I think ethnicity is a perfectly good identity. Ethnicity is not the same as race. Ethnicity is a combination of both genetics and culture. Look at how many people with various Eastern European names are living in Germany and are completely accepted without much ado, for example. You can change your ethnicity during your lifetime if you change your culture and that ethnic group places a higher value on culture than genetics. If that ethnicity mostly places value on genetics you should ask yourself why you want to be there to begin with since they sound like a bunch of horrible racists.