[John R.]

According to the laws of evolution, each generation of offspring supposedly advances genetically to adapt to its surroundings. Why is it that when a white person (male or female) and a person of color have a child, the child is of color? Does this mean that unless white people have sex with other white people, they will eventually become extinct?

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[Jacqueline-C21015]

A person's skin color depends on the amount of melanin (sp?) in the skin. Whites have less melanin in their skin than blacks, hispanics, and asians, causing their skin to be lighter. When a white person and a person of color have a child, the child gets the higher levels of melanin from the parent of color. The child's skin color is usually a mixture of both parents' color. So theoretically people could become so mixed that they seem to be 'extinct', but I don't think that would really happen.

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[Anonymous]

The child will always be a combination of the parents color. It will be somewhere in-between the skin color of both parents. Whether that makes the child black or white... I think that the child is both. People can't always fit into the containers we make for them. I think what's important is that everybody coexist peacefully rather than worrying about 'extinction' of the white race.

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[ACC24043]

The definition of 'white' or 'black' varies from country to country and from time period to time period. 100 years ago, Asian people were considered 'black'. (Chintown in San Francisco was originally nicknamed 'Nigger Alley'.) 150 years ago, Irish immigrants people were also called 'black'. 200 years ago, German immigrants were too (by no less a person than Ben Franklin). If you head to the Caribbean, you'll find someone like Colin Powell is considered 'white' down there. And in Brazil, soccer str Pele is considered 'white' because people there believe that 'money whitens'. So what should all these (to many modern Americans) bizarre and 'unnatural' definitions of 'white' and 'black' tell us? That race is a completely artificial social construct, not something natural at all, since it has not the slightest bit of science to back it up. Nobody ever used the terms white or black races until the fifteenth century anyway, not the Romans, the ancient Egyptians, etc. What I think will happen is that Anglo fears of 'extinction' like yours will cause many of European background to expand the definition of who is supposedly 'white'. Look at the movies. Keanu Reeves (half-Asian) and Johnny Depp (half American Indian) are considered 'white' by Anglos in America. Probably in the future, anyone who is not 'all black', 'all Asian', or 'all American Indian' will be considered 'white'. This is pretty depressing, a sure way to make sure racism continues, in my opinion. It would be better if we all recognized 'whiteness' for the fiction it is. Unilt then, all our descendents will have to deal with the same garbage notion called racism that you and I have to deal with.

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[steve]

No we are simply evolving as a race the human race will become one people

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[Amanda31510]

I hate to tell you but your 'law of evolution' theory is wrong. Each successive generation is not more genetically advanced or adapted to its surroundings. Evolutionary changes take place over millions of years. Who knows if humans of any color will exist in a million years. On an unrelated note, skin color is a polygenic trait (determined by multiple genes). That is why so many different skin tones are possible, even within a single family.

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[Mr. Dickerson]

I do not find that the response to your question is really one about 'people of color.' In general, unless we are talking about a tanning situation, a darker person, let's say someone from Greek heritage, has more melanin in the skin than a lighter person, say a Scandinavian. Recent studies, and correct me if I am wrong, have shown that melanin has benefits such as reducing the risk of skin cancer and providing for better sleep. Therefore, in a survival of the fittest aspect, having more melanin is an advantage, and probably will be partially inherited according to genetic probabilities. This does not mean that the resulting child is no longer white. 'White' people are never really white but come in different colors, and so do non-white people. Therefore, I believe the term 'white' is outdated, because we are all mixes and shades of something or another, whether we trace it back to the time of slavery, to the time when the Bering Strait could be walked across, or to some cell squiggling about in a swamp billions of years ago. Scientifically speaking, 'whites,' simply a title given by society, are not a separate 'species' and cannot be considered extinct without the extinction of homo sapiens as a whole. If we mean white, as let us say someone from Irish and Lithuanian descent, and we mix this 'white' person with, let's say, someone from Kenyan descent, i.e. a 'black' person, the child born thereof shall still be Irish and Lithuanian, and shall also still be Kenyan. How pale would this person have to be to be labeled 'white' or 'of color' is a question left to the whimsies of whatever society is present at the time.

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[Robert L. Reed]

The reason is because you are applying the 'One Drop Rule'. When the one drop rule is no longer applied, then the child born will not be black. If you notice the African American segment of the population, you will notice that we come in different shades, and that's the one drop rule. Even blond/blue eyed people were classified as black because of the one drop rule. The one drop rule is an obsolete standard based upon race, as it is scientifically known that African Americans are 30% white on average genetically.

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[alex]

Looks like someone forgot to take high school biology. Of course people of lighter skin, hair, eyes become extinct. Who cares? Not sayin this in a 'racist' way, but hey, it happens. Im sure at one point in time there was a larger population with Violet eyes. now how many people do you see with this eye color? think about it

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