FRFT Issues Formal National Notices to DNA Corporations and the U.S. Government Regarding Misclassification and HLA-Related Medical Risk

On December, 2025, the Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust (FRFT) and the American Freedmen Legal Fund (AFLF) initiated a coordinated national action to correct a long-standing scientific and regulatory problem affecting millions of descendants of U.S. chattel slavery.

For the first time, FRFT issued formal written notices to:

1. Every major commercial DNA testing company

, including

• Ancestry

• 23andMe

• FamilyTreeDNA

• MyHeritage

• LivingDNA

• African Ancestry, Inc.

2. Multiple federal agencies

, including

• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

• U.S. Census Bureau

These notices were accompanied by two formal attachments:

1. POLICY BRIEF: Establishing a Federally Recognized Freedmen Status Class to Prevent HLA-Related Medical Harm

2. LEGAL MEMORANDUM: Federal Misclassification of Descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and Resulting HLA-Based Medical Risk

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Why These Notices Were Necessary

For decades, both DNA companies and federal agencies have used the label “Black or African American” as if it represents a biological or genetic identity. In practice, this label has been used as a proxy for presumed African ancestry, which then influences:

• medical risk algorithms,

• transplant-donor matching strategies,

• federal data collection categories,

• AI training data,

• public health messaging, and

• consumer genetic reporting.

However, scientific evidence shows that Freedmen descendants have a distinct HLA profile shaped by centuries of genetic history inside the United States, not Africa. This means:

1. HLA compatibility does not follow African ancestry patterns.

Freedmen match best with other U.S. Freedmen, not with modern African populations. The continuous use of the “African American” label misdirects organ-donor recruitment and confuses families seeking to understand transplant compatibility.

2. AI systems and medical algorithms are being trained on flawed ancestry categories.

Commercial DNA companies feed their data into medical AI systems that treat “West African percentages” as indicators of biological origin. This creates false assumptions, inaccurate risk predictions, and inappropriate clinical guidance.

3. Federal racial categories erase the status-based identity of Freedmen.

OMB’s category “Black or African American,” which claims “origins in the Black racial groups of Africa,” is being treated as an ancestral fact rather than the non-biological, social-statistical label its own disclaimer claims.

This harms Freedmen by:

• erasing their distinct legal and historical status,

• undermining race-neutral classification efforts,

• introducing medical risk through incorrect biological assumptions,

• and creating downstream errors in health, AI, and genetic interpretation.

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What FRFT Documented

In these notices, FRFT formally asserted that:

A. The current federal and commercial use of the term “African American” is scientifically inaccurate.

It assumes African biological origin despite:

• admixture patterns unique to U.S. history,

• distinct HLA clusters not shared with modern African populations,

• and the absence of medical, genomic, or anthropological evidence supporting the federal definition.

B. The misuse of this category creates measurable medical risk.

This includes:

• misdirected organ-donor recruitment,

• inaccurate health risk profiles,

• AI systems generating misleading clinical recommendations,

• and confusion about transplant compatibility within U.S. families.

C. DNA companies and the federal government must implement explicit disclaimers.

FRFT required each entity to add a visible, mandatory statement clarifying that ancestry percentages and racial labels:

• are not biological,

• do not predict HLA compatibility,

• do not determine medical risk,

• and do not classify the status of descendants of U.S. chattel slavery.

D. A separate Freedmen category is required for accuracy and public safety.

This status-based classification is race-neutral and grounded in:

• U.S. constitutional history,

• Reconstruction legislation,

• federal beneficiary classes, and

• genealogical verification systems.

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How DNA Companies Responded

Multiple DNA corporations issued server-level confirmations showing that FRFT’s notices were received and processed.

Some attempted automated deflection, such as:

• “This address does not receive incoming mail,”

• Customer-service rerouting, or

• Ticket closure without substantive response.

Legally, these replies constitute proof of receipt and cannot be used later to claim non-delivery.

One major company, FamilyTreeDNA, automatically:

• opened a formal ticket with your notice,

• logged the entire memo in their internal compliance system,

• assigned the complaint an internal Request ID,

• and stored it permanently in their official records.

This is substantial evidence for future legal or regulatory proceedings.

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How Federal Agencies Are Affected

FRFT notified multiple departments that their current racial classifications:

• contradict their own disclaimers,

• are being treated as biological categories in downstream systems,

• and are enabling medical inaccuracies that disproportionately harm Freedmen descendants.

Under the Information Quality Act, Administrative Procedure Act, and federal data-integrity rules, agencies are now on notice that:

• their classification system is scientifically inconsistent,

• their categories create HLA-related medical risk,

• and the failure to correct these inaccuracies may result in formal regulatory petitions or litigation.

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The Implications Going Forward

This unified notice campaign marks a turning point.

For DNA companies

This is the first coordinated effort requiring them to:

• correct misleading ancestry labels,

• stop presenting “African percentages” as medically or biologically meaningful,

• update their Terms of Service,

• and add explicit warnings about misuse by AI and medical systems.

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For the federal government

Agencies cannot maintain the fiction that “Black or African American” is purely social when every downstream medical, academic, and AI system treats it as biological.

This notice puts them on record:

• the harm is documented,

• the correction is clearly defined,

• and they are expected to respond.

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For Freedmen

This effort reestablishes that Freedmen constitute a distinct, historically grounded, race-neutral status class, not an extension of African immigrant or African diaspora categories.

It protects:

• medical safety,

• historical accuracy,

• genealogical integrity,

• federal program eligibility,

• and the foundation for reparative claims.

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What FRFT Will Do Next

FRFT is now preparing:

• A second notice cycle (7-day reminder),

• A formal escalation notice (14 days),

• A regulatory complaint under the Information Quality Act,

• A federal petition for data-category correction,

• And engagement with medical institutions to modify transplant-related messaging.

Each step reinforces the same message:

Freedmen must be classified accurately — because inaccurate classification is not just offensive, it is medically dangerous and legally indefensible.