How Do I Choose a Sperm Donor?

What is best for my child?

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story June 20, 2020 Illustration by Tomi Um   The Ethicist How Should I Think About Race When Considering a Sperm Donor? The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on thinking about race when choosing a sperm donor and whether it’s OK to call the cops on your neighbors. By Kwame Anthony Appiah I am an American woman, of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, and I strive to live my life as an active agent against racism and white supremacy. I am beginning to consider having children and am open to bearing a child as a single mother. It is possible to sort through sperm donors by race, eye color, education level and so on. If I choose a donor of color, am I condemning my child to be born into a system designed not to serve them? Or can I use my white privilege to help them fight that system? Would my future child of color feel separated from their heritage with me as their mother? If I choose a white donor, am I succumbing to racist ideas of what traits are “desirable,” or taking the “easy road” in knowing my child will look more like me? What do you think? Read the Ethicist’s reply here. THIS WEEK’S MAGAZINE Bobby Doherty for The New York Times   Talk Jon Stewart Is Back to Weigh In In the five years since Jon Stewart left ‘The Daily Show,’ American politics has been in a state of constant turmoil and he has remained mostly out of the spotlight. By David Marchese Malike Sidibe for The New York Times   Police Reform Is Necessary. But How Do We Do It? A discussion about changes in policing, moderated by Emily Bazelon. By Emily Bazelon Illustration by Mario Hugo   Feature How Humanity Unleashed a Flood of New Diseases What do Covid-19, Ebola, Lyme and AIDS have in common? They jumped to humans from animals after we started destroying habitats and ruining ecosystems. By Ferris Jabr Illustration by Jamiel Law   Feature Trying to Parent My Black Teenagers Through Protest and Pandemic This is the world I let be created. They know this. They blame me for it. They are right. Also, would you like dinner? What movie should we watch? By Carvell Wallace Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT MORE FROM THE MAGAZINE Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times   Eat This Cajun Corn Dish Screams ‘Summer’ Maque choux is sweet, hot, juicy, milky, buttery perfection. By Gabrielle Hamilton Photo illustration by Mark Weaver   Screenland We Need to Stop Measuring Black Lives by Their Whiteness When a plea for mutual understanding went viral, it also revealed the limits of America’s racial imagination. By Thomas Chatterton Williams Illustration by Ina Jang   Diagnosis She Struggled With Asthma, but It Had Never Been This Bad She had trouble breathing, and the E.R. doctors discovered a mass in her lung. Was this cancer — or something a little more unusual? By Lisa Sanders, M.D. Letter Of Recommendation The Unexpected Beauty of ‘Dog Vomit’ and Other Slime Molds A world of life and color surrounded me during decades of wandering the woods, without my ever having noticed it. By Daniel Mason Video by HunterGatherer   Issue 6.21.20 Behind the Cover: Policing For this issue, a look at how to reform policing in the United States. Stay in touch: Follow us on Twitter (@NYTmag) or check us out on Instagram. Appreciated this email? Forward it to a friend and help us grow. Loved a story? Hated it? Write us a letter at magazine@nytimes.com. Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here to get the magazine newsletter. Listen to narrated versions of our articles every week. Download Audm for iPhone or Android. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The New York Times Magazine from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The Times |Get The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your Email|Privacy Policy|Contact Us The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018