Adoption

1st draft of a piece that came to me this morning, following a TV programme last night on chidren from Haiti (many with parents) being adopted by French people

Adoption

Let me deny your parents

The resources to care for you,

Even though I could support them

If I really wanted too.

Let me imagine your voodoo evil

Was not your West African heritage,

And baptise you into the religion that

Enslaved your people.

Let me change your name

And indoctrinate your young mind

That white is the colour of your saving grace,

Yet your ancestors had to fight us in the first place.

Let me talk to your mother

To understand your loves and wants,

And watch her cry as I prise you

From her loving hugs.

Let me justify my need for offspring

Of a fashionable colour.

I’ll look so good in my community

As other white people stop to talk to me.

Let me touch your beautiful hair that I’m seeing.

We’ll laugh together as I try to pass

An afro comb through mine that’s fair,

Or maybe I’ll just make yours resemble European.

I can teach you of your culture,

While you live in mine.

I’ll teach you to treat all as equal

But you’ll be special, not like other black people.

Let me be that band aid for your happiness

And let wounds fester

As I put my needs first

And ignore solutions that could be better.

Come here my child.

Dry your tears and be loved.

Welcome to your new western nation.

Let’s pretend you’re not black and Haitian.