DNA Testing Could Help Make a Case for Reparations as More Blacks Trace Their Roots to Africa

A new book by Columbia sociology professor Alondra Nelson says that using DNA technology to find their African roots is becoming increasingly popular among Black people. In an interview with NPR, Nelson estimates that about 1 million have taken the test so far. The tests have also been popularized through Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates' show Finding Your Roots, which traces the family history of famous Americans such as Oprah and Chris Rock.

Nelson told NPR that discovering their genetic roots was a way for Black people to fill in a missing part of their history.

"Part of what I learned in the course of doing the research is that I am an outlier in this regard. Many of the people I spoke to - whether they were 25 or 65, had lived their whole lives wanting to know where in Africa their ancestors were from," said Nelson, author of The Social Life Of DNA.

Finding out what African ethnic group they are related to has a profound effect on Black people who take the test. Some break into tears, others have a new sense of identity now they know what ethnic group they come from. Actor Isaiah Washington used DNA technology to trace his maternal line back to the Mende people of Sierra Leone. He was so moved by the discovery that he is now a dual citizen of Sierra Leone and American and also contributed $1 million to a foundation that is building a school in the country....

Hey, thinking of white slaves— do you think there’s any potential payout for the descendants of the Oglethorpe Debtor’s Colony— also known now as the State of Georgia.

In which: The British used colonial North America as a penal colony through a system of indentured servitude. Merchants would transport the convicts and auctioned them off to plantation owners upon arrival in the colonies. It is estimated that some 50,000 British convicts were sent to colonial America, representing perhaps one-quarter of all British emigrants during the 18th century. The State of Georgia for example was first founded by James Edward Oglethorpe by using penal prisoners taken largely from debtors’ prison, creating a “Debtor’s Colony”. The English also would often ship Irish and Scots to the Americas whenever rebellions took place in Ireland or Scotland, and they would be treated similar to the convicts, except that this also included women and children.-— Women and Children, FRiends. Scots and Irish— that is to say— WHITE people were indentured slaves who were enslaved for over 20 years to pay off their debts— which were constantly re-upped with new debt.

So— where’s OUR reparations? Hmmmm? Should we ask the UK for some dough?

This may indicate tribal subgroup and relations, but that does nothing to indicate who was a slave, who was free, whether those genes had a stopover somewhere else on their way here.

In the instance of those descended from slaves, consider that someone sold these people to traders (or they were captured by force) before being taken to embarkation points and sold to go west, where they were sold again, maybe more than once.

Chances are good that many of those hands were not 'white'.

I don’t claim to be a DNA expert but I still realize that the chance a black American only had ancestors from one small area of Africa is zero. Many slave owners fathered children by their slaves so many black Americans had slave owning ancestors.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.