NYTimes Article – Black Babies
Thanks to Julia for this one.
New Article today in the NY Times, “Breaking Through Adoptions Racial Barriers”.
Wait a minute…. is that one of our beautiful PACT TRA’s on the front page? Deep. I have a lot to say about this article, but I hope you’ll read it and leave comments even though I dont have time to write today.
Since things have been so active here at A Birth Project and with the interest in Ungrateful Daughter and other positive things, Ive been spending a bit to much of my writing time here. Ive got a huge mess of some of my academic work to complete before grad school picks up again in a bout 2 weeks. AAAAAAA!
Ok.. one comment – how about that last section titled “Trumping Race”. Whats up with that? So its still about ‘overcoming’ it. hmmmmm.
So, I read the article and thought “OK, this is OK. They’re saying love is not enough, something more is necessary. That’s progress . . . but something feels off here.” Then I took a look at the slideshow. Two of the adoptive families profiled in the article are parenting African American birth siblings — one set of parents is African American, one set of parents is white. They keep in touch, make sure the sibs spend time together, support each other. All great. But in the slideshow there is a picture of the two families together. The white couple is standing side-by-side in the center of the picture, holding their child. The black couple has been split up, placed on either side of the white couple. The white couple is the center of the picture, the center of this story, the center of the issue. It is still not about what serves these children best, but about the “unfairness” of questioning the ability of white parents to raise black kids.
August 17, 2006 at 12:05 pm
Julie, and on that note – absolutely. and i would add, the picture is also read as about the black family *supporting* the white family as they muddle through, rather than as them supporting one another in raising the children as siblings.
August 17, 2006 at 7:48 pm
Thanks for passing on word about the article. I had been curious about whatever happened to the story. We were one of the families to be interviewed, but never heard from the journalists. Upon reading it I am glad we weren’t part of it. It seems like the authors were dancing around so much more that could have been said.
Good luck with your studies and I look forward to your future writing!
August 18, 2006 at 10:57 am
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