Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib
by Jaiya John
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jaiya JohnEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-21
ISBN: 0971330816
Number of pages: 360
Publisher: Soul Water Rising
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780971330818
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib
Book Review: With An Open Mind You Will Be Blessed
Summary: 5 Stars
As a mother, I believe the messages in this book to be so valuable that I do not want others to miss them. This motivates my following comments. Most of the reviewers here seem to understand the spirit of this book. A few do not. In particular, the two dated prior to my own show a fundamental misunderstanding of what this book is. The author is sharing the journey of emotions and thoughts he went on AS A CHILD. He is not railing at his parents as an adult. He is not complaining, being ungrateful, or feeling sorry for himself. He is doing just the opposite: Trying to show us how a person can take pain and learn how to grow from it, and that even in a "good" family and "good" community adopted children can struggle. This book is humorous and triumphant and loving. His descriptions of his family members are nothing but warm and loving. He is not arguing against transracial adoption but creating a window for better understanding it. I know for a fact that he has worked with thousands of transracially adoptive families in support of their journey. . . . . In the reviews in question, the only bitterness involved is the bitterness of the reviewers. Perhaps they were threatened or made to feel uncomfortable by the rawness and honesty of the book. They were clearly feeling defensive. They seemed to think they were being somehow attacked even though the author seems to go to pains to express his love and gratitude for his family. One of the reviewers admitted she did not even read the second half of the book. If she had, she would have read the part of the story in which John grew to realize that he had turned his struggles into something self-defeating. He realized that he needed to change how he felt about himself and take control of his life, regardless of how others related to him. Hello! It helps to actually read a book if you are going to review it. Not scan through it. Not defensively scour it for offending statements. But open up your mind and heart . . . . . I work with foster and adoptive youth as a social worker. I am a foster mother. I'm not the smartest cookie but I have tried my best to listen to these young people as they share their feelings. I have heard hundreds of them say the same thing over and over again: It is hurtful to be attacked as being ungrateful, complaining, and self-pitying whenever they try to get their parents, social workers, anyone to understand what they are going through. They can't stand it when people say: "Would you rather have stayed in foster care or in that horrible situation with your birth family?" They hear this dismissive comment all the time. We wouldn't say to children raised in their biological family: "Would you rather have not been born?" These children have a right to feel pain, express it, and not be attacked. The reviewers in question spewed out the very same hurtful comments that foster and adoptive youth everywhere have been saying are the worst attitudes we can take with them . . . . . And it does not matter that "any adoptive child" or "any Black child" or "any child in a same-race placement" could feel the same way as John did, as the reviewers snarled. That is not the author's point. His point is this is what HE felt, because of being adopted and being Black in a White environment, and yes, his own nature. His point seems to be that each of these things can leave children more vulnerable and that we need to be aware. He also NEVER claims to be speaking for the experience of other children. I don't know where the reviewers came up with this. It seems to be a result of defensiveness--not wanting to believe anything in the book might apply to their family? This book is a memoir. All it does is tell one child's story . . . . John found the courage to share publicly because he clearly wanted to invite us into a private, poorly understood reality of foster and adopted children so we might LEARN SOMETHING. He wasn't saying anything that I haven't heard many times from other youth separated from their families or who are racially isolated. He was just saying it in a unique and insightful way. A revealing way. So if we would like to dismiss his story as no more than self pity and bitterness, we are doing ourselves a disservice. This is what these children are feeling! Please do not let such reviews discourage you from this or other books. You have to ask yourself about such reviews, are they telling me more about the book or the reviewer? . . . . . I found this book to be very uplifting. It showed me the power of people and families to change and grow. This isn't a cream puff story that treads lightly and delicately on race and culture and family issues. He told his story in a truthful, positive way. He could only have achieved this by being at peace with himself. His story concludes with basically a celebration of how his life has shaped him. Please, find out for yourself. Our attitude as we read a book, and our own sensitivities, can dictate how we experience that book. Try this one with openness.
Summary of Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib
July 15, 1968. It is only three months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nation is burning. Black and White America are locked in the tense grip of massive change. Into this inferno steps an unsuspecting young White couple. Neither had truly known even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. In this fateful moment, a Black baby becomes perhaps the first in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a White family. Here is a brazenly honest glimpse into the mind and heart of that child, a true story for the ages that flows like a soulful river-separated from his mother at birth, placed into foster care, adopted, and finally reunited with his biological family in adulthood-an astounding journey of personal discovery. Jaiya John has opened the floodgates on his own childhood with this piercing memoir. Black Baby White Hands, a waterfall of jazz splashing over the rocks of love, pain and the honoring of family. Magically, this book finds a way to sing as it cries, and to exude compassion even as it dispels well-entrenched myths. Destined to become a classic, this stirring account is sure to find itself well worn, stained by tears, and brushed by laughter in the lap of parents, adolescents, educators, students, and professionals. Here comes the rain and the sunshine, all at once.African-American & Black Books
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