One drop rule says I’m black.

Gerald D. Franks,
Town Creek, AL.

But you wouldn’t know that by looking at me. I’m the typical American mixture of various European ethnicities (aka white), and I have Cherokee lineages as well (documented, not just family lore). While doing some genealogical work I decided to have my genome fully sequenced in case there were additional clues I could gain that way and for health reasons to identify any genetic markers for various diseases. I did the full genome sequence because I have a disease (sarcoidosis) that most often occurs among black females of which I’m neither (by appearance, although by one-drop I’m black), and although medical experts currently say there is no genetic tie-in (that it isn’t handed down from generation to generation) things may change in the future. I have my full genome sequence in the event that some new discovery occurs. And there it was, somewhere around 1.2% African. I asked someone in technical support if I was reading it correctly and interpreting the results accurately. The answer I received was essentially “it isn’t there unless it’s there.” You don’t have African markers in your DNA unless there is an African ancestor in your lineage.


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