Now that’s the funny thing about #23andme #dnatesting. Within our family we know of Native American ancestors from a couple generations back, yet I have none on my 23andme DNA. I have found more than a few surprises on my test, including the fact that my paternal grandfather was almost certainly a cuckold for my father. I think that’s how you use that strange word.
We had a few clues before his death, but that kept us scratching our head because a distant cousin of his whom we had just met said: “Your parents weren’t married.” And my father got upset, and said: “I’ll show her the dang marriage certificate!”….that and there was a MATCHING grandfather and father with a very similar name who used to visit my father when he was a boy in Ward 4 in Holyoke. He said the meetings were always “business like” Not until after his death were we able to get to the bottom of some of it.
I have fully embraced the Native Choctaw/Blackfoot roots on my Mom’s side, or what I thought were our roots since I was 13 and my mother taught me about them. But Being African-American the truth is sometimes a lot harder to discern. A few years before my Uncle David (may he rest in peace) passed, he had his DNA done on #myhertiagedna and turns out he was Finnish and Inuit. 7% Inuit/Eskimo. How they ended up in #AmericusGeorgia as part of the #Westbook #Haugabrook #Paschal lines is anyone’s guess. All other mixing is accurate on 23andme and aligns perfectly with oral history on the #Janas #Dudek sides going back to the time of #Napoleon Pretty amazing confirmations.
Now we all know the division game has never been part of Native American Ancestry, or any indigenous tradition that I’m aware of…but not seeing any Native American on my 23andme report kinda caused me to question whether I had been “playing native” all those years, and being 64% European, did that make me the like…#RachelDolezal? Yikes. I hope not.
Being mixed has so many nuances that many are unaware of…like it costed me three times as much to pursue and acting career because I was called to read for everything, but casting KNEW they weren’t going to hire me for anything. At least in Boston, NYC might be different.
But, it turns out many people guessing at my ethnicity may have been a little right, I’m like 1.2 percent Ashkenazi Jewish, which explains why I could eat Bagels, Lox and Cream Cheese every morning for breakfast and never tire of it….and I would if I could. #HenryLouisGates #roots
This is why we jokingly say at Brego.com: “Diversity Equity and Inclusion. We invented it.” My family has been doing that for over 150 years.
