This solicited a chuckle from me. One of my sister’s friends knows this married Asian-American couple (that’s not the funny part) who just adopted two white kids (commence polite laughter). I say it’s about time. After all, for decades Americans have been adopting children from Asia. Think of this as returning the favor.
There’s no doubt these adopted white kids will face a few social challenges and will be treated by some as a TLC-program novelty. For one thing, do you call them Asian-Americans? But if Asian tykes can adjust why can’t their Caucasian counterparts? I mean, I think adopted Asian toddlers know they’re not exactly like mommy and daddy or mommy and mommy or daddy and daddy. For instance, one of my white friends had a niece that was adopted from Korea. When I met the baby for the first time she just kept staring at me (the girl, not the friend). I’m sure she was thinking, “Wait a minute…you’re not like these other pale-faces…you look like me…and I just pooped.”
Here’s another thought: I know a lot of white parents want their Asian kids to retain parts of their racial identity, so they try to teach them things about their Asian heritage. But what exactly do Asian parents do so their white kids don’t lose their “whiteness”?
Will they give their children gold stars for every little thing they do? Will they take them on trips to J. Crew and Pottery Barn so they never forget where they “came from”? For their elementary school’s Culture Day will they wear a kimono or khakis? Will they make them eat mayo?
It’s befuddling how most people will accept a white couple with an adopted minority child. But if a minority couple adopts a white child it’s considered weird.
I don’t know the Asian-American couple’s motivation for adopting white children. Call me a dreamer but I’d like to think that they did it not because they thought of themselves as Asian-American parents. They just wanted to be parents. And yes, there are those who stipulate people should adopt kids from their own race. To them I say: go adopt some if you think it’s so important. To me love is love and race or color doesn’t matter when a child just needs someone to hold them so they can spit-up.
Who knows? Maybe someday the racial lines of “being a family” will be so blurred that more and more Asians will be adopting the white children of Hollywood celebrities. One can only hope.
We never had Culture day growing up in Muskegon, MI. Do only diverse places do this?
ReplyDeleteWow, this is late, but I just discovered this post. And I think it's great. I've seen an Asian couple with quite a few white kids myself. I do agree that it's befuddling that people think non-white adopting whites is considered weird, or that people should only adopt from their own race (what if they were an interracial couple, or mixed race? How would that work out?)
ReplyDeleteBTW, do you know the specific ethnicity of the parents? You mentioned kimonos, so are they Japanese Americans?