Wednesday, December 3, 2008

black kids in white houses

I know this class is basically over but I wanted to post one last thing on here before we call it quits.  I am sitting at home trying to finish all my final papers and I just read the latest issue of my favorite online newspaper: The Stranger.  Usually I head straight for "savage love" because frankly I just like awkward sex questions, but this time I decided I would actually read the other articles first.  Good thing because I found an excellent one.

The topic of this article?  Black kids who live in white houses.  No it's not a pun on Barack Obama, it's a look into transnational adoption.  I've met Angelina Jolie's son Maddox and I think he has to be one of the most adorable kids ever but as this article points out, Maddox is just part of a trend.  What is the argument here you ask?  Think about the fact that in transnational adoption the parents are generally rich white people who are asking for small young children from foreign countries.  The parents of other races are completely out of the picture and the children are subordinate to their white masters.  What the hell does this look like?  

But I don't think it is that cut and dry.  Who is going to pay a lot of money to adopt a kid they don't really want?  Who is going to spend hours upon hours doing paperwork and having their entire life held under the microscope so they can adopt a child of color unless they legitimately want that child?  I'm just about certain that the answer to these questions is no one.  But there still is one problem, white people raising children of color presents these children of color with problems of which race to identify with and if it is not the white race how they learn identity tactics of their own race.

I have not done a ton of research on this topic but I think that it seems like something the class would be interested in.  If you care to read it at all you should definitely check it out at http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/black-kids-in-white-houses/Content?oid=787542