Transracial Adoption

"I'm black but I'm not. It's been a trip to figure out my racial identity. My adoptive parents are white. My birth mother was white and my birth father was black. I grew up in a mostly white neighborhood but tried to find some other kids to hang out with. Sometimes it was hard to be seen with my white parents because then I'd have to explain everything." -Adoptee Wisdom



When I came across the image of the little blonde asian doll dressed in fishnets it immediately made me think about all the research I've been doing on transracial (both domestic and international) adoption. With all my own adoption issues rearing their ugly head I think of my tra friends (and by friends I really mean online acquantences, because I don't know any tra's in real life) who have been raised with an extra set of problems. I can't see Angelina's brood without cringing, sorry if this pops the "omg they're saving orphans from all over the world! how cute!" bubble that most of America seems to be living in. As a white girl I know it was hard being raised by white parents that lacked blood ties, so I cannot imagine being raised by a family of a different ethnic identity. How can one establish a sense of identity, or ethnic identity, when they are stripped of their heritage?