White Celebrities, Black Babies
Former Pop superstar, Madonna is in the headlines again. She was in Malawi, campaigning on behalf of some 900,000 orphans 
there and decided to come home with a one-year old Malawian boy named David. Child’s rights advocates are outraged. With celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Meg Ryan and Mia Farrow scooping up children of color from Cambodia, Ethiopia, China and Malawi they see this as a new, dangerous trend,
At best… (this) amounts to an arrogant, colonial approach to the world. At worst, it gives the unpleasant appearance of rich, white Westerners swooping in to buy poor children of color” - The Post Standard (read more on the controversy here)
At first glance, when you consider that Malawian law prohibits adoptions by non-residents, this does come off as arrogance. However, when you consider that David’s own father has blessed the adoption, and that he has spent most of his life in a dilapidated orphanage, you’ve got to imagine that his life will be improved. And before we condemn Madonna, we must acknowledge that she dropped 3 million of her own money towards the orphan and AIDS crises in Malawi. Some would call Madonna a hero. England’s Mirror newspaper calls it, “21st-century slavery”. How do you call it?
Published on October 24, 2006 at 7:47 pm.
26 Comments.
Filed under news/politics, mainstream culture.
