I'm working on a paper about inter-racial adoptions. I'm hoping, actually, to generate three papers this semester from this one topic. The main two papers will be for my race and ethnicity class - the first of which must be at least 20 pages and is due on March 15th! Thus, I've begun the tedious task of conducting a literature review. I just finished reading an amazing article titled "Black Identity and Child Placement: The Best Interests of Black and Biracial Children." The article provided a wonderful and insightful critique of the legal/social precedents of not placing black children in white homes. The opponents of transracial adoption argue that placing black children with white parents not only alienates these children from their racial identity and the larger black community, but that it also deprives them of the coping skills necessary to deal with racist society (assuming that white parents are not able to empathize with black children's experiences of racism and/or discrimination.) In addition, opponents argue that placing black children with white families essentially robs them of their "blackness" and thus is a form of cultural genocide that inevitably diminishes the strength and continuance of black culture. Now, I find these arguments to be absurd. In fact, I feel like having barriers that prevent transracial adoption only act to PROMOTE racism and prevent inter-racial harmony. However, the whole time I was reading the article, I was wondering if the author was black. I feel like, even though I can probably offer thoughtful critiques of the black position, only a black person can effectively criticize the position of blacks on this issue. Maybe I'm wrong - or maybe I am unable to escape from my self-consciousness of being a part of the dominant culture. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that keeping black children in foster care, or in public institutions, rather than placing them in permanent homes with white parents does more harm than could be done by rearing them in white families. So, the whole point of this blog is to say that I feel self-conscious about critiquing the black position, since I cannot possibly relate and that I am simultaneously excited and intimidated at the prospect of writing this paper, since it is the first time in grad school that I've had the opportunity to write on a topic that I'm actually interested in. Wish me luck...

p.s. while writing this the space bar key on my keyboard came off and refused to go back on. I never realized how essential it is to fast typing.