Thursday, April 29, 2010

When Art Imitates Life: Sandra Bullock Adopts a Black Baby

I'm going to do something I almost never do on this blog, I'm going to preface this post by saying: The race of an adoptive parent has no impact on said adopted child... with the exception of Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk. Truthfully, adopting and successful child rearing has more to do with love, and very little to do with race, creed, color, or ethnic origin. Yep, it's hard to believe but it's true. I'm of the belief that transracial adoptions are not as complicated as we as a racially polarized society makes it out to be. But that said, let's not pretend that it's as easy as running out to the pet store and picking up a chihuahua.

OK, with that said....

What the f*ck is up with Sandra Bullock adopting a black baby?! I mean damn, I know the movie The Blindside did well and all, but did she really have to become the real life Ms. Save-A-Negro? What, the Academy Award wasn't enough? Nope, she couldn't stop there, she had to go for one of those elusive NAACP Image Awards to sit next to her Oscar on her mantle, didn't she.

Lemme guess, they'll be casting her as Harriet Tubman next, right?

SIDENOTE: Did they really have to put the X-Clan African beads on the kid in the pic above?

Oh, and also filed for divorce from her cheating ass husband Jesse James? And we hear this shit all in one day? Just great, when your husband cheats on you, do the natural thing, adopt a baby or get pregnant. Yep, just like that she's managed to become that no-man-having single successful black woman that everybody is chattering about. Uuh-huh, and you black women complain about how hard it is being a single parent? Well, none of that fazes Ms. Bullock, by God. Just like Black women, "she don't need a man telling her what to do."

Now of course, her being white makes it hard for anyone to portray her as the jilted angry black woman in the media. Sorry black women, it sucks, but that's just the way it is; and, Bullock will forever be seen as a savior of the black male, unlike yourselves. Her adoption of three month old Louis Bardo Bullock, who is from New Orleans, may indeed come as a public relations blessing. You know, sorta the same way one lowly down-trodden Negro from Mississippi upped her stock in Hollywood? Yes, I can see the headlines now:



"The Blindside II: Sandra Bullock saves black baby from the flood waters of New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina  - NFL scouts on watch."

SIDENOTE: Does anyone know the name of the actor who was the center piece of the movie The Blindside? I mean, everybody knows Sandra Bullock, but how come they never mention his name ever? As big as that movie was, he should be as famous as "Willis" and "Arnold Jackson" of the hit show Diff'rent Strokes, no?

But hey, with black kids making up a significant percentage of children in foster care, and being hard to place, little Louis couldn't have found a better home than many will ever have. So that's positive, and the larger issue of black kids in foster care should be at the forefront of everybody's minds. Hopefully Sandra's celebrtity can inadvertently lend itself in championing more awareness of the sad reality, that is black children in foster care.

I say that because according to a May 2008 report from the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, black children constituted 15% of all U.S. children but 32% of the 510,000 kids in foster care. Also, according to the National Adoption Center, black children constitute 67% of all hard-to-place children for adoption. Yep, and black children with dark skin fare even worse. But something tells me that some of us will be caught up with the idea of whether her kid will run around with a nappy head like Angelina Jolie's daughter. This is America, andyou know how that "don't bring anyone home if they can't use your comb," thing works.

But as much as some may not be in agreement of her decision to take on the responsibility of motherhood, being single, at 45yrs old. Let's wish her the best, and hope she doesn't become frustrated with the challenge and do the unthinkable. Which would be, to put him on a plane and send him back to Africa, similar to what one of my fellow Tennesseans did recently  to her adopted Russian born son.

In closing, given the many media driven images, and the narrative of white celebrities adopting black children. We should explore the myths associated with black families and adoption. Because given the numbers, one can arrive at an erroneous conclusion, that the only people adopting black kids, are rich, and well to do white people. But hey, maybe we can attribute some of this to the fact that there aren't many stories of black families adopting children being promoted, especially when a black family adopts a white child.

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