I’m of Mexican descent born and raised in the United States fluent in both English and Spanish. I’m very close to my Mexican heritage because I grew up in a bordertown between Sonora and Arizona. Growing up I never knew Mexican wasn’t even a race, I honestly never even thought about race and no one in my family was racist except for my maternal grandmothers side of the family, they are till this day very racist and overall prefer light skin. Now at 15 I started becoming obsessed with history, cultures, languages and race. I became sorta racist since then but that’s because I thought too much about race and it somehow bothered my thinking since I do have Aspergers (High functioning Autism) Severe anxiety ,depression AND OCD. Thinking about race has messed me up but also built me up in a way …now I don’t know how to explain it. I grew up in Nogales, Arizona so I know the people in the area I’m from are mostly Euro-mestizo, Mestizo that I know of but rarely see people that actually look Native American now with that being said I’m not saying we aren’t also indians. I know I have some Yaqui indian from my maternal grandfather and some Spanish from my maternal great grandmothers side since she’s half Spanish half Mexican MY GREAT grandmothers mother was Mestiza with some arab blood. Her father was Spanish and from what I know the family was from Granada, Spain (Andalusia province) with the surname ESCOBOZA which is popular among upper-class Mexicans. I do not know much about that but I heard my great great grandfather’s parents never approved of my great great grandmother marrying her son because she was an “india” to them. EVEN though she had curly hair and European characteristics but just simply because she was dark-skinned so with just THAT she was a “india”. Not saying there’s anything wrong with it but THEY said it to HUMILIATE her because I believe it was how you say in Spanish “humillante” AND especially in North Mexico. Anyways when I was small I looked white and many thought my parents were caucasian and not Hispanic ALSO because my first name is welsh and very “white” sounding lol please excuse my ignorance but just simply with my fathers surname “SILVA” it was more than obvious I was Mexican. NOW I DO know the surname is Portuguese, Sephardic and Galician BUT coming from my fathers paternal side I believe it’s either borrowed OR from Galicia since my paternal grandfather claims his ancestry is straight from Spain. Though many of my White teachers always thought I was white but since I now believe I always shared MORE similarities to ANGLO WHITE then LATIN white that could’ve been it. Now the thing about that is recently I was in a argument with a guy supposedly from Spain because he claimed I was an indio till I showed him pictures of me he said that I looked half Anglo half native american but didn’t look Spanish at all even though I kept telling him that if he really was Spanish then he would know that a person from Spain can also look like a person from England or a more Northern European country SINCE THEY ARE EUROPEAN. So I insisted he show me a picture to proof he’s Spanish but he said he’s half German and FROM THAT I knew he was just a racist White-American and when I called him Redneck he texted back in a foolish way. Another time was when I was at a Hospital in Mexico this guy from South Mexico who was obviously Mestizo said I looked nothing like whites in Mexico and asked my mom if my parents are Germans or “Americanos” since that’s another way for Mexicans to say “White people”…Ofcourse it’s more appropriate then using “Gringos” LOL but the term “Americanos” refers to only White-Americans and not to other Americans but that ofcourse is only used in Mexico (That I know of). Anyways my mom said “No, yo soy su mama.” and he asked if my father was the gringo and she said “No, his father is also Mexican.” and he said he thinks it’s weird because even though i’m really white I don’t look like “White-Mexicans” but more like “White-Americans” and he said he’s from an area with alot of them (I’m guessing Guanajuato, Guadalajara around there.) AND he said even if I have dark eyes and dark hair I still don’t look like other Mexicans. AND I was kinda “worried” I don’t know but looking back I don’t seem to have any Irish, German, polish in my ancestry nor do I think I have any. Should I order a kit from a 23andme?
Heck, that’s a wall o’ text. Please use paragraphs. I’m afraid I didn’t read it all.
Knowing your genetic background is interesting, but won’t change anything.
If anyone was treating you improperly because of their perception of your racial origin, they’re not going to sit and listen to science, but the good news is, you don’t need them to. Unacceptable behaviour can be challenged and opposed in its own right.
Just a tip but paragraph breaks are good. It is hard for people to read giant walls of text long enough to give you good responses. Just hit the enter key every 4 sentences of so if you are unsure.
To answer your question though, it is very normal for people to be curious about their ancestry. I know I am and I am a big genealogical buff as are countless other people. I would certainly recommend a genealogical DNA test if you are that interested in it. I have done it myself with mostly predictable results but there were a few surprises. It just takes less than $100 and a simple cheek swab to tell you the breakdown of your ancestry in charts and percentages. Until a few years ago, people had to rely on family folklore and that is notoriously inaccurate in many cases. Now you can find out the real story with a glorified Q-tip and an internet connection.
I prefer the DNA test from www.ancestry.com because it is constantly updated with new relative matches long after you take it but 23andMe is fine too.
Moderator Action
Since this involves speculation and advice, let’s move it to IMHO (from GQ).
Yes. Or from AncestryDNA, or from FTDNA. But whatever you find out, remember that it’s interesting, but not important. Ultimately you are who you are, no matter what ingredients went into the making of you.
In the words of that immortal (but highly moral) philosopher, Popeye, “I yam what I yam an’ tha’s all that I yam”. Sweet words to live by. And, no, there are no typo’s in the Popeye quote.