Comments on Womanist Musings: Madonna Adopting Another African Child

I think that Madonna is very self-centered. She g...

2008-08-19T17:35:03.270-04:00

I think that Madonna is very self-centered. She goes through religions and phases faster than I go through underwear! One minute, she's into Hinduism, then Judaism, then motherhood, then that lesbian phase with Brittany Spears, I think she became a children's storybook author somewhere in the mix. So what will happen when this "Africa" phase becomes "passe"?? There are definitely people that adopt overseas for very good and admirable reasons and they are the ones that do not try to "save" a child from a loving family.

I am all for offering a helping hand but I have to...

2008-08-18T00:08:51.579-04:00

I am all for offering a helping hand but I have to wonder why go to such lengths to adopt children from foreign nations when there are so many children right in this country that need help?

People like Madonna is why I would never do an international adoption. With such distance and such different systems, it's hard, nay almost impossible, to know that the adoption went through ethically. I couldn't imagine someone knowingly adopting a child in these circumstances (family still wants the kid, etc.), and yet...she has?

While I don't see any excuse for Madonna's actions, I can't write off foreign adoption entirely. Obviously, children who have families who care for them (emotionally even if not financially) should not be taken from their families. However (and understand that this is a very personal issue to me as my younger sister is a foreign adoptee), if a child has no family, if they've been truly abandoned and are living in an orphanage...then I don't see what is wrong with giving that child a home. What's bad is that 'home' in common parlance usually means, "rich white Christian home." And what's also sad is that, while there are a lot of children in America who need loving families, there are so many potential adoptive parents who want nothing 'less' than a healthy white baby. It's an incredibly complicated issue for me, particularly since all the people I've heard make Danny's argument previously were pretty damn racist. (I'm not accusing you of being racist, Danny, I don't know you and can't guess your intentions. But prior to you...yeah, it was more like, "why did your parents go to China when there are plenty of white kids here? Why does this have to make you so sensitive to anti-Asian racism, Gen? You're not really related. 'Beautiful delicate tiny flowers blah blah blah.'")
I know this is convoluted...I'm still wrestling. But I love my sister, my life would not be anywhere near as awesome if she were not part of it. And I don't agree with Madonna's choices...personally, I think she's a bully.

@Melissa, I don't believe that she is inexperience...

2008-08-15T15:48:02.072-04:00

@Melissa, I don't believe that she is inexperienced in the issue of white privilege. There has been so much critique of her work both in pop culture and in academia that at some point she must have become aware of exactly the message that she is sending. I believe that Madonna simply does not care. She has an understanding of herself and her intentions that out weigh any kind of criticism. To her she is saving these children, a redemptive act and that is all that matters. The idea of Madonna as loving earth mother is just another reinvention, a new persona if you will from a woman who has been like a chameleon for years. With each new persona that she adopts she has always adopted the necessary accoutrement. These children are the equivalent of one her pointy shaped bras. I truly pity them for when her next change occurs they just might find out that they are disposable.

@Renee -- Yeah, I'm not convinced it's quite that ...

2008-08-15T14:39:33.244-04:00

@Renee -- Yeah, I'm not convinced it's quite that simple, only because if she's doing it primarily to serve her ego, helping loads of people could accomplish the same thing -- and, presumably, with less criticism.

Certainly that's part of it, but I don't know it it's the whole point. Seems to me a big part of it is just ignorance, and her celebrity cloisters her inside a bubble that's hard to penetrate. Anyone who might explain to her the issues you've laid out here probably can't get within 1,000 yards of her.

I don't think that excuses her, understand; that she hasn't seen or examined all the alternatives and ramifications is her responsibility. But I think it's worth noting that she's insulated from an examination of privilege by our celebrity culture, in addition to having a voracious ego because of it. It raises the question as to how critiques like this get communicated to people in her position.

Unbelievable! I'm holding out a small hope that Th...

2008-08-15T14:37:30.403-04:00

Unbelievable! I'm holding out a small hope that The Sun is making shit up again (they like to do that), but this is awful. I hate that it's suddenly become fashionable to adopt African children, and why on earth does Madonna always go after ones with families?

@Melissa then Madonna wouldn't get to play earth m...

2008-08-15T12:14:02.657-04:00

@Melissa then Madonna wouldn't get to play earth mother and that is the point of this ill advised child thievery.

It would seem to me that the best way to help chil...

2008-08-15T12:08:00.187-04:00

It would seem to me that the best way to help children would be to build schools, and libraries, train teachers, improve access to medical, food and clean drinking water

My thoughts exactly. I know an African-born woman who immigrated to America to go to school and is now a successful surgical nurse. She's very well compensated, but is by no means a millionaire; still, she's changed her entire family's life. For $1,800, she built a compound for her whole extended family back in Ethiopia that's secure, self-contained, and modern (e.g. renewable energy and its own well w/ water purification).

When so much can be accomplished for so little, it's just insane to me that reinvestment in that little girl's community to improve the lives of all its children doesn't strike Madonna as a better idea than removing one child.

People like Madonna is why I would never do an int...

2008-08-14T17:42:09.222-04:00

People like Madonna is why I would never do an international adoption. With such distance and such different systems, it's hard, nay almost impossible, to know that the adoption went through ethically. I couldn't imagine someone knowingly adopting a child in these circumstances (family still wants the kid, etc.), and yet...she has?

Is Madonna adopting this child without her husband...

2008-08-14T17:20:17.015-04:00

Is Madonna adopting this child without her husband? Is he not a coloniser as well?

Does the grandmother not have any rights?

Are the local officials corrupted?

Could the country reject Madonna's money?

Could the country expose what is happening?

@ Danny,My sister isn't actually from the US - she...

2008-08-14T16:57:54.030-04:00

@ Danny,
My sister isn't actually from the US - she is from Barbados and currently lives in England.

But I understand what you are saying.

Malawi is one of the poorest nations in the world, but has a surprisingly low crime rate.

@Danny this way she gets to play earth mother to t...

2008-08-14T16:51:07.545-04:00

@Danny this way she gets to play earth mother to the world.

I am all for offering a helping hand but I have to...

2008-08-14T16:49:32.915-04:00

I am all for offering a helping hand but I have to wonder why go to such lengths to adopt children from foreign nations when there are so many children right in this country that need help?

I would also like to mention that I know of a quite a few black organizations that go to Malawi each year to build orphanages, hospitals, churches and schools. No one speaks about them in the media. My sister is going to Malawi with one of these groups in November.
Why don't these women just contribute financially to the country instead?
That's a bold and dangerous thing for your sister, or anyone for that matter, to do. Lots of foreign nations do like foreign relief efforts and will stop at nothing (not even murder) to keep them out.

Now they say that Mercy will be leaving us, but ca...

2008-08-14T16:24:04.555-04:00

Now they say that Mercy will be leaving us, but can return at age 18.”

Her grandma might not be living by then =/

If Madonna really cared about this girl rather than about herself, she would send money to her and come visit her there rather than tearing her away from her family, her culture and her country.

What is Madonna doing?! She needs to stop! This is...

2008-08-14T16:15:37.540-04:00

What is Madonna doing?! She needs to stop! This is starting to get out of control.

We can't be that surprised, though.

This is the same woman who has been exploiting black culture for years, as well as her gay male dancers from back in the day. She also had that obsession with Latino culture, for about 15 minutes.

I so agree, Renee. Had to link.

2008-08-14T14:46:10.188-04:00

I so agree, Renee. Had to link.

@ Nia And she also said that the first Malawi baby...

2008-08-14T14:36:46.590-04:00

@ Nia And she also said that the first Malawi baby she adopted (I have forgotten his name) looks exactly like her and her husband. As if!

His name is David and that is just the kind of arrogance I have come to expect from Madonna.

Thank you, Thank you for speaking out on this. Thi...

2008-08-14T14:05:15.538-04:00

Thank you, Thank you for speaking out on this. This topic just breaks my heart. I am appalled at the praise and admiration that rich, white women like her and Angelina get for stealing Africa's precious children.
I would also like to mention that I know of a quite a few black organizations that go to Malawi each year to build orphanages, hospitals, churches and schools. No one speaks about them in the media. My sister is going to Malawi with one of these groups in November.
Why don't these women just contribute financially to the country instead?
Those two children she has adopted will get all the finer material things in life, but other than that they will be culturally and spiritually lost. This is a woman who, when she was instructing the interior designer on how to build her UK mansion, told him not to make it look like the "nigger rich." And she also said that the first Malawi baby she adopted (I have forgotten his name) looks exactly like her and her husband. As if!

THANK you for this - this woman is a menace! I fin...

2008-08-14T13:53:53.347-04:00

THANK you for this - this woman is a menace! I find her to be a classic example of the rapacious, white, colonialist mindset. I pity the children that she raises.

I don't understand how she can adopt a child who h...

2008-08-14T13:52:02.938-04:00

I don't understand how she can adopt a child who has a family?

dead on. and i love your use of strikeouts in this...

2008-08-14T12:16:11.521-04:00

dead on. and i love your use of strikeouts in this post.

although you couldn't know it, this felt to me like someone saying "i support your reality" because it reminds me of a post i wrote once... i got some pushback. people love to rally behind those beautifulwhitewomen and all they do. thing is, the message probably resonates differently coming from a male...i sort of learned that when i wrote it.

but the core of the message is important. i'm happy everytime i see it voiced.

peace.