Yes, they do need to do that, Azizi. It was very hard on our friend's daughters, all three of them. Fortunately the girls "rose above it" and are still best friends and loyal sisters.

I've been to powwows and met Native Americans with skin lighter than my own and redder hair. There was an interesting series on PBS in January, I believe it was, in which they tested the DNA of various people, including Oprah Winfrey, a woman professor to see just how much of whatever race they really were. One fellow's DNA was almost all northern european yet he had always identified as a Black person.

Here it is: CLICK and the intro:

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, an unprecedented four-part PBS series, takes Alex Haley's Roots saga to a whole new level through moving stories of personal discovery. Using genealogy, oral history, family stories and DNA analysis to trace lineage through American history and back to Africa, the series provides a life-changing journey for a diverse group of highly accomplished African Americans: a neurosurgeon, a TV host, an astronaut, a music entrepreneur, a sociologist, a movie star, a minister and a comedian. Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois professor of the Humanities and chair of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, hosts the series. Participants include Dr. Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Mae Jemison, Quincy Jones, Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Chris Tucker and Oprah Winfrey.