Genetic Inheritance and the Chocolate Milk Theory

Why racism is stupid

Photo by author created in Canva

The Genuis of Mendel

One of the most interesting topics for me in high school was a biology class that taught concepts of genetics. I will never forget learning about the theory of genetics developed by Mendel. According to Mendelian inheritance, we carry dominant and recessive genes. Mendel made all of these groundbreaking discoveries by studying pea plants from 1865 to 1866. He cultivated 5,000 pea plants and cataloged all the variations he saw when cross pollinating them. The results of his experiments were then published and became known as “Mendel’s Principles of Heredity or Mendelian Inheritance”.

*Gregor Mendel, Moravian Augustinian Friar who Founded the Study of Genetics*

The Mendelian model is basically a model of probability. Much like dice, you can somewhat predict the odds of a person inheriting certain genes from their mother and father. The easiest way to follow this is by using the Punnett Square. It allows for a person to follow and predict the outcome of one single trait (allele). The chart below shows the traits passed down from each parent and the odds of inheriting those traits.

A Punnett square showing a typical test cross. (green pod color is dominant over yellow for pea pods[1] in contrast to pea seeds, where yellow cotyledon color is dominant over green[2]).

In the above example, the green pod color is dominant over the yellow pod color in peas. The green pod has inherited a recessive yellow pod gene and can pass it down to its offspring. Therefore, according to the chart, the offspring has a 50/50 chance of being yellow and a 50/50 chance of being green. The paring of two recessive genes, in this case the yellow trait, is the only way the offspring will be yellow.

Why am I going down this rabbit hole talking about pea pods and what in the hell does this have to do with humans? Bear with me, I’m almost there.

We inherit physical features from our parents, and even grandparents. Some features may skip a generation or two and present in later offspring. For example, you may have inherited your grandmother’s green eyes while everyone else in you immediate family has brown eyes. This was possible because both of your parents passed down the recessive green eyes trait to you even though they both have brown eyes.

Enter the “Chocolate Milk Theory”

This is also the case for skin tone. And this is where I would like to give an example of the Chocolate Milk Theory, which is a completely made up theory by me. I have adapted Mendel’s theory in order to prove my point.

The Chocolate Milk Theory basically states that the darkness of your skin tone is based on how recently you had a black or brown person in your line of ancestry. I will use my family as an example. I had a black father and a white mother. I am what most people would consider biracial. So based on my theory, my skin tone should be somewhere in the middle, so I should be a tan color, which I am. Chocolate Milk Theory says I am equal parts chocolate and milk. So, what happens if I have offspring from a white man? What would my child look like? What would happen if I have offspring with a black man?

Well, odds are if I have an offspring with a white man, my child would look more white. Which means I am “adding more white milk” so my child would have a lighter skin tone than me. If I have offspring with a black man, I am “adding more chocolate” therefore my offspring will have a darker skin tone than me.

When a Black parent has a White Child

I do, in fact, have a son by a previous marriage. My ex was white. My son looks white. No one would ever be able to tell by looking at him that he has a black ancestor. For privacy reasons, I will not be sharing a picture of me or my son, but will give you a picture of someone famous and her daughter for reference. Eartha Kitt. She was the actress that played Cat Woman in the early 60s on the Bat Man TV show. She is biracial just like me. She had a black mother and a white father.

Eartha Kitt As Cat Woman in 1960s Batman TV show

Eartha Kitt married John W. McDonald in 1960, a white man, and had two children, a daughter and a son.

Here is a picture she took with her daughter Kitt Shapiro

Eartha Kitt with her Daughter Kitt Shapiro

Eartha Kitt with Daughter

As you can see, if you didn’t know that Kitt Shapiro had a biracial mother and a black grandmother, you would have no way of knowing that she is not 100% white. She is technically 75% white.

Racism in America

I say all of that to point out that racism is stupid. Especially in America where there has been racial mixing from the time of slavery. White slave owners would regularly have sex with the enslaved black women that they owned.

We are so steeped in racism in this country that there was a law on the books that dictates if you are 1/32 black, which means that if one of your great, great, great, great, great grandparents is black, you are considered black. It is also referred to as the one-drop rule. This law was put into place so that children from slave times, when the master had sex with a black slave, couldn’t inherit the white fathers land or assets. Basically, it ensured that the offspring were considered slaves and were treated as such. Most of the time being sold off like any other slave. This is how white supremacy started in the US.

There is no other race where this is the case. No one tells someone who is French/Irish that they can’t claim to be Irish if they have a great, great, great, great, great grandfather who was Irish. As long as you are from European descent, no one bothers to track your ancestry. If you’re ancestors were white, nobody cares. But if you have any black ancestors and it shows in your skin tone, you are relegated to being a substandard human. You are automatically considered inferior.

In tracing my ancestry, I am actually 56% Caucasian. That means that I have white ancestors on both sides, from my mother and my father. But, because I am brown skinned, I am considered black and am treated as such. I have been discriminated against my entire life, especially in the workplace.

Do You Know Where You Came From?

So, all these people who are for white supremacy, do they know where they came from? What kind of surprises await them if they were to do a DNA test?

In this last presidential election, so many white Americans voted for the candidate who spouts white supremacy and alienation of “the other”, non-white people.

Some white Americans are so stuck on white supremacy, they never bothered to stop and ask the question- Are my ancestors the very people who I have sworn to hate and oppress? This is why racism is stupid. People are potentially hating on their ancestors and themselves.