*note this is a serious, nonsarcastic post.

first off, i think these foreigner parents are doing a wonderful thing, and if no one else is going to step up to the plate, why stop them. but my beef is with african-americans not stepping up to the plate. this affects us more than anyone.

when people see me i hope (and i'm sure) they see an african-american woman. that is part of my make up, part of who i am. as much as we'd like to believe we're open minded and don't see color, we do. society makes it that way. i'm not saying it's right, but that's the way it is.

additionally people relate to others who look like them. there have been numerous studies conducted on cultural and racial portrayals in advertisements. the reason this research is funded, conducted and published is because visual stimulants and images are important to one's concept of self. seeing people who look like you in positive roles is important to your own self-concept and self-esteem.

having stated that, i understand that these babies are unwanted/unadopted in the u.s. but to quote samuel l. jackson's character in losing isaiah, "black babies belong with black mothers." to a certain extent, this statement is true. to fully achieve potential, i believe african-american children need to live with an african-american role model full time. african-american children, especially males, need the guidance and mentoring of someone who has walked in their shoes. there are certain frustrations and roadblocks in life that only another african-american will be able to truly share and empathize those feelings. you can't know what it's like to be called an n***** until you've been called one with extreme spite and hatred from someone from another race. i'm not saying other races aren't called racially-derogatory names. However, there's a different history behind the n word than the c word or the s word.

my solution? i don't have a perfect one. but more african-americans need to consider adoption as an option, even when they already have their own biological children. these are our future leaders. we should fee some sense of responsibility. If those children don't get adopted by anyone they'll be the delinquents on the news in another stereotypical portrayal that affects all african-americans.


This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 09, 2005 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 lovely comments:

    mrcrazyone said...

    Do you plan to adopt in the future?

  1. ... on Monday, March 14, 2005  
  2. melyssa said...

    absolutely. i've always wanted to do that even if i didn't get married.

  3. ... on Tuesday, March 15, 2005  
  4. Ontario Emperor said...

    It's tough enough to get ANYONE to adopt in the first place - I myself would be reluctant to adopt anyone, of any race - but I agree with you that the best situation for a child is to be placed with parents of his/her ethnic group.

  5. ... on Saturday, March 19, 2005