Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision- November 16, 2019
This pancocojams post presents information and my comments about the newly coined words "black-ish" and "mixed-ish".
The Addendum to this post provides my comments about the terms "mixed racial", "biracial" and other racial terms.
The content of this post is presented for etymological and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/american-television-show-black-ish-s.htmlfor the closely related pancocojams post "American Television Show "Black-ish" 's Episode About Black People Nodding At Other Black People Who Are Strangers"
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE TELEVISION SERIES "BLACK-ISH", "GROWN-ISH", AND "MIXED-ISH"
The American television series Black-ish first aired in 2014. That series and its two spin-offs Grown-ish and Mixed-ish were conceptualized and are produced by Kenya Barris, an African American male.
Here's information about the Black-ish television series
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-ish
"Black-ish is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It premiered on September 24, 2014, and has run for six seasons on ABC.[1][2].
[...]
Black-ish follows an upper middle class African-American family led by Andre 'Dre' Johnson (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross). The show revolves around the family's lives, as they juggle several personal and sociopolitical issues."...the father "wishes to ensure a balance of black culture is intertwined with his family's ultra-suburban upbringing"."...
The other television series that are spin-offs of Black-ish are Grown-ish, which premiered in January 3, 2018 and will begin its third season in 2020, and the prequel sitcom Mixed-ish, which premiered on September 24, 2019.
Grown-ish "follows the Johnsons' eldest daughter Zoey (Yara Shahidi) as she goes to college, begins her journey to adulthood but quickly discovers that not everything goes her way once she leaves the nest". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grown-ish
Mixed-ish is "Loosely based on the early life of Dr. Rania Barris (co-creator Kenya Barris' wife)[7], the series chronicles the early years of Rainbow Johnson as she recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race* family in the 1980s. The family faces dilemmas over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves when Rainbow's parents move from a hippie commune to the suburbs in 1985.[8]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-ish
-snip-
Here's an excerpt from another article about Black-ish and its prequel Mixedo-ish being loosely based on the real life of Kenya Barris' (now divorced) wife and their family of six children.
https://people.com/tv/blackish-creator-writer-kenya-barris-life-story-interview/
"The seed of the show came from my own family,” says Barris. “I looked around and saw that my kids were not like little black kids that I remember growing up.” Like Andre, Barris, is married to a biracial wife named Rainbow (nicknamed Bow) and is raising his kids in an affluent neighborhood much different from the one where he was raised in South Los Angeles.
“The world is changing, and that’s being reflected by the Johnsons,” he explains."...
-snip-
Read my comments in the Addendum below about the terms "mixed racial, "biracial" and other racial terms.
****
COMMENTS ABOUT THE WORDS "BLACK-ISH", "MIXED-ISH", AND "GROWN-ISH"
The words "black-ish", "mixed-ish", "and "grown-ish" were probably coined for the ABC television sitcoms with those titles.
The suffix "ish" means "having some but not all characteristics of ___"; "being somewhat or partially ___". Therefore, "black-ish" means "being somewhat black" or being "partially black", "grown-ish" means "being somewhat grown [up]" and "mixed-ish" means being "somewhat mixed" or "being partially mixed". In the context of this usage, the word "mixed" means a person was is "mixed racial" (i.e. a person who has a birth parent who is one race and a birth parent who is another race).
Each of these words are probably adjectives. However, like the word "Black" and "mixed", "black-ish" and "mixed-ish" could also be considered nouns as they could be used as racial referents.
The use of "black-ish" and "mixed-ish" can be highly problematic for socio-cultural reasons, not just because they promote determinations of who is and who isn't members of the Black race, but also because they promote determinations of how people who are Black (or who are partially Black) should look, act, think, and understand things. What does acting, or thinking Black really mean? For instance, Black people-and specifically Black Americans- range in skin color from white to redbone to brown to very dark brown so you can't always accurately judge whether a person is Black by the way that they look.
Also, does the word "mixed-ish" mean that a person of mixed racial ancestry isn't really mixed or that person who is referred to as "mixed-ish" doesn't think or act like other people who are mixed? Or more specifically-since many Black Americans use the word "mixed" to refer to people who are "Black/non-Black"- does "mixed-ish" mean that that person doesn't look like all other non-mixed Black people (whatever that means since so many Black Americans are mixed) or doesn't act, think, or understand things the same way that other Black people do. In that sense, "mixed-ish" and "black-ish" would have the same meaning.
I have serious concerns about the words "black-ish" and "mixed-ish" in part because of the realities of colorism among Black people which sometimes might be expressed in the "my melanin is poppin"** "movement". One aspect of the melanin movement is the position that darker skinned Black people are more "fully Black" and (therefore) are better than lighter skinned Black people.
I don't believe that the words "black-ish" and "mixed-ish" were used in the United States or elsewhere prior to the television series with those names [Black-ish -2014 and Mixed-ish -2019]. And fortunately, I also don't believe that the words black-ish and mixed-ish are used now in the United States or elsewhere except as the titles of those television series.
Since the Mixed-ish series only began airing on television in September 2019, it's too early to determine whether the title of that series will influence the use of the word "mixed-ish". However, I think that it's unlikely that Americans, or anyone else, will begin using the word "mixed-ish", in part because the the word's definition (being or acting kinda like a mixed person) makes no real sense, and in part because presence of two suffixes ("ed" and "ish") make that word grammatically incorrect and difficult to say.
I'm much less concerned about the word "grown-ish" because of its implied meaning (someone acting [like they are] "grown" [when they are just a child, a pre-teen, or a teen) since that word has no racial connotations. I'm not sure if the word "grown-ish" is used in the United States or elsewhere. In contrast to the word "grown-ish", I'm very familiar with -and have myself used- the word "baby-ish" (as an adjective which means "acting like a baby").
*"Colorism" - bias among Black people toward Black people of certain skin colors, for instance, bias against dark skinned Black people, or bias against light skinned Black people
**Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/what-does-term-melanated-mean-when-did.html for a pancocojams post about melanin. Also, click the tag "melanin" for additional pancocojams posts about that topic.
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COMMENTS ABOUT ADDING "ISH" TO ENGLISH WORDS FROM https://english.stackexchange.com
Here's some information about adding "ish" to English words from https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3663/when-is-it-appropriate-if-at-all-to-use-the-suffix-ish
"I think you could make the argument that the -ish suffix should not be used in formal English to create ad-hoc words on the spot, like "largish". There is nothing grammatically wrong — you will, of course be understood — but it has a definite informal connotation. However, there are a number of established words, e.g. impish, boorish, devilish, sheepish, etc., where -ish is accepted in all contexts, including formal ones." -answered Oct 4 '10; Kosmonaut
**
"All of your usage examples show it affixed to nouns, not adjectives. For adjectives (and sometimes adverbs), "ish" shows an approximation, but for nouns, marks a quality: "impish" does not mean "approximately an imp" but rather "like an imp". There are two very different uses at work here, and arguably only the adjective suffix is the informal one. – Jon Purdy Oct 4 '10 at 23:17
**
"Adding the "ish" suffix to a word X is a colloquial way to say that something is "somewhat" X, "approximately" X, "rather" X, etc.
She was a largish woman. ⇒ She was a rather large woman.
She will be here by fiveish. ⇒ She will be here by any time close to five o'clock.
The boy is fiveish. ⇒ The boy is five years old or about that age.
The interior has niceish plastics covering the dash and the doors ⇒ The interior has rather nice plastics covering the dash and the doors.
The exam went well, ish. ⇒ The exam went fairly well."...
edited Oct 5 '10
answered Oct 4 '10
[...]
"To me, examples 1-3 sound pretty standard, while 4 and 5 are very colloquial. "The exam went well, ish" is definitely a "trendy" speech pattern. – Guy Starbuck Oct 5 '10"
-snip-
That page doesn't include any examples of the word "black-ish", "mixed-ish" or "grown-ish".
The suffix "ish" in these words has an entirely different meaning than the (probably) African American Vernacular English originated word "ish" which is an abbreviation of the word "sh&t".
****
ADDENDUM- COMMENTS ABOUT THE TERMS "MIXED RACIAL", "MIXED", "BIRACIAL", "INTERRACIAL" AND "TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION"
*I believe that the word "interracial" better fits the meaning of the sentence that is given in the Wikipedia page about the television series Mixed-ish that is quoted above [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed-ish]. In the context of that Wikipedia page which specifically refers to Dr. Rania Barris, the [now divorced] wife of Kenya Barris, the creator of the television series Black-ish and its two spin-offs. Dr. Rania Barris has a Black birth parent and a birth parent who is non-Black.
"Interracial couples" refers to couples who are of two different races. "Interracial families" refers to families that are composed of people with different races- for instance, parents (or one parent) who is White and children who are Black, and children who are White, or Asian. In my experience, Black families that include children whose biological parents are Black/non-Black are usually not considered "interracial, because usually those mixed racial children are considered Black.
The word "mixed" is the term that is most often (informally) used among African Americans, including as a self-identifier. However, since at least the 1980s, the word "biracial" has been (informally, and sometimes also formally) used in the United States as a referent for people who are of (first generation) mixed racial ancestry, and particularly for people who are of (first generation) Black/White ancestry.
I particularly dislike/d and continue to dislike the term "biracial" as it was used [in my experience as a child welfare administrator in the late 1980s to 2000] in some [but not my] foster care and adoption agencies to categorize children who were of Black/non-Black ancestry different from children who had two Black birth parents. The underlying premise for that categorization was that "biracial" children [meaning children with one Black birth parent and one White (or non-Black) birth parent] weren't really Black, and therefore could more easily be placed in foster homes or adoptive homes with a White couple or a White single person. This rationale for placing children with some Black ancestry in transracial families may still be used in the United States.
-snip-
"Transracial adoption" = placing children for adoption in families who are different races (and ethnicities, in child welfare practices in the United States "ethnicity" means "Latino/a") than the children are. Note that technically, given the definition for "interracial families" that I gave above, transracial adoptive families are interracial families.
****
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label transracial adoption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transracial adoption. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Red Table Talk's Episode About Transracial Adoption & Black Hollywood Live's Talking Red Table Talk (Reaction Video) About That Episode
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a short video segment of Red Table Talk's October 18, 2019 episode about transracial adoption as well as a link to that entire episode.
This pancocojams post also showcases a October 21, 2019 Black Hollywood Live's Talking Red Table Talk reaction video about that Red Table Talk episode.
A definition of transracial adoption and information about Red Table Talk and Black Hollywood Live are included in this post.
This post also includes two comments that I posted to the Talking Red Table Talk. One of those comments consists of a small portion of an Adoptalk article by JaeRan Kim, a South Korean woman who was transracially adopted by a White couple when she was two years old.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are are associated with Red Table Talk and all those who are associated with Black Hollywood Live. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
WHAT "TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION" MEANS
From https://definitions.uslegal.com/t/transracial-adoption/#targetText=Transracial%20adoption%20refers%20to%20the,country%20with%20Caucasian%20adoptive%20parents Transracial Adoption Law and Legal Definition
"Transracial adoption refers to the process of placing a child who is of one race or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another race or ethnic group.
In the U.S., transracial adoption is the placement of children of color or children from another country with Caucasian adoptive parents. A transracial adoption is also transcultural, with the adopted child coming from a different country or culture as well as a different racial background."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT RED TABLE TALK
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Table_Talk#targetText=Red%20Table%20Talk%20is%20an,thirteen%20episodes%20of%20the%20series
"Red Table Talk is an American web television talk show starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris that premiered on May 7, 2018 on Facebook Watch. On June 13, 2018, it was announced that Facebook had ordered an additional thirteen episodes of the series. These new episodes premiered on October 22, 2018. The show's second season premiered on May 6, 2019.[1]
Premise
Red Table Talk provides "a forum where the perspectives of three different generations on a wide variety of topics are shared."[2]
[...]
Genre:Talk show
Presented by
Jada Pinkett Smith
Willow Smith
Adrienne Banfield-Norris
Country of origin: United States
Original language(s): English
No. of seasons: 2
No. of episodes: 37 (list of episodes)"....
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS:
Video #1: Red Table Talk: All New Episode| Transracial Adoption
OnlySkye, Oct 18, 2019
On our all-new Red Table Talk, our ladies sit down with transracial adoptee, Angela Tucker, as she discusses the struggles she experiences being a black woman that was raised by a white family. We invite you to take a seat at the table with us, next Monday – only on Facebook Watch. “But it’s hard to walk around every day and have people see a black woman, but for me, not to even feel like a black woman.” Our ladies are having an open and honest conversation about transracial adoption on an all-new episode of Red Table Talk....
****
video #2: https://eurweb.com/2019/10/21/on-red-table-talk-transracial-adoptee-admits-shes-not-comfortable-being-with-black-folks-watch/ ON ‘RED TABLE TALK’: TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEE ADMITS SHE’S NOT COMFORTABLE BEING WITH BLACK FOLKS – WATCH
FISHER JACK, OCTOBER 21, 2019
"On today’s newest edition of Facebook Watch’s “Red Table Talk,” things get interesting all over again. The hosts: Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield Norris get into a candid conversation about transracial adoption.
On the show, they are joined by Angela Tucker, a black woman who was raised by white parents, who opened up about something she says people “often don’t want to admit.” And that is …?
“People often don’t admit this but a lot of black transracial adoptees look in the mirror and are surprised, when we look in the mirror and see a black person,” she explains.
“Because we’re so used to seeing white people and we see our parents and they’re white and we love them and then we see ourselves, like, oh yeah, I forgot, I’m black,” she continued.
Adding that while she doesn’t identify as white, “of course,” she says that it is still her “culture.”
The full episode of Jada’s incredibly popular series will tackle the “struggles” of adopting across racial lines. Check it out above.
Fans can expect new episodes of “Red Table Talk” every Monday at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch."
****
Video #3: Raised by White Parents: A Black Adoptee Speaks
Black Hollywood Live, October 21, 2019
Hosts Tyler Simone, Tyler Tyson, and Jade Ming sit down to discuss Angela Tucker, a black woman who was raised by white parents in a predominately white neighborhood. She joins the ladies at the red table to discuss the struggles of trans-racial adoptees and her own lack of connection with black culture.
While the opinions of Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris may cover a wide variety of topics, what about our opinions on their opinions of those topics? Join us for Black Hollywood Live's TALKING RED TABLE TALK where every week we're discussing the topics of Red Table Talk and breaking down the opinions of the hosts and why we agree or disagree with them! Be sure to subscribe and rate to stay up to date every week!
Hosted by Tyler Tyson and Tyler McKinney....
-snip-
Comments that I posted on that video's discussion thread:
Azizi Powell, 2019
"I somehow happening upon a video of the Red Table Talk about transracial adoption with Angela Tucker, a Black woman who was adopted by a White couple when she was 13 months old. This was my introduction to Red Table Talks. After watching that short video of that Red Table Talk episode, I found your video. I wish I could watch the entire episode, but for various reasons I'm no longer on Facebook. Can people who aren't on Facebook watch Red Table Talks?
I appreciate the comments that each of you made about that segment and wanted to share the following information with you and your readers:
I'm an African American woman who is a birth parent, adoptive parent, and a former foster parent. In the late 1980s to the early 1990s I was active with an adoptive parent support organization that still exists- North American Council On Adoptable Children (NACAC) https://www.nacac.org/. When I was active with that organization, I was program director of a Black adoption agency which advocated and helped place Black children (include children with one Black birth parent and one birth parent of another race). I'm retired and haven't been involved in adoption circles for decades. However, as a first choice, that agency placed (and probably still places) Black children with Black couples and Black single people, and with interracial couples (one Black person and one person who was non-Black). We advocated that any person who fostered or wanted to adopt a child who had a different racial background than they had (including mixed race children) should understand the realities of personal and institutional racism, and should be proactive in involving their family in their children's culture/s.
(By the way, in the 1980s and 1990s, it was next to impossible for a non-White couple or non-White single person (including a mixed race person with some White ancestry) to adopt a White child from a public or private public agency. I'd be surprised if that has changed.
I could go on and on but prefer to share this link with you and others who are interested in the subject of transracial adoption and the need for transracial adoptive parents to help their children develop & reinforce personal self-esteem AND a clear and strong group identity. https://www.nacac.org/resource/the-personal-is-political-racial-identity-and-racial-justice-in-transracial-adoption/ I'll quote a small portion from that article in my next comment.
**
Azizi Powell, 2019
Here's a brief portion from https://www.nacac.org/resource/the-personal-is-political-racial-identity-and-racial-justice-in-transracial-adoption/
"From Adoptalk 2018, Issue 3; Adoptalk is a benefit of NACAC membership
By JaeRan Kim, PhD © 2018
JaeRan Kim was born in South Korea in 1969 and adopted into a white family in Minnesota in 1971. Today, JaeRan works as an assistant professor at the University of Washington – Tacoma. Her research focuses on vulnerable children, specifically those in out-of-home care. This article is adapted from JaeRan’s keynote presentation at the 2018 NACAC conference...
When I was growing up, the only bit of Asian culture I was exposed to was the occasional can of chicken chow mein.
As the only adoptee and person of color in my immediate and extended family, I was always assured my parents didn’t see color and loved me no matter what, and that was enough. After going to college and being exposed to the racial and cultural diversity I had been missing growing up, I began to explore my racial identity and realized that for transracial adoptees, a parent’s love and rejection of racial difference does not meet the need for racial, ethnic, and cultural identity development and support.
For me, and other transracial adoptees, the development of a racial identity is an inevitable aspect of growing up: in the anonymity of a new city, school, or job, a transracial adoptee’s visibility as a person of color eclipses their visibility as a transracial adoptee in a white family. By helping children develop that racial identity before they’re faced with this reality, parents can help their children develop the tools they will need to fight against oppression, racism, and discrimination. Although it is often uncomfortable and difficult work, implementing racial and ethnic socialization with their transracially adopted children helps strengthen trust and attachment by showing transracial adoptees that their parents care about, and support, their racial and ethnic identities.
Becoming an advocate
Helping a child embrace their racial identity is more than just having conversations about race and culture. Instead, parents need to be active advocates for transracial adoptee justice, a process that requires parents to address their own biases, alter their own mindsets, and take action"...
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post showcases a short video segment of Red Table Talk's October 18, 2019 episode about transracial adoption as well as a link to that entire episode.
This pancocojams post also showcases a October 21, 2019 Black Hollywood Live's Talking Red Table Talk reaction video about that Red Table Talk episode.
A definition of transracial adoption and information about Red Table Talk and Black Hollywood Live are included in this post.
This post also includes two comments that I posted to the Talking Red Table Talk. One of those comments consists of a small portion of an Adoptalk article by JaeRan Kim, a South Korean woman who was transracially adopted by a White couple when she was two years old.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are are associated with Red Table Talk and all those who are associated with Black Hollywood Live. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
WHAT "TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION" MEANS
From https://definitions.uslegal.com/t/transracial-adoption/#targetText=Transracial%20adoption%20refers%20to%20the,country%20with%20Caucasian%20adoptive%20parents Transracial Adoption Law and Legal Definition
"Transracial adoption refers to the process of placing a child who is of one race or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another race or ethnic group.
In the U.S., transracial adoption is the placement of children of color or children from another country with Caucasian adoptive parents. A transracial adoption is also transcultural, with the adopted child coming from a different country or culture as well as a different racial background."...
****
INFORMATION ABOUT RED TABLE TALK
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Table_Talk#targetText=Red%20Table%20Talk%20is%20an,thirteen%20episodes%20of%20the%20series
"Red Table Talk is an American web television talk show starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris that premiered on May 7, 2018 on Facebook Watch. On June 13, 2018, it was announced that Facebook had ordered an additional thirteen episodes of the series. These new episodes premiered on October 22, 2018. The show's second season premiered on May 6, 2019.[1]
Premise
Red Table Talk provides "a forum where the perspectives of three different generations on a wide variety of topics are shared."[2]
[...]
Genre:Talk show
Presented by
Jada Pinkett Smith
Willow Smith
Adrienne Banfield-Norris
Country of origin: United States
Original language(s): English
No. of seasons: 2
No. of episodes: 37 (list of episodes)"....
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS:
Video #1: Red Table Talk: All New Episode| Transracial Adoption
OnlySkye, Oct 18, 2019
On our all-new Red Table Talk, our ladies sit down with transracial adoptee, Angela Tucker, as she discusses the struggles she experiences being a black woman that was raised by a white family. We invite you to take a seat at the table with us, next Monday – only on Facebook Watch. “But it’s hard to walk around every day and have people see a black woman, but for me, not to even feel like a black woman.” Our ladies are having an open and honest conversation about transracial adoption on an all-new episode of Red Table Talk....
****
video #2: https://eurweb.com/2019/10/21/on-red-table-talk-transracial-adoptee-admits-shes-not-comfortable-being-with-black-folks-watch/ ON ‘RED TABLE TALK’: TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEE ADMITS SHE’S NOT COMFORTABLE BEING WITH BLACK FOLKS – WATCH
FISHER JACK, OCTOBER 21, 2019
"On today’s newest edition of Facebook Watch’s “Red Table Talk,” things get interesting all over again. The hosts: Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield Norris get into a candid conversation about transracial adoption.
On the show, they are joined by Angela Tucker, a black woman who was raised by white parents, who opened up about something she says people “often don’t want to admit.” And that is …?
“People often don’t admit this but a lot of black transracial adoptees look in the mirror and are surprised, when we look in the mirror and see a black person,” she explains.
“Because we’re so used to seeing white people and we see our parents and they’re white and we love them and then we see ourselves, like, oh yeah, I forgot, I’m black,” she continued.
Adding that while she doesn’t identify as white, “of course,” she says that it is still her “culture.”
The full episode of Jada’s incredibly popular series will tackle the “struggles” of adopting across racial lines. Check it out above.
Fans can expect new episodes of “Red Table Talk” every Monday at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch."
****
Video #3: Raised by White Parents: A Black Adoptee Speaks
Black Hollywood Live, October 21, 2019
Hosts Tyler Simone, Tyler Tyson, and Jade Ming sit down to discuss Angela Tucker, a black woman who was raised by white parents in a predominately white neighborhood. She joins the ladies at the red table to discuss the struggles of trans-racial adoptees and her own lack of connection with black culture.
While the opinions of Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris may cover a wide variety of topics, what about our opinions on their opinions of those topics? Join us for Black Hollywood Live's TALKING RED TABLE TALK where every week we're discussing the topics of Red Table Talk and breaking down the opinions of the hosts and why we agree or disagree with them! Be sure to subscribe and rate to stay up to date every week!
Hosted by Tyler Tyson and Tyler McKinney....
-snip-
Comments that I posted on that video's discussion thread:
Azizi Powell, 2019
"I somehow happening upon a video of the Red Table Talk about transracial adoption with Angela Tucker, a Black woman who was adopted by a White couple when she was 13 months old. This was my introduction to Red Table Talks. After watching that short video of that Red Table Talk episode, I found your video. I wish I could watch the entire episode, but for various reasons I'm no longer on Facebook. Can people who aren't on Facebook watch Red Table Talks?
I appreciate the comments that each of you made about that segment and wanted to share the following information with you and your readers:
I'm an African American woman who is a birth parent, adoptive parent, and a former foster parent. In the late 1980s to the early 1990s I was active with an adoptive parent support organization that still exists- North American Council On Adoptable Children (NACAC) https://www.nacac.org/. When I was active with that organization, I was program director of a Black adoption agency which advocated and helped place Black children (include children with one Black birth parent and one birth parent of another race). I'm retired and haven't been involved in adoption circles for decades. However, as a first choice, that agency placed (and probably still places) Black children with Black couples and Black single people, and with interracial couples (one Black person and one person who was non-Black). We advocated that any person who fostered or wanted to adopt a child who had a different racial background than they had (including mixed race children) should understand the realities of personal and institutional racism, and should be proactive in involving their family in their children's culture/s.
(By the way, in the 1980s and 1990s, it was next to impossible for a non-White couple or non-White single person (including a mixed race person with some White ancestry) to adopt a White child from a public or private public agency. I'd be surprised if that has changed.
I could go on and on but prefer to share this link with you and others who are interested in the subject of transracial adoption and the need for transracial adoptive parents to help their children develop & reinforce personal self-esteem AND a clear and strong group identity. https://www.nacac.org/resource/the-personal-is-political-racial-identity-and-racial-justice-in-transracial-adoption/ I'll quote a small portion from that article in my next comment.
**
Azizi Powell, 2019
Here's a brief portion from https://www.nacac.org/resource/the-personal-is-political-racial-identity-and-racial-justice-in-transracial-adoption/
"From Adoptalk 2018, Issue 3; Adoptalk is a benefit of NACAC membership
By JaeRan Kim, PhD © 2018
JaeRan Kim was born in South Korea in 1969 and adopted into a white family in Minnesota in 1971. Today, JaeRan works as an assistant professor at the University of Washington – Tacoma. Her research focuses on vulnerable children, specifically those in out-of-home care. This article is adapted from JaeRan’s keynote presentation at the 2018 NACAC conference...
When I was growing up, the only bit of Asian culture I was exposed to was the occasional can of chicken chow mein.
As the only adoptee and person of color in my immediate and extended family, I was always assured my parents didn’t see color and loved me no matter what, and that was enough. After going to college and being exposed to the racial and cultural diversity I had been missing growing up, I began to explore my racial identity and realized that for transracial adoptees, a parent’s love and rejection of racial difference does not meet the need for racial, ethnic, and cultural identity development and support.
For me, and other transracial adoptees, the development of a racial identity is an inevitable aspect of growing up: in the anonymity of a new city, school, or job, a transracial adoptee’s visibility as a person of color eclipses their visibility as a transracial adoptee in a white family. By helping children develop that racial identity before they’re faced with this reality, parents can help their children develop the tools they will need to fight against oppression, racism, and discrimination. Although it is often uncomfortable and difficult work, implementing racial and ethnic socialization with their transracially adopted children helps strengthen trust and attachment by showing transracial adoptees that their parents care about, and support, their racial and ethnic identities.
Becoming an advocate
Helping a child embrace their racial identity is more than just having conversations about race and culture. Instead, parents need to be active advocates for transracial adoptee justice, a process that requires parents to address their own biases, alter their own mindsets, and take action"...
****
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Caring For Black Children's Hair (essay & related links)
Written by Azizi Powell
Note: This is a posting with minor typographical & grammatical corrections of an article that I wrote in 1992. The article was published in Ours magazine (November 1992, pps 32-34). Ours was published and distributed by The North American Council On Adoptable Children. One section of the article is missing. I will add what I think is missing in brackets. I recognize that given the internet it's far easier to find information about Black hair care & far easier to purchase Black hair products now than it was in 1992. However, I'm posting this article as it was written for the historical record and with the recognition that some of my comments would be different now in large part because of the internet.
CARING FOR BLACK CHILDREN'S HAIR
An adoptive African American parent discusses Black hair care for families who have adopted transracially.
by Azizi Powell, 11/1992
There she was, a 2 or 3 year old Black girl standing next to her White adoptive parents and her Asian older sister. The little girl's skin was brown like mine. Her eyes were alert and expressive, but her hair was dry, lackluster, and badly matted. It ssemed clear that the girl's White parents didn't have a clue how to take care of her hair.
There were more than 100 people at the reception held at the Pennsylvania governor's mansion celebrating the establishment of an initiative to improve the state's adoption services. People were mingling, networking, and socializing. But the family I had noticed earlier was standing alone, isolated. That family bothered me. More to the point, I was bothered by the condition of their daughter's hair, and the fact that I've never been sure what the proper etiquette is for offering unsolicited information and assistance.
The girl's hair
I wasn't the only person who had noticed that little girl's hair. Actually someone else had surreptitously pointed her out to me and whispered that this confirmed her position that White people shouldn't be raising our kids.
There were other transracial families at that adoption conference's reception but they were White families with Asian children. While these families have to face issues of differentness, they don't have to so immediately confront their prejudice and other people's prejudice about what society calls "good" and "bad" hair. They also don't have to learn how to properly groom hair whose management needs are different from theirs.
It's not unusual for African Americans who attend adoption conferences to see Black children whose hair isn't properly groomed and combed. While that little girl's hair was in worse shape than most I'd seen, there have been other Black girls whose hair needed grooming, and Black boys whose hair needed a good hair cut, some hair grease, and the use of an Afro pik.
It takes a certain amount of psychological preparation for African Americans who have concerns about transracial adoption to attend these conferences. Issues of entitlement are potent and rarely addressed. Often transracial adoptive parents see you as the enemy and are on guard against your every statement.
At other times White parents ask you to provide suggestions and advice about raising children of color. [But what do you do when you think a person needs advice but they haven't approached you for it? Do you approach them? That's what I finally did. The liitle girl had gone off with her father and older sister, and I walked up to the mother and started the conversation by saying something like "I noticed that your little girl's hair texture is a lot like mine. I wear my hair in an afro, but many Black girls under the age of 12 years old, or even older prefer their hair in other styles."
The woman seemed somewhat taken aback that I had introduced that subject, but she admitted that she didn't know how to take care of her daughter's hair. I suggested that she comb her daughter's hair with a wide tooth comb or an Afro pik, and use a detangling spray or dampen each section of her daughter's hair with a little bit of water before combing it.]
Finding Black hair care products & other issues
The adoptive mother told me that she lived in a town where there were no other Black people except for her daughter. She explained that she didn't know where to buy an African pik and detangling spray. I asked the woman how far her family lived from the city where this conference was held. She said 100 miles. I told her that I regretted that there were no other Black people besides her daughter in their hometown but wasn't she lucky that she lived so close to a city where she could meet some Black people.
I told her that she needed to be more assertive about reaching out to others and encouraged her to be creative about how she and her family could grow more knowledgeable about African American lifestyles so that she and her family could be more comfortable interacting with Black people. I suggested that after attending this conference in the city, the family stop at a convenience store and purchase some Black hair care products, asking for help if need be. I recommended that she subscribe to some Black magazines, read them, and order some Black hair products through those magazines. I also suggested that when the family traveled to the city they could attend a Black church and attend community events in African American and integrated communities.
If the family had lived far from African Americans, they would have to be more creative and assertive about finding resources and resource people for their entire family. A family could contact a National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) or a branch office of the Urban League in the nearest large city to ask for assistance. Or they might want to consider seeking information from and cultural exchanges with a Black student group at a nearby college or university.
Other Black hair care tips
Here are some other Black hair care tips that I didn't share with that woman because of the circumstances:
Under normal circumstances, don't wash tightly curled hair more than once a week.
Because most African American hair is less oily than most Caucasian hair, replenish the hair's natural oil at least once a week by using hair grease, hair oil, or hair gel. When combing this hair, slightly dampen the hair by wetting a washcloth and rubbing it through the hair. Or you can apply a detangling spray or a little water to the hair while combing it.
For thick, coarse, tightly curled African American hair, use an Afro pik or wide tooth comb. Section the hair in parts and deal with one section of the hair at a time. Place a dap of hair grease, hair oil, or hair gel on the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together and place the grease (or oil, or gel) on the hair stand and not the scalp. Place one hand above the portion of hair that you are combing and begin to come the hair from the bottom up. Move your hand up the hair as you comb up. Then you can braid the hair as you go, combining more than one section of hair into braids.
There are almost as many types of African American hair textures as there are Black skin colors. When their hair is wet, some Black people use a blow dryer with a comb attachment to straighten out the tangles in their wet hair or in their children's wet hair. However, frequent use of a blow dryer takes a toll on hair that is already less oily than most Causcasian hair.
For years, most Black women have been using iron combs heated over the kitchen stove, and lately, electric heating irons or chemical perms to straighten or "relax" the tight curls in their hair cuticles. While stores do sell some chemical relaxers for children, most Black hairdressers recommend that those products not be used until the child is at least 8 years old. The reason for this is that prior to that age, children's scalps and hair are too sensitive. Cosmetologists also don't recommend using a hot comb or an electric comb in girls' hair prior to the age of 8. Hoever, quite a few Black parents have done so, particularly for special occassions.
Conclusion
Hair is such an important determinant of beauty. I told the White transracial adoptive mother that her daughter faces special challenges because she is of a different race than others around her. Why add to those challanges by having people tease her because her hair doesn't look good or feel good?
I explained that even though I knew that she and her husband would take measure to try to ensure that their remained physically healthy, they also owed it to their daughter to help her grow up emotionally healthy. And that means liking herself. And liking her hair is a big part of liking herself.
-End of article-
Disclaimer: I'm not a beautician. I merely shared the way that I take care of my hair and the way I took care of my children's hair. That said, I recall asking for tips on hair care from two African American beauticians before writing that section of the article on hair care tips.
Here are links to two online pages that provide tips on Black hair care:
Black hair care tips
Black hair care tips, continued
Also, here's a link to a current adoption magazine Adoptive Familes
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome!
Note: This is a posting with minor typographical & grammatical corrections of an article that I wrote in 1992. The article was published in Ours magazine (November 1992, pps 32-34). Ours was published and distributed by The North American Council On Adoptable Children. One section of the article is missing. I will add what I think is missing in brackets. I recognize that given the internet it's far easier to find information about Black hair care & far easier to purchase Black hair products now than it was in 1992. However, I'm posting this article as it was written for the historical record and with the recognition that some of my comments would be different now in large part because of the internet.
CARING FOR BLACK CHILDREN'S HAIR
An adoptive African American parent discusses Black hair care for families who have adopted transracially.
by Azizi Powell, 11/1992
There she was, a 2 or 3 year old Black girl standing next to her White adoptive parents and her Asian older sister. The little girl's skin was brown like mine. Her eyes were alert and expressive, but her hair was dry, lackluster, and badly matted. It ssemed clear that the girl's White parents didn't have a clue how to take care of her hair.
There were more than 100 people at the reception held at the Pennsylvania governor's mansion celebrating the establishment of an initiative to improve the state's adoption services. People were mingling, networking, and socializing. But the family I had noticed earlier was standing alone, isolated. That family bothered me. More to the point, I was bothered by the condition of their daughter's hair, and the fact that I've never been sure what the proper etiquette is for offering unsolicited information and assistance.
The girl's hair
I wasn't the only person who had noticed that little girl's hair. Actually someone else had surreptitously pointed her out to me and whispered that this confirmed her position that White people shouldn't be raising our kids.
There were other transracial families at that adoption conference's reception but they were White families with Asian children. While these families have to face issues of differentness, they don't have to so immediately confront their prejudice and other people's prejudice about what society calls "good" and "bad" hair. They also don't have to learn how to properly groom hair whose management needs are different from theirs.
It's not unusual for African Americans who attend adoption conferences to see Black children whose hair isn't properly groomed and combed. While that little girl's hair was in worse shape than most I'd seen, there have been other Black girls whose hair needed grooming, and Black boys whose hair needed a good hair cut, some hair grease, and the use of an Afro pik.
It takes a certain amount of psychological preparation for African Americans who have concerns about transracial adoption to attend these conferences. Issues of entitlement are potent and rarely addressed. Often transracial adoptive parents see you as the enemy and are on guard against your every statement.
At other times White parents ask you to provide suggestions and advice about raising children of color. [But what do you do when you think a person needs advice but they haven't approached you for it? Do you approach them? That's what I finally did. The liitle girl had gone off with her father and older sister, and I walked up to the mother and started the conversation by saying something like "I noticed that your little girl's hair texture is a lot like mine. I wear my hair in an afro, but many Black girls under the age of 12 years old, or even older prefer their hair in other styles."
The woman seemed somewhat taken aback that I had introduced that subject, but she admitted that she didn't know how to take care of her daughter's hair. I suggested that she comb her daughter's hair with a wide tooth comb or an Afro pik, and use a detangling spray or dampen each section of her daughter's hair with a little bit of water before combing it.]
Finding Black hair care products & other issues
The adoptive mother told me that she lived in a town where there were no other Black people except for her daughter. She explained that she didn't know where to buy an African pik and detangling spray. I asked the woman how far her family lived from the city where this conference was held. She said 100 miles. I told her that I regretted that there were no other Black people besides her daughter in their hometown but wasn't she lucky that she lived so close to a city where she could meet some Black people.
I told her that she needed to be more assertive about reaching out to others and encouraged her to be creative about how she and her family could grow more knowledgeable about African American lifestyles so that she and her family could be more comfortable interacting with Black people. I suggested that after attending this conference in the city, the family stop at a convenience store and purchase some Black hair care products, asking for help if need be. I recommended that she subscribe to some Black magazines, read them, and order some Black hair products through those magazines. I also suggested that when the family traveled to the city they could attend a Black church and attend community events in African American and integrated communities.
If the family had lived far from African Americans, they would have to be more creative and assertive about finding resources and resource people for their entire family. A family could contact a National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) or a branch office of the Urban League in the nearest large city to ask for assistance. Or they might want to consider seeking information from and cultural exchanges with a Black student group at a nearby college or university.
Other Black hair care tips
Here are some other Black hair care tips that I didn't share with that woman because of the circumstances:
Under normal circumstances, don't wash tightly curled hair more than once a week.
Because most African American hair is less oily than most Caucasian hair, replenish the hair's natural oil at least once a week by using hair grease, hair oil, or hair gel. When combing this hair, slightly dampen the hair by wetting a washcloth and rubbing it through the hair. Or you can apply a detangling spray or a little water to the hair while combing it.
For thick, coarse, tightly curled African American hair, use an Afro pik or wide tooth comb. Section the hair in parts and deal with one section of the hair at a time. Place a dap of hair grease, hair oil, or hair gel on the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together and place the grease (or oil, or gel) on the hair stand and not the scalp. Place one hand above the portion of hair that you are combing and begin to come the hair from the bottom up. Move your hand up the hair as you comb up. Then you can braid the hair as you go, combining more than one section of hair into braids.
There are almost as many types of African American hair textures as there are Black skin colors. When their hair is wet, some Black people use a blow dryer with a comb attachment to straighten out the tangles in their wet hair or in their children's wet hair. However, frequent use of a blow dryer takes a toll on hair that is already less oily than most Causcasian hair.
For years, most Black women have been using iron combs heated over the kitchen stove, and lately, electric heating irons or chemical perms to straighten or "relax" the tight curls in their hair cuticles. While stores do sell some chemical relaxers for children, most Black hairdressers recommend that those products not be used until the child is at least 8 years old. The reason for this is that prior to that age, children's scalps and hair are too sensitive. Cosmetologists also don't recommend using a hot comb or an electric comb in girls' hair prior to the age of 8. Hoever, quite a few Black parents have done so, particularly for special occassions.
Conclusion
Hair is such an important determinant of beauty. I told the White transracial adoptive mother that her daughter faces special challenges because she is of a different race than others around her. Why add to those challanges by having people tease her because her hair doesn't look good or feel good?
I explained that even though I knew that she and her husband would take measure to try to ensure that their remained physically healthy, they also owed it to their daughter to help her grow up emotionally healthy. And that means liking herself. And liking her hair is a big part of liking herself.
-End of article-
Disclaimer: I'm not a beautician. I merely shared the way that I take care of my hair and the way I took care of my children's hair. That said, I recall asking for tips on hair care from two African American beauticians before writing that section of the article on hair care tips.
Here are links to two online pages that provide tips on Black hair care:
Black hair care tips
Black hair care tips, continued
Also, here's a link to a current adoption magazine Adoptive Familes
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome!
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