Atlantic Monthly Needs a Genetics Lesson

There's something a little off about an Asian-American professor rejoicing in the thesis that "white America" and "white culture", meaning mainstream American culture, are doomed to insignificance. In a disturbing and, frankly, racist piece, Hua Hsu gleefully posits that "white Americans" will soon become the minority - and by soon I mean 30 years. (Keep in mind it's in Atlantic Monthly, home to the blogosphere's resident hysteric and formerly a respected publication.)

I'm not going to get into Hsu's ridiculous assertions about Fitty Cent's social relevance or Sean "Can't Pick a Nickname" Combs' parties in the Hamptons. No, I'm going to discredit the whole sorry premise.

Ever heard of inter-racial dating?

Let's use Hsu's favorite example, Tiger Woods. Yes, he's African-American. He's also a proud Thai-American and - God forbid! - a proud Unhyphenated American. He married a Swede. Something tells me he's not that hung up on racial identity since he married a woman from another continent. What will his kids look like? With such attractive parents, they'll probably be gorgeous - and American.

The most obvious rebuttal to Hsu's bizarre hypothesis is the science of genetics. Each parent donates an allele (gene) to the child. Dark alleles are dominant over light. That's why Black and White couples usually produce dark kids. One parent's dark allele dominates the other parent's light one.

Now, let's move on a generation. If those "mixed-race" kids marry other "mixed-race" kids or -God forbid! - white people, they could produce white kids.

Let me repeat that: second generation "mixed-race" kids can produce WHITE kids.

If each parent passes on the "white" allele to their child, the child will be white and not a person of color. Ever. Those dark alleles are gone, genetically speaking.

Uh oh! There goes Hsu's theory of The Great Brown Wave.

We need to keep one thing in mind. Just because people appear "white" doesn't mean that they've lost their ethnic heritages. You're still part Japanese or Guatemalan or Black even if you don't "look" it. Maybe defining people by color or ethnic background is so last century?

There's nothing wrong with being brown or black. Nor is there anything wrong with being white. That we even have to say this exposes the ugliness of Hsu's article. Throughout this "expert's" piece is the insidious smugness that "white Americans" are going to get a much deserved comeuppance in a few short decades, for what, other than being melanin-challenged, the author doesn't bother to say. Could there be anything less American in spirit than punishing innocents for the color of their skin?

Here's my prediction. Americans will soon tire of being hyphenated much the same way hyphenated wives drop one name. "Mixed-race" kids will tire of society asking them to choose a parent every time they check an identity box. The racial lines will blur and - God forbid! - these kids will be far lighter than race-obsessed liberals can imagine, not because of some hideous plot or racial injustice. Because it's the way nature works.

When racial definitions become obsolete, will professors like Hsu rejoice that America will finally have lived up to its promise? Don't bet on it. Then, their race-based theories will be doomed to insignificance, the same oblivion they wish on mainstream American culture.