September 19, 2011
POV: Off and Running
I stumbled upon a link to a trailer for this PBS documentary “Off and Running” about a young African girl who was adopted and is being raised by two Jewish lesbians. Avery has adopted siblings as well, and their life was pleasantly copacetic until Avery wrote to her birth mother and the response challenged her notions of self as an adopted teen.
I think this is an incredible subject to be exploring in a documentary form, especially with a family as racially dynamic as Avery’s (Jewish parents, a Korean brother, and another brother who is black and Puerto Rican). But when I scrolled down the film’s page on PBS to check out a few of the 61 comments, the opening line of the second comment really struck me. “I am bothered by the fact that Avery is being raised by white people,” it says. “I was also bothered by the fact that this white couple adopted non-white children, as if they are making a collection of “multicultural” children while having no idea about what its like to be black, Korean or dark skinned.”
Now, I’ve not seen the film, but I would assume that since the documentary is about an adopted girl’s struggle to connect with her birth mother, and not that Avery’s mothers are abusive, that there is little reason to assume that two white women would be only be interested in creating a multi-racial family for themselves as some sort of conceited, hyper-Liberal statement — rather than as a symbol of love, and a desire to help children who might have had a vastly different quality of life otherwise. That someone would choose to take that away from a film rather than the powerful message (which is applicable to ALL people in its own way — there is not a single human on this earth who hasn’t struggled with their identity or how to connect with their parents) it’s seeking to share is frustrating, to say the least. Generally, the rest of the comments are positive, but it shows that there is still a way to go in terms of garnering acceptance for multi-national families and the general reconfiguration of our cultural idea of “family.”
If you haven’t seen the documentary, it’s live streaming on PBS, and here are some trailers and more info on the film:
Information about “Off and Running” including ways to purchase the film, and links and books about adoption
If you see it let us know what you think!
