The Poetry of DNA

I don’t know about you, but when I fill out applications I never know which race box to check. I know, I know, you’re probably saying to yourself, it’s obvious, dude, you’re black. Well, I just got the MyHeritage DNA results back and it showed me that actually I’m 72% West African, 14% British, 7% West European, 3% East European, and 3% Finnish decent now.
You tell me, which race box do I pick?
And if I pick that one, should the others get dismissed simply because society has created a box that limits my full heritage?
See, growing up at the race was real. Society told me it was us versus them, them versus us, and my race must stick together and be strong. But after my DNA results I asked myself, is race real as I’ve thought, after all?
Now pause, before some of you get upset and abrasive let me say this, racism is very real, who could deny such a statement.
You look at housing, prison, healthcare and education, not to mention the things I’ve personally faced with, and it is clear that there is racial discrimination. But race, my friends, is a figment of our collective imaginations, simply a learned categorization.
But if you take pride in your race, I’m not telling you to stop, I’m just saying, did you really want to define all of who you are by this tiny box? I mean, would you define the sky by a cloud? How about the ocean by a drop, maybe a house by its curtains?
No. See, there’s more to your story than society, is a bridged-version. And just as we must never judge a book by its cover, we must never judge a person by their skin because when we use MyHeritage DNA we find amazing chapters hidden within, each one co-authored by our ancestors. I’d say our, because humankind is interconnected and intertwined like wines, springing up from the roots of one tree, one family-tree, that goes by the name humanity.

©Prince EA