Friend of New Mom Disapproves of Adopted Daughter's Race

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."

'The Way You Are Talking ... Is Despicable

Another woman, who is also white, comes over to scold Traci.

"The way you are talking in front of her, I think is despicable," she says.

Later, she tells us why she got emotional.

"If she was actually her friend, to speak to a friend like that ... when they had already had the adoption done and this little girl's sitting here listening to it," she says.

'That Child Is the Reason We Breathe in the Morning'

We run the scenario again with Traci criticizing Diana and then storming off in a huff. That's when a woman a few booths away promptly rises to comfort and share her own story with our distressed mom.

The woman, who is white, confides, "My granddaughter came home and said she was pregnant by a black man. I went nuts. I didn't want any part of this child, I didn't want her. ... And that child is the reason we breathe in the morning. ... If I could only tell you the joy she brings me."

When we tell her of our "What Would You Do" scenario, she shares with us the lesson she has learned since her granddaughter's birth: "Don't let the color of the skin interfere."

How will people react when our actress "friends" are black and the little adopted girl is white?

Click here to watch the scenario unfold on the latest episode of "What Would You Do?"