When I question how I could have both been helped and hurt by white privilege, it is the same type of reflection that I must conduct when I think about the ways in which I have both gained and lost so much through my adoption. The ability to not think in simple polarities has shaped and defined my maturation and has been a liberating discovery.
Read this book if you want to think of birth mothers reimagined, a fantastical rags to riches “Cinderella” story, or a beautiful portrayal of scenery and a lesser known culture, not if you are an adoptee looking to identify with Haley, the Chinese adoptee character in the story. While Lisa See tried to do her research, her identity as a non-adopted person shows clearly in the adoptee parts of this book. The use of common adoption tropes and clunky, developmentally-off dialogue made the adoptee passages difficult for me to read or even get excited about until the last chapter.
As many of you know, I serve on the Advisory Council for the Korean American Adoptee and Adoptive Family Network (KAAN). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to […]
Racial Whiplash – noun ra·cial whip·lash | \ ˈrā-shəl \ ˈ(h)wip-ˌlash Definition of racial whiplash 1 : psychological injury or confusion resulting from the sudden, sharp whipping back and forth of receiving contradicting racial microaggressions (commonly in […]
Red Thread Broken 