I'm the kind of person where race is rarely on my mind. I am so mixed I was raised to think about other things such as integrity, honesty, and strength rather than other people's skin color and culture and how they may be a detriment to me. but this story caught me off guard.

Baby Talon is a baby who was born from a drug addict mom. the child was born addicted, and this white family adopted him from birth. They were with him while he went through withdrawal and was pretty much jonesing for whatever his mother was taking all through her pregnancy.

Now the mother wants her baby back. but she's deemed unfit. so she, being one third american indian, invoked tribal law to get her baby to be fostered by the indian family who is raising her other two children who were also removed from her.

the white family is devistated. Talon is only a minute amount of the tribes blood but the elders of the tribe feel that he does not belong with a white family.

I usually don't care about crap like this but this one made me sad and slightly infuriated... why is it okay for some to be racist in their own way and not okay for others?

read the article and tell me what you think...

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6470441&page=1

Good question.

Even the best sociologists who may study this for years have no answer to your question.

This is a simple one from my point of view.

I was adopted by my step father at 4 years old. I had been in an orphanage since birth. My mother married my step father, then my mother reclaimed me from the orphanage at 4 years of age. Having been in an orphanage the first 4 years of my life, I never bonded with anyone.

Just my personal take on this.. The mother should not have the say so here, she gave that up when she endangered their lives with drugs. Three times!!! Might sound harsh but I would have rather been with a family that loved and really cared for me instead of one that reclaimed me out of guilt or some sense of false pride, then never bothered to bond with me.

If we really want to address race here we should start by respecting all races and seeing that one race can benefit greatly by being raised by another in this situation, they can always use other methods to raise that child with knowledge of their heritage etc.

I might be seeing this from a narrow point of view, so feel free to enlighten me. I would like to hear other ideas......

boo2u,

On the contrary, I think your perspective is really different from everyone else', and right on the spot.

The mother gave up her right to those children as soon as she endangered their lives with drugs. It's tough to get over an addiction and sometimes pregnancy is accidental. Regardless, the mother is in no state to raise the children.

If we're really trying to get over the race issue, than the child's race is irrelevant. Baby Talon has caring foster parents. As long as the baby can, as far as we can tell, have a good life with the current parents, the mother should have no say. She gave up that right by endangering the baby.

Like boo2u said, it seems like a simple matter to me.

Family is what you make it.

I imagine it's very difficult to give up a child. Still, once it is done and the child has established emotional bonds with adopted or foster parents I think it is beyond cruel to sever those bonds.

I do think the child should be made aware of their biological history and be informed if they have brothers or sisters.

Family history prejudices me a little towards the adopted or foster parents.

My cousin, a white german catholic, was born to be a mother and has raised four biological children and so far six children of mixed race. I am sure there will be more. She lost one young boy she'd raised for three years in foster care when she attempted to adopt him. The reason? The biological father who was black didn't want his son raised by a white woman. We were all awfully fond of Sean and after he was taken my cousin, her other children and extended family were not allowed to know what happened to him. It broke everyone's hearts.

One word to describe what was done. Bull****

Ridiculous

While there is a side of me that might very well understand and empathize with this man, I think if race had never been an issue in the first place he would not have felt the anger that most likely was the basis of his decision. Could be wrong...

It's just really sad that we haven't gotten over such an evil thing by now. Didn't meet black folks as a group until I was 17 years old. Was so confused by why they wouldn't automatically befriend me. They had no idea, that I had never been told anything that warped my mind up until that point. Years later I found my own parents were prejudice, had no clue. But I thank them for one thing. That they never infected me with that disease.

I have spent my adult years amazed by the prejudices I have seen in life. Being gay also gave me an insight into how people fear differences. I was blessed with being an outsider, not cursed as some would say. Blessed with the ability to look beyond differences to the real gift in people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cwOqKfEYTg


Sums it up

I am not making any broad generalizations here about anyone.

The agency informed them that that was the biological fathers specific objection and why he refused to give up his rights.

It seems to me that if the tribal elders were so concerned about saving thier people,ending drug abuse & poverty would be at the top of their list.

Meanwhile, give little Talon a chance with a family that loves him & can take care of him. Being raised by a white family does not change his genetics & they seem to be willing to teach him about his heritige.

The one advantage I can see is that the siblings will be together, but Talon is losing his mommy & daddy who love him & protect him, and that's what infants need most. They have some time to worry about racial & cultural identity issues.

I love the name "Talon".

Hope I didn't give you that impression, if I did I apologize. Just had that thought when I read that.

it completely knocked me back when i saw this on GMA and was totally infuriated.

i agree. BS totally and utterly. its good to see people seeing this for the real crap it is that the tribal counsel is pulling.

whats even worse is the fact that the adopted family sent a letter to the councel asking for talon, saying they would make sure he is fully emmersed into his culture.

I was also told by an american indian i work with and he says he could just be registered with the tribe to be counted.

when it comes down to it.. they just don't want this kid on the outside of the tribe. and that sucks.

if you ask me it's crap and to put a kid in foster care rather than a loving family is crazy.Those Natives should be ashamed of themselves and so should the mother.