The Personal Is Political: Racial Identity and Racial Justice in - PDF document

8/17/18 The Personal Is Political: Racial Identity and Racial Justice in Transracial Adoption JaeRan Kim, University of Washington Tacoma August 9, 2018 NACAC Conference 1

8/17/18 This is what Korean culture in my home looked like when I was growing up 2

8/17/18 TALKING ABOUT RACE AND RACISM IN TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION “Charity is no substitute for justice…we must never ignore injustices that make charity necessary, or the inequities that make it possible.” - Michael Eric Dyson 3

8/17/18 Transracial adoptee justice involves: • Intersectional thinking - to understand that as transracial adoptees, our lives are impacted by both race and adoption • Being believed when we experience discrimination and oppression based on our racial, ethnic and/or adoption identities • Having the white people in our lives do their own work to understand the history of race, power, privilege and oppression in our country • Having people in our lives who care about our communities, not just us as individuals • Considering the long haul Tr Transracial adoptee justice involves In Inter ersec ectio tional nal think thinking ing: to understand that to at as transracial adopte tees, ou our l r lives a are i imp mpacted b by b bot oth r race a and ad adoptio tion, not t just t one e or th the e oth ther er 4

8/17/18 Dr. Jessica Leinaweaver “Acceptable fictions” in adoption subtract and erase 5

8/17/18 Tr Transracial adoption justice means we are bel believed ed when when we e talk abo bout ut our ur exper xperienc ences es with wi h di discrimina nation n and nd oppr ppres ession “To be a Korean adoptee in Minnesota is to be both hyper-visible and invisible at the same time. It means that people can tell you they don’t see you as Korean as if that is a compliment… Being a Korean adoptee in Minnesota means having to explain your personal adoption stories to people you don’t know because no one understands how you can be from Plymouth or St. Cloud or Moorhead or Rochester when asked, “Where are you from. No, where are you really from?”” 6

8/17/18 Dr. H. David Kirk Rejection of difference Acceptance of difference Tr Transracial adoptee justice involves having th the e whit ite e peo eople le in in our liv lives es do th their eir own wo work to understand the history of race, po power er, pr privi vileg ege e and nd oppr ppres ession 7

8/17/18 Resources Paul Gorski Jane Elliott http://paulgorski.efoliomn.com/ https://janeelliott.com/ Peggy McIntosh http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/ Robin Diangelo Time Wise mcintosh.pdf https://robindiangelo.com/ http://www.timwise.org/ Transracial adoptee justice involves having Tr peo peopl ple e in n our ur lives es who who care e abo bout ut our ur co communities, not just us as individuals 8

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8/17/18 Tr Transracial adoptee justice considers th the e lo long hau aul l 10

8/17/18 Research finds that having a strong sense of racial and ethnic identity can be protective factors to youth for dealing with oppression, racism and discrimination. Cindy Sangalang April Harris Britt The National Indian Child Welfare Impact of strong ethnic identity on Association Cambodian youth. Found African American teens whose Having a strong sense of ethnic identity parents helped them Native American youth provided a protective factor against mental understand race and with strong identity health problems, in light of the heavy racism were more and cultural ties, even discrimination Cambodian youth faced by their prepared to cope with with high ACES, had non-Cambodian peers, teachers, school racism and higher positive administrators and staff, community members discrimination. outcomes and in particular police officers. Parents talked about feeling inauthentic and the pressure they felt from the Korean community for not being “Korean enough” in parenting their kids. 11

8/17/18 Moving forward • Heart of humility and growth mindset • Understand that you can’t separate the personal and the political Call to action • Respect transracial adoptees as the experts they are • Understand that you are not an ally because of who you love, but by your actions • It is your job to seek to understand the experiences of others and what they need, not what you think they need • Being an ally is not about the recognition. • Find support from others doing anti-racist work • Be an interrupter • Leverage the power and privilege you have to bring about social change 12

8/17/18 JaeRan Kim University of Washington Tacoma kimjr@uw.edu https://harlows-monkey.com https://jaerankim.com 13