U conference opens debate on DNA search for African roots

Mpls (red)Star Tribune ^ | 6/21/02 | Maura Lerner

[Valin]

Anura Si-Asar, a Minneapolis firefighter, can trace his ancestors six generations, to a Tennessee woman who came to Minnesota in 1846.

Then he runs into a roadblock: slavery. Like most African-Americans, he can only wonder where in Africa his ancestors came from, before slavery cut their ties to the past.

[Dialup Llama]

>"People are very curious and very interested," said Atum Azzahir, founder of the Powderhorn/Phillips Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis, which helped organize the conference.

Can I go there if I am feeling culturally unwell? Suppose it beats working.

[John H K]

Article doesn't state one of the REAL issues....

Pretty much every American black is going to find out they're 10, 20, 30, 40, or even 50% or more White European. I've seen previous articles/features on this that have mentioned that.

Interestingly, I've read that there are quite a few whites floating around, mainly in the South, that have no idea that they're 5-10% black African...possibly 25% of the white population in the South. Racking my brain for the source on that.

[Pushi]

I didn't read the whole thing. Where did he get his name? I never heard of many slaves with names like that.

[umgud]

Where in Africa could anyone wish they had come from? From a tribe of future slaughtered Tutsi's?

[philetus]

All you have to do is dig in the ground to find roots.Sheesh

[goodnesswins]

What's really sad, is that they think it's unusual to only be able to trace their "roots" back to 1846.....well, He**'s Bells.....I only know mine back to about 1865.....and I'm whiter than white.....