Blog post 7): Book Review

The book I read was called After the Morning Calm: Reflections of Korean Adoptees edited by Dr. Sook Wilkinson and Nancy Fox. The main ideas for this book were letting Korean adoptees voice and express their experiences with personal stories about adoption. This book addresses different themes according to each individual such as struggling with race/ identity issues, giving back to the community, and developing self acceptance of who they are. In the end, they become a stronger and better person through these struggles and experiences.

There were many new things I learned from reading this book. In one of the stories by Christine Jones Regan, she talked about painful years of being teased. She believes in interracial adoption and her advice for new adoptive parents or those considering on being adoptive parents should consider and take time to examine their own values on race. She feels that adoptees have a lack of support from others and that adopted children’s coping mechanisms may not be as strong. “It is unfair and ultimately harmful to deny that prejudice and bias exist or to assume that love will conquer all. Love is strong but there are realities that must be faced (55).” This reminds me of how love is color blind and how some people believe that love is enough from Oparah, Shin and Trenka 2006.

Furthermore, this made me think more about adoptive parents how they really try their best to provide the best for their adopted children. I thought about how many adoptive parents must also be hurting and suffering knowing that all they want to do is protect their adopted child. But, it is very painful to them when they cannot protect their child from others racist teasing. I think it is equally important to see both sides from the adoptive parents and the adoptees struggles. It made me reflect a lot from Jean Keller’s (2012), that transracial adoptees do struggle to find a community to fit into (26). In the end I think it is not easy at all to find justice and equality in our structured society. One the other hand, I think that John Raible’s 9 Steps to a Transracialized, Multicultural Lifestyle is very helpful for adoptive parents to help their adopted children. Like recognizing racism, reaching out, immersing yourself and your family, keep learning, and enjoy diversity. 

-Ka L.