Ethnicity vs Culture

What dictates who a person is? In today's society we have such a mix of ethnicity. In 2000 census the new ethnic group 'mixed race' was added. This is due to the large mixing because there aren't as many ethnic barriers today as there were in past generations. It's no longer taboo for whites, blacks, Middle Easterners, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Mexicans, Latinos, etc. to intermarry. Children from interracial marriages had a difficult time being accepted as they couldn't wholly identify or be accepted in any one ethnic group. So who says your black just because you look more black than white even though you're technically half white? It seems today that it's more about the culture that you belong to, or were raised in, more than the ethnicity that you genetically possess. In the 2005 New York Times article 'DNA Test Gives Students Ethnic Shocks' this issue was somewhat of an undercurrent in the article. Students were administered a voluntary DNA test and many were surprised to find that although they identified with a certain culture that they were actually ethnically more of another. To some this may cause confusion raising the question "Who Am I?" but in today's society ethnicity isn't nearly as important. This question should be answered more along cultural lines than ethnic ones. In many Latin American countries this is and has been the case for awhile now. You are not judged as much on the color of your skin than your clothes, occupation, language, and general attitude. This is how they identify native indigenous people, who are more commonly low class and dress in the same fashion as they have for many generations and held the occupation of farmer/trader for many centuries, with European, who are commonly middle or high class and possess business jobs in large cities. Many of the indigenous people who adopt European religion and dress are then no longer considered indigenous; they have in other words adopted a new culture. Now the idea of 'betraying' ones ethnicity may be detestable to some but as with many issues, it depends on the person. We are living in world where freedom of thought and expression is of the utmost importance. Who's to say what you can and cannot be? The one man in the article, who was raised by to black parents, found out he was 48 percent white. Does this mean he should automatically identify with the white ethnicity or culture? Well, he doesn't think so and I don't think so either because he was raised black and that's exactly where he wants to be. That's his personal freedom. That's who he is and I fully agree and support that freedom.


BB