Blacks and The Racial Litmus Test

It didn't take long for Black bloggers to show their ignorance once the photo of Sandra Bullock and her adopted son emerged this week....and I knew it wouldn't take long. As soon as I saw the photo I knew that certain people from the so-called "Black Community" would have something stupid to say. (No I won't link to their sites). But at least one suggested Bullock's adoption attempt was a possible publicity stunt. Another mentioned that special sensitivity training should be required for Whites... you know... gatekeeper nonsense. Basically, some just seemed annoyed that a Black baby had been adopted by a White woman.

Apparently the adoption isn't final.... but she is continuing with the process.
I'm all for it.

I lived in an abusive home from a toddler until I was about 11 years old. My bio mother (egg donor) was neglectful and was consumed by a world of alcohol, drugs and men. I wasn't at the top of the priority list. What kept me alive was my grandmother.... who was the only responsible adult in my life at the time. She basically raised me. And even then, I came close to death a couple of times. It was my father who saved me once and for all in the Winter of 1984, removing me from a St. Louis ghetto. Before that, I would have loved the idea of someone (ANYONE QUALIFIED) adopting me.... no matter what race they were.

Blacks (at least some of them) are being hypocrites on this.... ignorant hypocrites to be exact. If Black women were not having children out of wedlock at such high rates....or having children that they could not care for, then there wouldn't be such a big need for trans-racial adoption in the first place. But they don't want to talk about that. They also don't want to mention the fact that Black children are over-represented in Foster care systems across the Country. The fact is.... there are not enough Blacks stepping up to take care of their own children. Nor are there enough (qualified) Blacks stepping up to adopt Black children once they are in the social services system. But rather than wrestle with reality... (at least some) Blacks would rather criticize those who are willing and able to adopt.

I'm tired of the Black litmus tests. They annoy me to no end.

I'm tired of the color based litmus tests for relationships, adoptions, Supreme Court justices, Congressional districts, and the rest. Don't get me wrong... I love it when an African American reaches high office or achieves an important milestone... but is it necessary for Blacks to create a racial test for every situation?

Daddy's Little Girl

Originally from Ethiopia, Miriam Tigist Green, 4, was adopted by Emory professor Clifton Green and his wife in 2005. This is her hair unbraided, before her father applies his weekly loving touch. His care and attention to detail show mastery of a task few white men ever contemplate.
---Joey Ivansco / AJC

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Perfect braids show depth of dad's devotion
By MICHELLE HISKEY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/15/08

Clifton Green waited a decade to become a dad, imagining he would be like the man who raised him and made him feel like the most special kid in the world.

That day came in 2005, when Green and his wife adopted daughter Miriam Tigist from an Ethiopian orphanage.

Suddenly, fatherhood demanded a task few white men ever contemplate: hours of cleaning, combing, twisting and braiding African hair.

Such skills typically are handed down from older family members and, as this Emory University associate professor of finance discovered, take hours of practice. In the wrong hands, hair like his daughter's can break off.

"Besides the color of her skin, her hair is one of the few ways we are different," Green said last week as he twisted the thick curls of Miriam, now 4. "The more tangled it is, the more it hurts, the more she protests — in that way, it's pretty universal."

By knowing how to make straight parts, neat twists and careful braids, he has earned high-fives from stunned African-Americans.

"That meek and mild guy? He does not do her hair! You could have picked me off the floor when I found out," said Latise Egeston, an African-American counselor at Miriam's preschool. "Her hair looks fabulous every day, and I know what it takes."

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The Story of Mei-Ling Hopgood

Hear an interesting story about an adoptee from Taiwan, raised by a white family.

Hopgood talks about her memoir, "Lucky Girl", which covers her life growing up in Michigan with White parents. See review.

Hear interview from radio station KMOX in St. Louis.