AfroerotiK

Erotic provocateur, racially-influenced humanist, relentless champion for the oppressed, and facilitator for social change, Scottie Lowe is the brain child, creative genius and the blood, sweat, and tears behind AfroerotiK. Intended to be part academic, part educational, and part sensual, she, yes SHE gave birth to the website to provide people of African descent a place to escape the narrow-mined, stereotypical, limiting and oft-times degrading beliefs that abound about our sexuality. No, not all Black men are driven by lust by white flesh or to create babies and walk away. No, not all Black women are promiscuous welfare queens. And as hard as it may be to believe, no, not all gay Black men are feminine, down low, or HIV positive. Scottie is putting everything on the table to discuss, debate, and dismantle stereotypes in a healthy exchange of ideas. She hopes to provide a more holistic, informed, and enlightened discussion of Black sexuality and dreams of helping couples be more open, honest, and adventurous in their relationships.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Celebrities adopting African children

Take a look around at all the websites and online communities of white couples that want the wives "bred" black. There is a perverse and widespread fascination for white people to want black babies. Celebrities can't just show up on the cover of People magazine as pregnant and then push out a black baby without it causing a scandal. The next best thing to do is to adopt a black child from Africa and claim it's a humanitarian issue.

For celebrities, African children are the new fashion accessory. Last year it was dogs that fit in your purse, this year it's African children. There are countless numbers of children, both white and black that need to be adopted right here in the US. This compulsion for the exotic is yet another indication of how fucked up we are as a society and how dysfunctional behaviors are passed off as normal. Tom Cruise was the first to adopt Black children with Nicole. There's a little more evidence that he's not dealing from a full deck now that he has his own child and we can observe his behaviors and actions and assess that his parenting skills might not be optimal. Angelina seems to have turned her life around, from tongue kissing her brother in front of the world and wearing vials of blood from her husband, to a true humanitarian. I don't know what sort of person she is, nor do I know what sort of parent she is but she seems sincere in her efforts to bring light to the struggles of people of color throughout the world. Is her desire to have brown babies indicative of this trend we see for white people to purge themselves of a collective white guilt? Who knows? But there are all sorts of pathological implications and trends that aren’t going to be discussed in public forums that are motivating factors in many people’s actions.

Madonna has lived her life trying to be controversial. I’m sure she’s upset that she didn’t think of the idea first. There are lots of women who have children of their own for selfish reasons, Madonna isn’t the first, she won’t be the last. Will her child have a better life in England than Malawi, financially yes. Will he grow up to liberate Black people and end the reign of the fallacy of white supremacy? Hell no. Brittany Spears shouldn’t be anyone’s mother, not her own children, not her half black step children, not $3.00 hamsters from the Wal-mart pet store. She is however, a better alternative than living without clean water. It’s only a matter of time before B-list celebrities start adopting Black children to get back on top. “Tara Reid, I’m sorry I don’t have any roles for you but why not adopt an African baby to get you back on the front page.” One thing I can almost promise you won’t happen; Black celebrities won’t be adopting any African babies any time soon.

Every child deserves a family that loves them and cherishes them. In the scheme of life, any child that has the opportunity to have a better life by being adopted is a good thing. Will celebrities who adopt black babies cause a rip in the fabric of the universe, no. Will it be psychologically healthy for children of color to be raised by superficial, attention starved, materialistic people? On a scale from one to ten, it’s a 1; there are far worse things for a child to endure. Starvation, abuse, neglect, rape, are rank a 10 and any child that can be spared those things is a blessing, without question. Children in Africa are no more deserving of adoption than those that are here in our borders but any child who gets a stable home is a check in the plus column.

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