3 ms·
Part of the problem with self-reported ethnic or racial backgrounds is the explosion of cheap DNA tests from the likes of Ancestry and the now-bankrupt 23andme.
by ilamont 1y ago
Part of the problem with self-reported ethnic or racial backgrounds is the explosion of cheap DNA tests from the likes of Ancestry and the now-bankrupt 23andme.
All of a sudden, people have the ability to determine if distant ancestors came from a different continent. Even if it's just 1 or 2% or even a trace amount, they're checking off boxes identifying themselves as multiracial.
For the 2020 census, it resulted in a 276% increase in the number of people self-identifying with more than one racial group. This is far more than could be explained by immigration or children born to parents from different backgrounds since 2010.
This NPR article (https://www.npr.org/2021/08/28/1030139666/2020-census-results-data-race-multiracial-dna-ancestry-test-mixed-biracial https://www.npr.org/2021/08/28/1030139666/2020-census-result...) explains the dynamic:
Its findings suggest adults 50 and up are most likely to self-identify as multiracial on surveys after receiving a report about the potential roots of their family tree based on a DNA analysis of their saliva. The study of more than 100,000 adults registered as potential bone marrow donors in the U.S. also found that DNA test takers were especially likely to identify with three or more racial groups. ...
"Native American was the one identity people really wanted to have and really wanted to prove," Roth says, adding that she has also found that some people stopped claiming Native American identity after the results of a test did not show any genetic ancestry.
You can imagine the problem when self-reported racial identities could really cloud the waters for determining a suitable bone marrow donor or other health application.
- y-c-o-m-b 1y ago> Even if it's just 1 or 2% or even a trace amount, they're checking off boxes identifying themselves as multiracial. This is not necessarily wrong though. In many cases I've seen where children of grandparents from a particular region showing up on those products as having low percentage heritage from those areas. If your grandmother was born in China and is - for all intents and purposes - clearly Chinese, yet you show up with 3% Chinese DNA on these products, does that mean you can't identify as having Chinese in your family background? Who determines where this line is drawn?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bawolff 1y agoIt does seem a little silly. My great-great grandfather on one side was from germany, but i don't identify as german. The link is too weak and i have no cultural connection.
- reverendsteveii 1y agoI mean, the real problem was that race was always a social construct but racists wanted to to be a biological one instead
- paxys 1y agoWhy is that a problem? Self identification is a good thing. The real problem is people using the box you check for real world decisions like college admissions, jobs and scholarships. Re: the bone marrow thing, no one is using self identification as a way of doing blood or organ transplants ("you say you are black so your marrow will probably work for him"). There are real medical tests to check for all this.
- mrguyorama 1y agoThe problem comes when, well, did anyone ever verify Ancestry data? My understanding from the sidelines was that the reported ethnicity of "oh you have a little french in you" had no meaningful basis, and was absurdly inaccurate. People treating it as anything more than fiction were making a mistake.