Slaves and slave holders

What would your life be like if you found out that you were not wholly the race you had always thought you were?

That's what happened to a minister I ran into at a public event here in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. In the course of looking into his genealogy, he found that he had slave-holder ancestors.

In digging further, and after DNA analysis, he found that some of his blood is African and Native American.

Blacks have been dealing with the impact of having had while ancestors for quite a while. But unless you had some reason to delve into your past, you may not know whether or not you are come from a mixed race background.

Of course, I guess if you go back millenia, all of us do -- or have a common forefather and mother.

I wonder what it would be like if we all took DNA tests. Would that alleviate some of the biases we carry around with us -- against Jews, or blacks, or Catholics, or Muslims? I bet it would make some of them seem really idiotic.

Given where I came from, I kind of doubt I have mixed race blood. But I'm sort of excited about seeing how much it would cost to find out.