3rd Rock from the Sun, Performing Ethnic Identity

Much like Dick's observations of people in order to find his own ethnicity, I would approach the situation in a similar way.  In order to find my ethnic identity, I would find a person that I admired, or was fond of, and attempt to learn and imitate as much of their culture as I could.  However, in 3rd Rock from the Sun Dick was unable to recognize phenotypical traits such as skin color.  If the same incapability applied to me, it would pose a greater challenge of understanding and finding my own ethnic identity.  Not being able to distinguish phenotypical traits limits the races that I could chose from, but I wouldn't be able to understand, much like the young boy on the show who tried to tell his classmates he was Korean and African American.  

Another major challenge while learning how to "perform" an ethnic identity is learning about all aspects of ones ethnicity.  You have to understand the food, traditions, and possibly the language.  From personal experience, growing up in a house of foreign parents, customs, traditions, and language have been ingrained in my mind since before I can even remember.  On the other hand, if someone was trying to pick an ethnicity, like Dick, learning traditions, customs, and language is a large task at hand.  Picking and learning an ethnic identity would seem like a full time job that would take a tedious amount of time.  

Overall, learning to perform and ethnic identity seems like quite the challenge, but is learning and performing an ethnic identity for someone like Dick that important in our society?  Does Dick really need an ethnic identity to continue his life on plant Earth?