Angelina Jolie is set to adopt another Ethiopian child…the 7th child

InTouch Magazine is saying in their newest issue that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will be adopting another little girl from Ethiopia. Apparently, they fell in love with the 5-year girl on a trip to her orphanage over the holidays. Zahara Marley, the Ethiopian girl they adopted in 2005, is said to be the one who is getting the ball rolling on the newest addition. She reportedly told her parents that she would like a little sister who looks like her.

I know with each child Bradgelina (or is  it Brangelina?) added, they caused a media frenzy. I remember there was a special type of frenzy when they adopted Zahara. A lot of people had a lot to say on if it was ok for white people to adopt black babies. I’ve always felt kind of funny about white people adopting black kids. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t. It’s just funny to think about white parents’ initial handling of their black child’s nappy hair, ashy skin, black pride talks, and police run-ins. I think about it in terms of if I were to adopt a white child. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have a clue initially when it came to a common finger wart, head lice, any sector of European heritage, or an experience in the real world that included my “whiteness”.  I would learn as much as I could and try my best. That’s exactly what I expect of white parents who decide to adopt black kids. I personally, have dealt with and seen white women who had no idea what they were doing with their little black foster kids’ hair and skin, but really, how would I have known they weren’t doing their best and that things wouldn’t get better? If I don’t see anything to show that white parents don’t do their best with those things, I give them the benefit of the doubt. All parents should at least be given the benefit of the doubt. Right? A lot of that stuff isn’t intuitive and it takes learning. Hell, some of us know little to nothing about black hair. My mom is just now learning, and her hair is undoubtedly black hair.

I use my mom to say she did her best. She took me to the women who knew what they were doing with my hair and skin, and she followed their advice. She encouraged me to learn exactly how to go about taking care of my own hair and skin. She encouraged me to be interested in my history, and to form my own opinions and sense of cultural pride. While having her own experiences as a black woman enabled her to give a first-person account of how it can be as a black girl in a white-dominated society, I had to have my own experiences to truly be enlightened. Any parent who is truly interested in their children being enlightened, healthy, and self-aware, can and will do the same. It doesn’t matter what color the parents are in relation to their children.

So, I say, if Bradgelina wants to go adopt some little black kids from Ethiopia, let them. They have money to take care of them and hopefully they’re good parents. Those innocent kids might not have had a chance at life without them. Adopting kids they can feed is better than so many other people making  kids they can’t feed. Some people say they should just adopt in the U.S. because we have enough children here who need homes. I say there’s a problem with people pitting kids here against kids there. They’re all innocent, deserving, and didn’t ask to be here. It shouldn’t matter where they were born.

What do you think?

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