Native Americans and DNA Testing
Being a Native American in the United States was never as advantageous as it is now. Today many Native Americans are queuing up to get their ancestry verified through DNA testing. The rush is because; being of Indian descent may make one eligible for tribal membership, federal aid or a stake in the tribal profits from the casinos. Apart from this, the onslaught for native American DNA testing has often been attributed to pure and simple individual curiosity about his or her genetic makeup.
Most Americans are aware of their descent and ancestry but for Native Americans, the accurate breakup of their heritage becomes crucial in the light of many agreements signed by the US government with a view to providing education, health care and other services at a discount to many of these tribes. Indian tribes have also been empowered by these very treaties to construct run and manage casinos on reserved lands. These casinos today generate close to $18 billion annually and the numbers are only rising.
Tribes often set criteria of an individual having at least one grandparent or one great grandparent as a member of the tribe. Many tribes also insist on individuals proving their relations to members mentioned on the tribal membership roll list from the past generations.
Genetic testing is now coming into its own and impacting lives on a daily basis. These tests are fueling people’s curiosities about their past, their heritage, ancestors and more importantly, the kind of diseases they might be carrying.
However, in the domain of education for instance, when applying for higher studies, it has been found that genetic ancestry could actually be useful in getting financial assistance in the form of scholarships.
The critics of these tests claim there is always a chance of error and that they promise the sky but fail to come even close to expectations. Ancestral legacy in terms of gene patterns may be very light and may not show up at all in results or results indicating a small level of ancestry from a particular region may not really be indicative of the fact that the individual has any in the first place. Incessant availing of such tests it is felt could also undermine the importance of assistance programs for the genuinely disadvantaged because of their race.
Noting the speculation that envelopes such DNA testing modes, critics feel that institutions may not accept them at all. But the hordes continue with the tests hoping to embrace the race rooted entitlements and privileges secured for them. When the University of Michigan used race as a criterion to secure admission, it relied on students’ descriptions of racial preferences.
Many in the majority white American community are now resorting to these tests to apply for jobs posing as minority candidates. Some Black Americans are seen to claim European descent to make inheritances easier. Americans whether white, colored or otherwise are rampantly using DNA tests to stake claim to the Native American scholarships, health services and casino money.
