by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog

Madonna’s present attempt to adopt a second child from the African nation of Malawi has reopened a discussion on the question of why so many Americans choose to adopt internationally instead of domestically.

Unfortunately, this conversation rarely gets beyond complaints about the red tape involved in domestic adoption on the one hand, and sweeping statements about how international adoptive parents are saving the lives of helpless children in impoverished countries on the other.

What’s missing from the discussion is a clear-eyed look at how race impacts the adoption and child welfare system in America.

Here’s one sobering fact: Adopting a black child can cost half the amount of adopting a white child. And although every state has its own rules and regulations regarding adoption, many adoption agencies have separate programs that provide fee reductions for parents willing to adopt children with special needs or those of African descent.

Anyone who has taken a basic economics course can draw conclusions about what this price structure reveals regarding the relative supply and demand of black children versus white ones, as distasteful as it is to think about the lives of children in terms of market dynamics. » Continue reading “Madonna and adoption: what’s race got to do with it?”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog

A good friend of mine is an associate at a white-shoe law firm that just went through a major round of layoffs.

Workplace diversity is very much on her mind now because during the job cuts at her firm, it became glaringly apparent that people of color were massively over-represented in the pink slips department. If there are additional personnel cuts, she now wonders if she — a woman of color herself — will be among the next to go.

The current recession is already dealing a severe blow to the scant progress that has been made regarding racial diversity in the workplace.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, blacks and Hispanics were twice as likely as whites to have reported being laid off or fired in the previous 12 months, about two-in-ten blacks (21%) and Hispanics (19%) versus one-in-ten (11%) among whites.

More African-American men are losing jobs than at any time since World War II, according to a report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The trend is alarming. New research by Eden King, an assistant professor of psychology at George Mason University, suggests that workplace discrimination increases when people feel threatened by economic downturns.

According to King, “In good economic times, people know they are supposed to support diversity and will tend to hire a minority candidate to get affirmative action points. But when times are tough, people tend to look out for their own group and isolate outsiders, and that’s when discrimination can begin to rear its ugly head.” » Continue reading “How the Recession is Affecting Racial Diversity in the Workplace”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog

In a speech at the Department of Justice yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder declared that when it comes to dealing with the issue of race, we are “essentially a nation of cowards.”

While his choice of words was harsh, he was absolutely right in pointing out the fact that honest, authentic, and productive conversations about race rarely happen in this country.

Following his historic speech on race last spring, Barack Obama was castigated by some cable channel talking heads for “throwing his white grandmother under the bus” because he had the audacity to point out that his own flesh and blood — the grandmother who had helped to rear him and loved him like a son — had herself been guilty of internalizing and reflecting racist stereotypes.

Should Obama’s revelation have come as a surprise? Not really.

We’ve been conditioned from an early age by advertising, pop culture, and the news media. We’re surrounded 24/7 by images steeped in racial stereotypes. There’s simply no way for us not to be influenced by them.

So why the denial? For the reason Holder explained: Once we open this particular Pandora’s box to the light, we’re going to expose notions and prejudices most people fervently wish we could put behind us. » Continue reading “If not a nation of cowards, then certainly a nation in denial”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog

A few days ago I found an email in my inbox from publisher Conde Nast, informing me that if I subscribed to Vogue now, I’d be guaranteed to receive the spring fashion issue, featuring Michelle Obama on the cover.

Magazine junkie that I am, I’ve received plenty of subscription solicitations in my day, but can’t remember ever receiving one tied to a promise of receiving a particular issue. It goes to show how big of a deal this cover is.

Copies are selling on eBay at three and a half times the cover price. There are reports of shortages, with people desperate to get their hands on a copy. The issue is even making headlines around the globe in India, England, South America, and Australia.

In case anyone is wondering what’s so utterly remarkable about having Michelle Obama model the cover of Vogue, consider the fashion magazine’s blighted past in matters of race.

Vogue has a history of publishing disquieting images of black people, so the March cover — showing Michelle Obama in a healthy, glowing, glamorous light — is a definite departure for the magazine. » Continue reading “Why Michelle Obama’s Vogue cover matters”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove, originally published at CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 blog

Just one day after Barack Obama’s historic victory, a giddy New York Times declared that his success at the polls was “sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease.”

With ease? This statement contradicts the tightrope Obama had to walk throughout the election. If he didn’t overtly address race, people of color would have distrusted him and felt he didn’t have their best interests at heart. But had he aligned himself too closely with the race issue, he ran the risk of emphasizing his “otherness” and alienating white voters. There was nothing easy about the delicate balancing act Obama had to perform to win the election.

In the wake of President Obama’s inauguration, more people are starting to question why we still need to talk about race and diversity. After all, our president is black. Isn’t that sufficient proof that racism in America has met its match?

If you find yourself facing this question at work, here are a few talking points you can use to demonstrate that race is not yet an issue we can afford to ignore.

1, There will always be “stand-outs” like Obama who carve a niche for themselves despite institutionalized discrimination.

For example, a black woman named Madame CJ Walker, the daughter of two former slaves, became the first self-made woman millionaire in the United States (black or white) by creating a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women. She accomplished this feat at a time when blacks were subjected to extreme poverty, segregation, violence, and oppression. Her success during the Jim Crow era did not indicate that discrimination against blacks was nonexistent during this time. Instead, she became successful despite the odds.

Obama, too, is an exception to well-entrenched racism, rather than a symbol of the end of it. Thousands of voters told pollsters outright that they would never vote for a black man. (How many other voters felt the same way but would not go on the record and verbalize it?) Obama won the presidency in spite of racism, not because of its absence.

2. Racial disparities still exist in nearly every aspect of American life.

David Thomas, Harvard Business School professor and author of Breaking Through:The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America, recently told Human Resources Executive magazine that “although the glass ceiling is “no longer impenetrable, talent being equal, the probability of making it to the C-suite is still less if you are a person of color than if you are a white male.”

Indeed, the Working Group on Extreme Inequality has confirmed that the racial economic divide between whites and blacks is a quantifiable reality: » Continue reading “Why We Must Talk About Race Now — More Than Ever Before”