Hair New Era

He was unarmed, walking from his house to his grandmother's down the street, when the officers in plainclothes attacked him. Later the police claimed they had thought he might be armed and on drugs. He was neither.

It seems his only crime was being Black and outside at night.

This case has garnered much local and national press, because Jordan Miles happens to be a straight-laced honors student at one of Pittsburgh's most prestigious arts academies. There are no ambiguities here: police were the criminals that night.

The city has largely ignored the issue. The policemen involved are on a temporary suspension during which they are being paid more than they make on duty. (Nice punishment, huh?) The Feds have stepped in, but still nothing has happened.

Sadly, this kind of thing isn't all that rare. Most people know this. As a recovering country bumpkin, I am still baffled when I hear of it, especially when it happens less than 5 miles from my house. So this weekend I attended a rally/march to demand justice for Jordan. And I've chosen "writing against injustice" as a central theme for the two writing classes I'm teaching this term. My students will read about the case (in a media packet I've put together--you may read/download below) and write about it.

These are but small things. Tiny steps to conquer an issue that seems too big. But together with others fighting for peace, may we scale the mountain.


May a better day come.
JordanMiles_MediaPacket

Ethiopia is becoming the nation of choice for international adoptions. Part of the reason is that they've had fairly lenient rules about the adoption process, and therefore adopters can get kids quicker. Another reason is that they have an overwhelming number of orphans (something like 5 million).

Several happenings today had me thinking about the cost of speaking up, speaking out against touchy subjects such as race and adoption. Society likes to see things in binaries--right/wrong, black/white.

Take adoption, for example, especially transracial. The rhetoric of adoption in the media is often one of praise for and celebration with adoptive parents. We don't like to consider, for example, the sadness behind Sandra Bullock's adoption of a Black American child. We want to celebrate with her, call her a hero. I get that. Smiles are easier and more fun than sad faces. And I'm not knocking Bullock for her decision to adopt--there are many things about this situation that make it "better than" other situations (in some ways it might be less disruptive as taking a child from a foreign country, and it's true that a forever family is a better choice than forever foster care). But it doesn't take away from the fact that her adoption reflects a lot of things that are wrong with our society. Why there are so many minority children in foster care in the first place, how our society values Black motherhood. Racism. It's there, folks. We're still working on it. And a child that is torn from its natural parents is sad, okay? That sadness doesn't have to take away from the joy of an adoptive family, but it needs to be there. We need to make space for it.

Whitney Teal, in her article Sandra Bullock, Transracial Adoption, and the Worship of White Motherhood, dared to be critical of media and society's viewpoint of adoption, mentioning Sandra Bullock's adoption as an example of wider issues. Oh the backlash! People got defensive, said Teal was borrowing trouble, making a mountain out of a molehill. One commenter said:

"This as just another issue to pull the race card out for yet another unnecessary debate. Racism would more than likely not be such an issue IF Racism wasn't made Into an Issue at any and every scenario."

In other words, shut up/quit bitching about racism because you are the one making it exist in the first place.

Another: "[this article] pissed me off. It comes off like a speech subtly AGAINST interracial adoptions, which just sounds racist in itself. It also comes off like the author is demonizing Bullock for having the audacity to adopt an African-American baby."

Teal responded to commenters, trying to explain that she was NOT being personal but was angry at the circumstances that bring black children into the child welfare system and about how whiteness is valued above other races in our society.

It sucks to talk about this stuff. It sucks to realize your own privilege, or to feel like you're being attacked because you are part of the dominant group. I know how it feels to be viewed negatively because of your race--I've had it on both sides. That's why it's so important to have compassion when talking about these things. But we still need to talk about them.

Almost every time I post about adoption, pushing against the mainstream viewpoint, I get at least one angry comment from a reader accusing me of being harsh or ungrateful or ignorant. Most of the time I view these as, to use Obama's rhetoric, "teachable moments." And opportunities to articulate my stances even better. But sometimes constantly defending your viewpoints is just exhausting...It's exhausting to try to prove to someone who says racism doesn't exist is wrong. It's exhausting to explain why seeing a White family adopt a Black child is complicated (not bad necessarily, but complicated.) It's exhausting to constantly explain why there should be full access to birth certificates for adoptees.

Especially when it happens with someone close to you, as happened to me today. Someone whom I'm close to, who is smart and whom I respect tremendously (and who is a person of color). It made me tired. And sad. To think that I don't explain my views well enough, day-to-day. To recognize how much of an outlier I really am sometimes.

I start to wonder, am a really just making mountains out of molehills?

Today I interviewed a professor at Pitt, who has organized artists and is curating an exhibit on Cuban racism at the Mattress Factory Museum called Queloides (keloids, which refer to scars--literal and metaphorical).


Apparently racism has increased tenfold since the collapse of socialist economy in the 90s, and artists have been using visual art as a means of speaking out. The exhibit first ran in Cuba earlier this year. Almost immediately after the exhibit opened, the professor was banned from his native Cuba. He's gotten plenty of other criticism too, for speaking out. People have said these issues don't exist. They tell him to shut up.

But he won't.

I suppose that means I shouldn't, either.

I'm a little confused by this Peoria Journal Star article, which describes how the NAACP is giving South Peoria police a "pass" on racial profiling. What does that even mean?

The NAACP president acknowledges that crime has gotten out of hand in certain areas and that it's important the organization "work with the police to help resolve the problems." Um, isn't that what they're supposed to be doing anyway? What's between the lines here is the history of racial tension in this Central Illinois area, the issues that have brought the area to NAACP attention in the first place. Obviously the police feel as though their ability to do their job has been hindered by the organization's policing. But I still find it odd that they would describe their "working together" that way, especially using loaded words like "pass." And, at least it appears to me, without clearly defining what exactly they mean by "giving a pass." 

The conference is in Chicago this year, which is home(ish) for me. Van Jones will be there, among other big names. Wish I could go!

You can win a free trip to the conference by writing the best headline. Enter the contest here.

Check out this Colorlines Video showing interviews with Black men in Brooklyn:






Nothing new, right?

So what can we do about it? In clicking around the Colorlines site, I found a link to this Rights Working Group organization, which spearheads campaigns against profiling.

Also, there is an End to Racial Profiling Act in the House, though I'm having a hard time figuring out whether the issue has been tabled or not. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on 6/17/10 regarding racial profiling in law enforcement. (The link to documentation is dead, however.) If it's been pushed aside, then what we need to do now is contact our representatives and tell them to revisit the issue. Writing to representatives really does make a difference--I'm often surprised by the number representatives in PA, IL, and NY who respond when I write to them about adoption legislation. (Good news to come on the PA adoption bill, by the way.) So find your rep here, and write away!

The Web is in uproar over Vaseline's New Skin-Lightening cream marketed in India and in a Facebook app that allows users to lighten their skin in profile photos.

When I was in China a few summers ago, I blogged about this strange "skin-lightening" rhetoric I noticed on creams that appeared to be simply sunscreens or "complexion balance" products. I knew it was connected to class-based attitudes valuing white-collar jobs that don't require outdoor labor, but I couldn't figure out if people realized the racial connotations too (usually people denied it or acted confused when I asked.)

Well, apparently in India there's the same rhetoric in advertising, and some people DO recognize the racism behind it. This Vaseline Men line is the first of its kind marketed exclusively for men--skin-lightening creams have been around for decades for women--no surprise there. In this article, one man says that this whole thing perpetuates a "I want to be fairer craze" that's sweeping India.

The cream's product description claims to even skin tone and remove "dark spots" caused by too much sun exposure. Okay, I like that terminology better. It's a less offensive way to think about it, and I hope that's the real reason why men are using it, not to "lighten" their natural skin tone.

But still.

It's a good sign, in my opinion, that people are upset about it. No matter the manufacturer's actual intentions, AWARENESS is the first step to racial sensitivity. It's necessary if we are to ever move forward.

Some dude comments on the product's Facebook page: "from the outlook of a European american guy seeing an ad for Indian men to lighten their skin to become like white men; i find this racist and a bit offensive. being white does not make you look good. i find this borderline NAZI thinking and that needs to stop."

This is one of the reasons why I love my church. Its slogan is this: "...inviting all to join our diverse, inclusive family of faith, transcending boundaries of race, class, ability, culture, age, gender and sexual identity to become one in Christ."

When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I wanted to find a church that was diverse (what that meant to me at the time was a place where both Black folks and White folks attended--something I'd never experienced and felt a need for.) As often happens, God exceeded my request. The congregation at East Liberty Presby is not only diverse in race, but also in class, sexual orientation, age, and more. It's not just White and Black people going up to the altar--there are Asian people, gay people, old people, young people, handicapped people, mentally challenged people, PhD students, former Catholics-Methodists-Baptists, families, single moms, adopted kids, and more.

And tough topics about racism and sexism are not avoided. The president and CEO of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, is coming to worship June 6. We just finished a movie/discussion series entitled "Race: The Power of an Illusion."

Now, of course this church is not perfect--as I've noticed with organizations with so many different people together, sometimes it's hard to satisfy everyone...some voices are heard more than others, some groups are represented more than others (I wish there could be more people my age).  But its diversity is unique, and I believe it's what Jesus would approve of. This is what I find beautiful.

Run by Ann Patchett

Two Black brothers, Tip and Teddy, are adopted by Boston's White mayor Bernard Doyle twenty years ago. The adoptive mother dies four years later, and for much of their lives the boys are grieving the loss of this red-haired woman, perhaps more than thinking about their biological mother who had surrendered them before that.

Then one wintery night, an accident and chance encounter with a woman who has secretly been part of their entire lives makes them consider their adoption in a new way.

Overall I found this tale deftly written, with plot twists and surprises that made it nearly impossible for me to put it down. Of course, I read very carefully to see how the race-adoption themes were dealt with by this White author who may or may not have a personal connection with adoption (I couldn't find much in initial research).

I was pleased to see that Patchett writes a refreshingly nuanced view of adoption and race, without--as Mixed Race America author points out here--dwelling on either topic heavy-handedly. Readers get a clear sense of Tip and Teddy's characters, and see that they are aware of how adoption and race play into their lives but yet do not feel defined by them. Sure, one could say that maybe Patchett didn't go deeply enough into all the issues, but there were those moments that reminded me that she knew what she was doing. When discussing whether to bring home the girl whose mother had gotten into an accident, Doyle says, "I don't think they'd let us walk out of [the hospital] with a random little girl." Tip replies, "Not a random little white girl, but a random little black girl? I don't think anyone's going to stop us at the door."

I like the uniqueness of this story as it is centered on male perspectives. As I've discussed numerous times, the adoption world--academic writings, memoirs, social work, support groups, conferences--is overwhelmingly populated, at least visibly, with women. Here it's an adoptive father who is shocked and protective when considering the possibility of a birth mother suddenly showing up. Here are two adopted sons, who react very differently to their adoption and the emotions surrounding their abandonment.

Teddy discusses wonderment about their mother.

"I'm not interested," Tip replies.

The birth mother is given a large presence in the novel, though her voice is one that only readers hear--the other characters don't. For that, it is sad, and maybe left something to be desired--I haven't decided yet. It's something all too common with adoption: those many things left unsaid, misunderstood.

I don't intend this blog post to be a complete spoiler, so I'll stop here. But for those interested in adoption, or even those who just love a good book with socially relevant themes and lyrical language, I highly recommend reading Run. 

It's Mixed Experience History Month over on Heidi Durrow's blog. Each day she writes short profiles of important mixed folks in history--Bob Marley, Edith Maude Eaton, and more. I just love all the work Heidi does carving out a place for multiracial identities. Hard to do in our bifurcated society that prefers to see people as one thing or another--not both. Check it out!

Fellow adoption activist and transracial adoptee (+overall awesome woman) Lisa Marie Rollins was featured on a discussion about transracial adoption and "why it's controversial."
Don Lemon begins the show asking this question, in light of the sometimes non-positive reactions people are having to celebrity Sandra Bullock's recent adoption of a Black American child. He obviously finds those reactions surprising, thinks it's odd that people aren't simply praising Sandra for "saving" the Black child from a lifetime of foster care.

It's amazing to me the profound ignorance of so many people in the mainstream about these issues. It shows how much adoption is shown from only one side, that so often we fail to recognize the powerful forces behind why those kids are in foster care in the first place, and also fail to validate any feelings from an adoptee that are not "grateful."




In her blog post about the show, Lisa points out that CNN was confusing transracial adoption with two white parents with mixed-race bio kids with mixed parentage. Big difference. However, you can still see Ms. Walsh's exoticizing of her mixed kids, saying that they were a "welcome racial curiosity" in their white communities.

Overall, I'm proud of CNN for giving voice to a transracial adoptee--it happens so rarely! And I'm proud of Lisa for being so eloquent and saying what needed to be said!

That's right. After three heart-wrenching, joyous, challenging years at the University of Pittsburgh, I am officially a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction writing.

My thesis is the longer, more personal version of this blog: a memoir tentatively called Growing Roots: A Story of Adoption, Heredity, and Hair. I wrote and rewrote and added to and cut and revised this manuscript several times, and I know it's not completely finished yet. But, I have a full draft. It's 226 pages. I'm ready for an agent or publishing house to love it and buy it, preferably for a million dollars! Just kidding. Honestly, publishing was never the main goal of this project. Mostly it was to write through unresolved issues of my own adoption, circumstances of which caused great turmoil and identity confusion. It is the story of why adoption is flawed in this country, why an atmosphere of SECRETS is not healthy. It is also a story of triumph. Yes, it is.

Amen.

Heidi Durrow is finally here! I'm so excited to host her visit with Pitt's English department. For locals: She'll be reading from her new novel The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, tomorrow night at 7:30 PM in Cathedral room 501 on campus.

This book, which won the Bellwether Prize for best novel addressing issues of social justice, is about a biracial girl who is separated from her parents (hello adoption story?) She moves in with her grandmother, who has very strict ideas about race, as do her new peers. The book sheds light on modern multicultural issues in a delightful fiction story. It might even remind you of Toni Morrison's Bluest Eye. But it's also about family and loss, which speaks to adoption and kinship care, and how race can complicate shifts in family and environment.

You might remember my review of her book in this previous post, or my review on Hot Metal Bridge. The New York Times did one, too. And USA Today. She's hot stuff these days--you've gotta check out this book!

The Census form for our apartment reads like this:

Person 1 (me)
Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? 
__X_ no, not of hispanic Latino, or Spanish origin
_____ Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano
_____ Yes, Puerto Rican
_____ Yes, Cuban
_____ Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin--print origin below

What is this person's race?
__X__ White
__X__ Black, African Am., or Negro
_____ American Indian or Alaska Native
_____ Asian Indian    ______Chinese _____Japanese  _____Native Hawaiian ____Guamanian or Chamorro    _____Filipino     _____ Vietnamese      ______ Samoan       _______Other Asian          ____ Other Pacific Islander

Through Afrobella's site I found this ABC News hair social experiment.

The investigator, curly-haired Taryn Winter Brill, asked five white guys to rate her "hotness" when her hair is straight versus when her hair is curly. The guys were asked to describe her curly pic with one word:

Continuing in a somewhat similar vein...

I just read a most disturbing article about a study that found black women at the very bottom of our society economically. I'm not surprised that their position is lower than many others', but the degree to which they are, even compared to other women, is horrifying. Some of the most heartbreaking facts: