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Meanwhile, if genetics is so important to who we are, then implied is a racist environment - based heavily in judgments based in first impressions.
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This has nothing to do with what other people think of you. I am suggesting that there is nothing abnormal, or negative in wanting to know what your genetic ancestry is. Its got nothing to do with racism and first impressions. Its to do with history and one's own role in it.
I have Indian blood. You would not know it to look at me, I look very, very English. People's first impressions of me are the same, whether I am aware of my indian heritage or not. It would fascinate me, personally, to know exactly what my genetic heritage is, because that in itself tells a long historic tale, beginning waaaaay back in the mists of time and running all the way up to my own birth. I know, because my grandparents warned my mother that there was a possibility her children may be born with indian colouring and features: the details of that acestry are lost to family myths and family shames.
My Gran was born in South Africa, and though white, she had a hint of african about her features. I would love to know if that was so, and how far back it goes. Why? Because that in tself tells a story and raises questions. Was there a love affair? A pressured servant? An illicit lover? An English crime?
Genetics shape you because they are the physical building blocks that make us up. Contained within them are the echoes of past movement, wars and empires, love across the lines, trade routes and difficult journeys. I look back with affection at those who added to that story, victims and criminals alike. Slaves and slave owners in the case of the woman Wolf mentioned.