Knowing Your Racial Heritage

by Fatherofeight | More from this Blogger

11 Dec 2006 10:50 PM

Everyone wants to know their racial heritage. For most of us, it's something that we never had to think about. We could look in the mirror and at the rest of our family and get a pretty good idea as to where we came from.

Many adopted children do not have this luxury. Some never knew either one of their biological parents. Others know just one, usually their birth mother. If that parent is racially mixed, then the child knows very little about their personal ancestry.

Intermarriage has surged in the last number of years and today there are a lot of people who are racially mixed. Our adopted children all fall into this category. For most, it's not enough to know that they are a combination of races, they want to know which ones and how much of each.

Many personal questionnaires ask for racial information. When our boys were enrolled in school, I had to place a check in a box to designate their race. The only problem was that they had to be one race or another. There was not a box for "mixed". Likewise, I was not given the option to give percentages, although I now know the numbers to do that.

This phenomena starts at the top with the United States Census and works down to enrollment forms at grade schools. The Census Bureau cannot change their criteria because advocates of the various groups want all of their people to be counted. Perhaps the grade school does not want to break the categories down because many prospective parents want to know the diversity of the student population. I asked that question of a school representative this week.

My wife and I have decided that our boys should be able to know their specific racial heritage. We are in the process of having their DNA tested. There are a number of reputable companies that can be found on any of the Internet search engines that can do the testing. A cotton swab is sent and then rubbed inside the person's cheek for a minute or so. Then the company tests the swab and the test reveals the exact racial heritage of the person. It costs about $200.

Right now, our children do not care all that much about this. Someday they will and I will be prepared to tell them. As for me, the question remains as to whether my maternal grandfather was a Native American. He sure looked like he was. I still do not care enough to spend the money to find out. When the test is a lot cheaper, maybe I will.

Related Blog:

DNA is Hot Business but is there Genetic Privacy?

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