DNA Justified?

A friend recently directed me to an article in the Oakland Tribune called "Fascinating Look Into History, Race and DNA." It has to do with the option folks have of paying to get their DNA tested to find out exactly how their genetic make-up is divided racially: African, European, Native American or Asian. About ten years ago, I probably would have jumped at the chance, after scrounging up the $300 or so, to find out exactly what the hell I was. It's different now. I didn't even read the entire article. My thoughts on the issue didn't come overnight. Instead they emerged throughout years of a too-long ride that I went on to try and fit into something I really wasn't. Why? The answer is simple, though loaded. The color of my skin made me do it. It's sort of an "if-then" construction: If I have this skin color then I should be this. I covered the reasons in my essay "Race Trader" so there's no need to go into them again here. But put more simply, it's like taking a picture in a coloring book and coloring within the lines. I didn't know what I was coloring it with. I lacked the cultural markers to "legitimate" my skin color. I lack them. And that has been my dilemma. So what does paying some money to get my DNA analyzed get me? Nothing. There's no need for it. Skin color does not equal race. It never has. Race is merely, or wholly, a construction built on social participation. If I find out that the skin color is African-descented, what am I going to do? Fly to the African country and proclaim: "I'm home!" No. The issue is interesting, but not in a good way. It serves little purpose for mixed-race people who don't know the origins of their color to find them. This is my thought. And I have came to this thought by having gone backwards. "Let me grow dreadlocks. That way, I'll really belong." Give me a break. Had I known that seven years ago, I would have save myself a lot of money and time. My culture is blogging, instant dinners, showtunes, working out (sometimes), editing, buffalo wings, walks in the snow on a Christmas day if I'm alone, reading, solitude. I do not celebrate holidays based on the color of my skin; I don't eat food based on the color of my skin; I don't listen to music based on the color of my skin. I have no desire to find out the origin based on the color of my skin.