I resented it years ago when Madonna and Angelina Jolie appeared to be adopting Black babies as little more than a celebrity perk.
Therefore, it does not surprise me that there’s growing resentment among Blacks over the recent adoptions of Black babies by Sandra Bullock (of The Blind Side), Kristin Davis (of Sex and the City), and Mariska Hargitay (of Law and Order SVU). Indeed, Blacks can be forgiven for thinking that this is just the latest Hollywood trend.
But I only harbored my resentment for a minute before coming to the more enlightened view that:
[I]t behooves Madonna’s critics – especially Black Americans – to atone for their collective sin of abandoning so many Black American children to foster care (to say nothing of showing absolutely no interest in the welfare of millions of abandoned babies in Africa) before casting stones at her…
Because it is undeniable that, by adopting him, Madonna will do more for David, his village, and his entire country than the whole bunch of her sanctimonious critics combined.
(“Madonna and Black Child: Why All the Fuss,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 18, 2006)
There’s also this: Search any database of “waiting families” looking to adopt a Black child and you’ll find mostly White faces staring out at you. And we know all too well the many socio-economic and cultural reasons why there are so many Black children in foster care and so few Blacks willing or able to adopt them.
This is why I urge Blacks who resent Charlize Theron (of Monster) adopting a Black American child this week to put aside their racial prejudice just long enough to think of the best interest of this child.
After all, even if she’s just a rich White girl who believes her money can satisfy her maternal instincts as readily as it can her material desires, Charlize will likely give this child the kind of life most kids in foster care (Black or White) can only dream of.
By the way, the only people who can have any concern about these Black kids of White parents learning about Black culture are those who have been hiding under a rock for the past two decades. Because during this period Black culture became ubiquitous in and inseparable from the greater White culture.
Not to mention that these kids are likely to be educated in such a way that they’ll end up knowing far more about Black history than most kids born into all-Black families. And, hey, Barack Obama turned out okay.
Of course, that Charlize also happens to hail from South Africa is replete with such obvious ironies that they require no comment.
NOTE: Though once taboo and even illegal, trans-racial and single-parent adoptions (especially by rich White women) have become relatively routine in the United States. No doubt to encourage Americans to adopt American babies instead of flying abroad to do so in places like China and Russia.
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Madonna and Black child…