One day, 1/5th the size of China

The Times: Come October, Baby Will Make 300 Million or So

If the experts are right, some time this month, perhaps somewhere in the suburban South or West, a couple, most likely white Anglo-Saxon Protestants or Hispanic, will conceive a baby who, when born in October, will become the 300 millionth American.

As of yesterday, the Census Bureau officially pegged the resident population of the United States at closing in on 297,900,000. The bureau estimates that with a baby being born every 8 seconds, someone dying every 12 seconds and the nation gaining an immigrant every 31 seconds on average, the population is growing by one person every 14 seconds.

The bureau estimates that with a baby being born every 8 seconds, someone dying every 12 seconds and the nation gaining an immigrant every 31 seconds on average, the population is growing by one person every 14 seconds. ...

In 1967, when the population reached 200 million, Life magazine dispatched 23 photographers to locate the baby and devoted a five-page spread to its search. Instead of deciding on a statistically valid symbol of the average American newborn, the magazine chose the one born at precisely the appointed time.

Life immortalized Robert Ken Woo Jr. of Atlanta, whose parents, a computer programmer and a chemical engineer, had immigrated seven years earlier from China. Mr. Woo graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and is a litigator. Now 38, he still lives in Atlanta with his wife, Angie, who is also a lawyer, and their three daughters.

"He did feel an obligation to do well," Ms. Woo said. "But I think he would have done well, regardless."

It's interesting to me that an Asian American man in 1967 was Life's official face of the 200 millionth American.

I'm curious as to what the reaction was at the time, with America having recently fought to an armistice in Korea against Red China and in the midst of the quagmire in Vietnam.

Was the reaction from some anything like when Maya Lin was revealed as the winner of the blind Vietnam War memorial competition?

Maybe it was like the reaction of the 40% of voters in Alabama who in 2000 voted to keep the state's miscegenation laws.

The great thing about this country is it changes--and in unexpected and sometimes unpopular ways. We're not near perfect, but we struggle and argue and fight in pursuit of getting better.

People by virtue of not being in control of their community are forced to confront their racism and other prejudices, often times in reaction to judicial fiat--the civil rights movement--or increasingly in response to pop culture--gay and lesbian rights.

Which is why things like gated communities, public vouchers for private schools, and even socially-isolating iPods should be fought.

Now just imagine how great would it be if Census demographers annoit an Arab-American as the face of the 300th millionth American!

In any case, Mr. Woo seems to have done well for himself.

Photo of Robert K. Woo from King & Spalding.