes up their DNA but realize that this does not change our culture or our way of living today.
The DNA test would provide valuable information, and I can understand how from a sociologist’s point of view, it would be very exciting to see how people reacted to others’ results. However, if one were to remove the years of schooling and experience a sociologist has and looked at the issue very simply, one would see that no one would actually care about other people’s results. Of course everyone would only be interested in their histories. On some sick level, minority students (including myself) would long to have a part of the dominant race. It’s strange, because we know that being 27% European isn’t going to change anything about us and how we’re perceived; but it goes back to the video showing the kids picking the “good” doll – our roles are so ingrained in our minds that having a little white blood makes us feel more…whole? I’m not really sure of the right word, but it does give us a sense of validation.
Additionally, it would be impossible to use these results to combat racism, if you believe that racism is fundamentally illogical, as I do. Race is the simplest way to distinguish people, and therefore the simplest way to classify them. Adding layers of complexity such as DNA results which show mixed ancestries is like explaining Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to everyone: a select few people will absorb, understand, and even use it. The majority of people however, will fall back on Newton’s classical mechanics, which is much more apparent. In my opinion, the individual level is where racism needs to be eradicated. If a racist actually got to know an individual who is the object of their hate, their feelings would be much more likely to dissolve.
Christopher Justin
Dude, I am White. Short of moving to the suburbs, it is harder to be more stereotypically white than me. Because of that I have heard a lot of what I would call inappropriate remarks. Many of those remarks were made in entirely white company, by a white person. Remember when Sam said that a racist joke is one were you have to look around to see if anyone will be offended? Those are the sort of “jokes” that I am talking about. Although I frequently call people out for making those jokes, I think it would be more effective if I said, “Dude, I am three-quarters North-African.” Short of punching the person in the face there seems to be few ways of getting through to people like that; unless one were to point out something rather jarring (I do not actually know if I have any ancestors from Africa). I think that if I were racist I would have trouble justifying those sorts of remarks. Although, when I have pointed out to people who make those remarks that they are probably very similar to the person that they are insulting they tend to just shrug it off.
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