One of the many many assumptions I had at the begining of our adoption journey was that the world of international adoption was full of people who were open and welcoming to children and people of other races and cultures. I think that's a fair assumption, that someone who would open their home to a child from a distant land would welcome all nationalities and races to all aspects of their lives. Over the course of the last few days, and through a heated adoption on an international adoption message board, the truth has emerged loud and clear. Racists and bigots exist in the world of international adoption. A woman, K, posted about some issues her daughter was having at school. They included rough play, hitting and scratching of her daughter and other children by schoolmates. Now, the real issue should have been whether or not the school had the obligation to enforce a no bullying, no abuse policy ( of course they do ) and whether or not she should continue to send her child here. The problem was that the post contained some not too subtle suggestions that maybe the behavior was linked to the socio-economic status and/or ethicity of some parents , evidenced by their behavior at varying school events. Most responses ( rightly ) just overlooked this weird tangent and responded to the issue of the school policy about the behavior in questions.
Until the post by S ( who admittedly lives in a "Stepford"-esque gated community, for whom looks are very important as are money and class and matching little Gymboree outfits for her FOREIGN BORN adopted children, who just so happened to have arrived in this country with a dislike for ugly people and some sort of inherent pride in their own beauty and status which goes unchecked my mom and breast enhanced fellow beauty snob Grandma, who lives with this screwed up little family ) who proudly admitted that "like" belonged with "like" and was followed later by a post claiming that she simply "is not ready to embrace inter-racial relationships for herself or her children". There were more posts, in each one she proudly defended herself.
There was, as you would expect, some outcry. I was glad to see several long time members of this group pounce all over her words. What saddened me, though, was the support. Many posters did not share her views but felt that there was nothing wrong with respecting her opinion, and this is where it got me mad. See, the thing about racism is that when it rears its ugly head it needs to be addressed and yelled at and stomped on and changed. Then came the challenges from Stepford Barbie which was, basically, " Well, if you're so damned liberal, how many of you are married to someone of another race?" Many of us responded that we either WERE in this situation, or had dated or had long term relationships with people of other races, people with disabilities, etc. I hated responding to this because her question was just so stupid and certainly not a litmus test for racism. My response to her was that I felt that she was saying that somehow my child is somehow not up to the standards of her child ( keeping in mind that we are talking preschoolers here, who have plenty of years to form their own opinions ) and that I was offended. Out came the claws and suddenly I was accused of being angry and needed to get a life. Now, I'd like to quote more of what this self-righteous grown up high school diva said, but she's edited and/or deleted most of her posts. I did print out the text of the exchanges, I need to keep track of her fans , I want to remember who the racists are.
And speaking of fucktards, there's Raani Starnes and her equally completely wacked out wacko brother, Pastor Anderson. You can google and find texts of her now open by invite only blog, but she's some fundie douchenozzle who posted that she pretty much advocated the murder of children, saying that the proposed gay-friendly high school in Chicago could be blown up and she'd see it as just desserts.
Harry’s Roadhouse – Santa Fe, New Mexico
1 week ago
