America In Black & White
NightLine - Friday November 21, 2003
Chris Bury - ABC Nighline Correspondent
Wayne Joseph test results flashed quickly, initially. But later in the broadcast, they lingered LONG with DNAP logo.
Basically, the story posted earlier today by many regarding Wayne Joseph, but in detail with him as the story focus.
Voiceover: Federal government questions race. Genetic science - new dna test.
Fade to . . . picture of outside of DNAPrint genomics with their sign on the building.
Voiceover: Cutting edge company answers Who am I?
Wayne Joseph always wrote about race, read about test called 'Ancestry by DNA' and bought one, got tests back a few weeks later, took a cursory glance, and when he really looked at it, it rocked his world, zero percent african.
He is 50 now, and had he known now what he has found out from DNAPrint Genomics at 21, he'd be in therapy. He does not plan on changing anything and handled the news well. Confronted his 76 year old mother about if he was adopted or not. He wasn't. She is not going to alter being black as that is all she knows. Wayne's daughter says this information opens up doors for her and her brother.
Wayne's birth certficate lists his race as negro, and his life experiences have been typical black. He taught his children to embrace black heritage. He is married to a white woman who is german and latin. His daugher is married to a latin man.
Wayne's friends are ok with the results as nothing has changed.
Moderator: America insists on a racial identity
Mark Shriver co-inventor (showing work done on an Orchid machine) along with Tony Frudakis, the other co-inventor. They both speak briefly and denote their admixture, with Mark being 10% african and more black than Wayne.
Tony indicated they get a lot of hate mail from white supremists, and that one in twenty whites have african ancestry.
Wayne said that in the future he will check native american on the census.
Princeton University - Lee Silver
Said it can't be exact but concept of race estimates is fluid - combination of genetics and probability. Said that Wayne's results suggest 'little' african, but that if you go back far enough, we're all african. Black isn't represented as much in color as it is in culture.
Said this is relevant towards disease. In future will look at genes.
People may want to manipulate race origin for social policy.
Moderator said tests have had forensics success.
---Lee Silver came across to me as challengingly supportive---
In Closing
Regarding the war he indicated that Americans weren't killed becauce they were of any color, but because they were American. Only in America do we differentiate. Basically, artifical category versus heads and hearts.
IHUB Friends, I did my best. I wanted to do this since it was asked of me, yet I wanted to enjoy the program myself. Therefore, if when you listen to it and I mixed something up, it was truly in error and please forgive and correct me. It was hard to do both. I hope I did so effectively.
Miss Scarlet makes every effort to ensure that the information available is current and accurate. Miss Scarlet is not, however, responsible for the accuracy and integrity of data entered by third parties.
AI
