An Evening with Stephen Lewis

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending and evening with Stephen Lewis. It was an amazing evening. I did not know what to expect. The few people in my life that knew who he was said he was an amazing speaker and really funny, and he was both of those. But that just doesn't do the evening justice.

He made me realize what I am passionate about in this life. Sitting there listening to him speak, I realized that I will one day go to Africa. I have never been so sure of anything. I am also sure that I will find members of my family there.

Hazel wrote a great blog post about the evening, and I was lucky enough to meet her in real life. As fate would have it, she was in line right behind me to get our books signed.

If you have never had the opportunity to listen to him speak, I would highly recommend that you go. I know I will.

Ask and you shall find....

Well after writing that post yesterday, I have found 2 resources I hope can help me with the commenters I wrote about.

The first was from Sandra at adoptionblogs.com. In her blog post she references some great material to teach your kids about tolerance, you can have it mailed to you for a $5 (USD) shipping charge, or it is available for download on the site, but I can't get it to work... I will try again when I get home.

The other I found on anti-racist parent. It references a book I have ordered, that if it is as good as I think it might be, I will forward to some of the people I spoke of yesterday. I am hoping that it at least helps start a diaolgue. I will post a review and let you know if it is well received. Here is the quote that anti-racist parent had on their site.

A final fear has probably always haunted white people but has become more powerful since the society has formally rejected overt racism: The fear of being seen, and seen-through, by non-white people. Virtually every white person I know, including white people fighting for racial justice and including myself, carries some level of racism in our minds and hearts and bodies. In our heads, we can pretend to eliminate it, but most of us know it is there. And because we are all supposed to be appropriately anti-racist, we carry that lingering racism with a new kind of fear: What if non-white people look at us and can see it? What if they can see through us? What if they can look past our anti-racist vocabulary and sense that we still don’t really know how to treat them as equals? What if they know about us what we don’t dare know about ourselves? What if they can see what we can’t even voice?

from The Fears of White People by Robert Jensen

A Taste of What is to Come?

You know you are going to hear something bad when it is preceded by "I'm not a racist". Really? If you have to say that then you probably are.

In the last 2 weeks, on 3 different occasions, by 3 different people, about 3 different groups of people, I have heard "You can't trust "them".

What can I say? What should I say? Especially if they are said by people who are related to you? I don't want to cut them out of our life, not yet. I want to try to educate them. I believe that these statements are made out of fear and ignorance. All I know to do is question the person who says it, asking them if they know every single person of that ethnicity. Asking how they can paint a whole nation or people with that broad brushstroke?

You know what I get back? My head is in the sand, not wanting to see how people and/or the world really is. They tell me it is naive to think we can all just get along.

I want to respond intelligently to these comments when my kid(s) (hopefully plural) are old enough to understand. I want to be prepared and armed with "something" to act as a rebuttal when these comments are said around my family.

I know I am not alone in dealing with such comments. Any advice would be appreciated.

Generation of Orphans

Rod has a great post about a great DVD that the Stephen Lewis Foundation produced. The DVD is called A Generation of Orphans. I also would encourage anyone to get a copy.

I am attending an evening with Stephen Lewis next week as well, and can't wait... just need to find a sitter now....

WORLD AIDS ORPHANS DAY

I have nothing profound to say about today being World AIDS Orphans Day. On my adoption blog, it just needs to be recognized.

And so it begins

Today I filled out paperwork. Exciting stuff I know.