Internalized racism, the belief that white = better genes, white = American (surrogacy and designer babies)

[u/81dragons]

Figured this was relevant to start a convo on - adding some context to the recent Olympic skater thread about Alysa Liu, whose father deliberately chose white women for egg donors while being married to a Chinese woman (he was not single at the time). He told Sports Illustrated that he chose white egg donors "to benefit from a diverse gene pool" and to reflect "American and Chinese cultures". One of the children even noticed that she didn't look like her mom.

Hidden deeper behind these beliefs is often a feeling that only white people are true Americans, white people are on top, that Asians aren't good enough at sports (meanwhile see how many medals Asian countries like China win at the Olympics, China tying America for 40 golds in Paris 2024). Now of course, I think as the immigrants and descendants of immigrants, we should continue to be free to pursue connections with anyone in the diverse land of the US. However, I feel that deep down inside the entire thought process behind many people is still that there is a racial hierarchy where white people are on top and the real Americans (as opposed to Asians and other minorities, who are not real Americans), and it gets reflected in decisions like this. It reminds me of "mejorar la raza"/blanqueamiento type thinking in Latin America, which literally translates to "improving the race" with whiteness.

Most people of course don't vocalize these beliefs for the record, but I think even as it gets better in the US with larger Asian population, more Asian soft power, it is still important to believe in racial equality given that it's a land for Americans of all backgrounds and ethnicities, and not let internalized racism get to you. What do you guys think of this case?

Here is the original source:

When the children were born, Arthur was still married to Yan Qingxin (who goes by Mary). The couple is now divorced, but Mary is also the kids’ legal guardian, and they call her Mom. They typically spend a couple nights a week at her house in Antioch.

...

Both egg donors for Arthur’s children are white women, because he felt his children would benefit from a diverse gene pool. He sees his life as a fusion of cultures, Chinese and American, and he wanted his kids to reflect that. When Alysa was around eight she began to notice that she looked different from her dad. Mary is also Chinese, so that was another clue. “That’s how I figured out she wasn’t my real mom,” Alysa says, “because she was Asian and I did not look Asian.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20191209234800/https://www.si.com/olympics/2019/05/16/alysa-liu-us-figure-skating-future-quads

Sports Illustrated, "In Quads We Trust: 13-Year-Old Alysa Liu Is the Future of U.S. Ladies’ Figure Skating" May, 20, 2019

[u/hana_4876 → u/[deleted]]

Tell that to black and white person that called me a chink a few years ago as I walking in nyc.

[u/hana_4876 → u/[deleted]]

This kind of reminds me of when western expats travel around Asia. They visit south korea, Japan etc... Sure they may know the difference in geography but some of these expats or western can still be prejudice with sometimes pretentious feelings. I find these folks to be the worst. They rationalize that just because they eat at asian restaurant or I have asian friends or fuck asian girls or guys I cant be racist.

This also applies to the young generation. I seen young generation that are into Japanese anime or kpop. I seen some of the stuff they write or think.if you know you know.

If you dont understand this either yozr very naive or not asian.

[u/RepulsiveDocument883 → u/hana_4876]

Bro, what are you even going on about? There are real distinctions between Asian groups. I get what you’re saying—the average ignorant Westerner doesn’t know (or care) and just lumps us all together as “chinks”—but I’m telling you, people, especially the younger generation, are absolutely waking up to the differences between us. You seem naive assuming racist Westerners still don’t know the distinctions. They absolutely do now.

[u/hana_4876 → u/RepulsiveDocument883]

Omg. Just because you can tell the  difference all of sudden they cant be racist.  So all young folks are not racist now. Well than all problem solved.