Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" was one of the most interesting articles I ran across about white privilege while working on my degree at WSU... McIntosh really gives good perspective on the white privilege many of us take for granted.

This is something Genilson and I will continuously need to keep in mind while raising a child of a race different from our own (in fact it happens to be one of the articles Pact first supplied us with when we began the transracial adoption process) ... it's also a good reminder to those who may believe that racism is "dead".

The author, who is a Caucasian American, opens with a statement I that could apply to many Americans of this generation. "I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance in my group."

She goes on...
Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow "them" to be more like "us"... As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact... cannot count on most of these conditions:

1. I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
6. When told about our national heritage or "civilization," I am shown that people of own color made it what it is.
7. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
8. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
9. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
10. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
11. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
12. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
    
13. I can use blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
14. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
    
15. I feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

{This is only part of the essay... The actual essay lists 50 conditions, whereas I've only listed 15. You can download the entire essay here}

As the future adoptive parent of a child of color this reality scares, overwhelms, and frustrates me. I believe we're going to get through it as a family, but it's going to be a challenge.

Should "white" people feel ashamed of their "whiteness" then? I don't think so. However, I do think it's important that we acknowledge racism as a reality throughout American society, and do what we can to change it, at the very least in our own attitudes.

A lot to think about. x

'Beyond Culture Camp'

In November of this year, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released research on promoting healthy identity formation in adoption, called "Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption". Most of the transracial adoptees interviewed were Koreans adopted transnationally.

Here are the central findings:

• Adoption is an increasingly significant aspect of identity for adopted people as they age, and remains so even when they are adults.

• Race/Ethnicity is an increasingly significant aspect of identity for those adopted across color and culture.

• Coping with discrimination is an important aspect of coming to terms with racial/ethnic identity for adoptees of color.

• Discrimination based on adoption is a reality, but more so for white adoptees - who also report being somewhat less comfortable with their adoptive identity as adults than their transracially adopted counterparts.

• Most transracial adoptees considered themselves white or wanted to be white as children.

• Positive racial/ethnic identity development is most effectively facilitated by "lived" experiences such as travel to native country or culture, attending racially diverse schools, and having role models of their own race/identity.

• Contact with birth relatives, especially according to white respondents, is the most helpful factor in achieving a positive adoptive identity.

• Different factors predict comfort with adoptive and racial/ethnic identity for transracial and white adoptees.

It's all very interesting, and seems to confirm most of what Pact has been telling us all along - that openness matters, that race matters, and that we need to be extra prepared to help our child through their journey of developing a healthy sense of self. Hopefully this means we're on the right track.

(Next, and final, home study visit has been scheduled for Monday evening. We're excited!)