"Being of color in America is like being forced to wear ill-fitting shoes. Some people adjust to it. It is always uncomfortable on your feet, but it is the only shoe you've got. Some people can bear the uncomfort more than others. Some can block it from their minds, some cannot. When you see some acting docile and some militant, they have one thing in common: the shoe is uncomfortable."
             It is expected that African Americans strongly value blood ties. We are a people who were created by the tearing asunder of families beginning on African shores and continuing legally under American skies. It was a common practice for slaveholders in the United States to sell black children away from their mothers and siblings. Black blood ties were of no significance. And because blood ties did not matter to whites, they mattered a great deal to blacks. This started what is known today as "the preservation of the African-American family".
             The Black community generally has strong feelings against adoption. There is this belief that our women have no reason to consider adoption. With the strength of family ties within the Black community, adoption is not necessary ("We can take care of our own"). Yet, why do statistics prove that there are more black children awaiting adoption, than any other race? And this being the case, why do statistics show that among those seeking to adopt, blacks are less likely to adopt?
             No issue more highlights feelings of ambivalence over the proper place of racial distinctions in American life than the delicate matter of transracial adoptions. Transracial adoption, which is often referred to as "cultural genocide," is viewed as a naive experiment that is destined for failure. In most states, custom reflects and reinforces these beliefs: public policy, formally or informally, discourages cross-racial adoptions or foster placements to the point where thousands of children ...