Friend of New Mom Disapproves of Adopted Daughter's Race
What would you do if you saw a woman being berated for her interracial adoption?
Feb. 25, 2011 — -- Apart from their celebrity status, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Sandra Bullock have something else in common: They are mothers to adopted children of different races.
While interracial adoption seems to be a growing trend among Hollywood's elite and the adoption of children of color in U.S. households is growing, there are still many critics of interracial or "trans-racial" adoptions.
What would you do if you witnessed one woman berating her friend for having adopted a child of another color? "What Would You Do?" decided to find out.
Waiting at the counter of Mastoris Diner in Bordentown, N.J., our actress Traci watches the door, awaiting her friend, Diana, another WWYD actress. Both women are white. Diana plays a woman who has recently "adopted" a little girl (also an actress, who understands that the harsh words she may hear are only 'make believe').
Traci is excited about meeting the young girl for the first time, and she talks excitedly to other diner patrons about her anticipated encounter. But when Diana arrives, hand-in-hand with her black daughter, Nyree, Traci cannot hold back her shock and disdain.
"I thought she was going to be white," Traci says to her friend. "It doesn't make any sense. You should have a child that looks like you."
These blunt remarks turn the heads of customers who can hardly believe their ears. But what they don't know is that our "What Would You Do?" hidden cameras are rolling to discover reactions about how everyday Americans view interracial adoptions.
One white diner intervenes urging the two women to have the conversation outside of earshot of the little girl. Still she understands Traci's position, saying, "Blackbirds should stay with blackbirds and doves should stay with doves."
But she also adds that Traci should be supportive of her friend and offers some advice to the two quarreling women: "All she needs is love."