Collected this one today on The Magic of India : The phrase “Magical Negro” refers to the phenomenon in which a white character in a tv show or movie finds enlightenment through the wisdom of a Black character. It is widely considered an offensive trope in which Black people — imbued with special spiritual, religious, or primitive powers of insight, often ostensibly due to some disadvantage like poverty — serve only to support a white person’s transformation. The white person, and their ultimate redemption, remains the central story.
How does the concept of the Magical Negro relate to adoption? Does the black child, the adoptee, fulfills the role of the magic one, transforming not only the white adopter/s but also a whole family, possibly a community, church or neighbourhood providing redemption, salvation and purpose. Some feedback on this one please my friends. Those who are qualified to speak about this, not the colourblind, the racists or those who believe love is all. Serious content only, no venom, bile or slagging and above all no assumptions. Adults only thanks.
Yes, it's sad, but this is a pretty insightful comment on the "role" non-white adoptees may be asked to play in white families and/or in largely white congregations. For some people, international adoption is their first foray out of whitesville into a non-white community. It may even be the first time they thought seriously of racism and its impact. By adopting, some people believe they instantly become above reproach when it comes to race issues, but really, it's only the beginning and deeply unfair to a child to allow them to assume such a burden.
ReplyDeleteJohn Raible's advice has always been to rermain sensitive to the environment you are bringing your adopted child back into. Move if you need to. That is treating your kid like a person and not a magical idea.
I love your comments.
DeleteThank you, Sally. I hope you are doing well and I loved your letter to PAPs.
DeleteVon, thank you for posting this. It's an important discussion to raise. I don't have any great insight; I have a parallel question.
ReplyDeleteI started to type it all here and realized it's too long for a comment, so I'll do a blog post today or tmw. Thanks for sharing this, Von. I'm interested in reading the comments you get!
Sorry, have a few additional comments (the subject is very interesting to me). I know that in some of the fundamentalist churches in the US south there is a kind of collective guilt over racism, and some people do see the welcoming of non-white children into their families as atonement, in some cases (where the grandparents might not welcome the child), some kind of "stand" for justice. Is this also treating a child like Magic Being? Very likely. But it would really depend on the personal relationship you were able to forge with that child and the extent to which they saw you as *leveraging* or loving them. I think any child knows the difference.
ReplyDeleteWe have friends, Korean and Uzbek, with one daughter--not adopted--who recently moved to a rather white neighbourhood for our city. Two months into highschool, their daughter said she hated the school and the kids and they are now in the process of moving again to a much more multicultural area. I do admire parents who can simply appreciate what kids need and just do the right thing.
Von, Your post brought to my mind a fellow adult adoptee I met at a conference on 'adoption'. He was quite dark skinned and obviously an Indigenous Australian. He told me one morning as a teenager he was shaving his beard and looking at himself he realised and went and asked his non-aboriginal adopters "AM I ADOPTED" I understood exactly how invisible he felt. This is what happens to us when we grow up surrounded by secrecy and lies as most of us had to endure in the "closed/adoption' era.
ReplyDeleteHow very sad Skyeyes that he was not given the early opportunity to know and be proud of his heritage.It seems many adopters then and possibly now, from what I read on blogs, are colour blind thinking that treating all children the same irrespective of heritage is being inclusive.It is not and perhaps that is one of the cruelest of secrets to keep from adoptees. We all have a degree of invisibility don't we, for some it is more intentionally created?
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