Madonna Merits Praise, Not Jeers
First an outfit called Save the Children UK butted in and denounced Madonna for adopting Malawi orphan David Banda in 2006. Now another bunch has jumped into the adoption fray and branded her a "bully" for her plans to adopt another Malawi orphan. The Human Rights Consultative Committee pretty much rehashed the same tired complaint as Save the Children did three years back, that Madonna is using her wealth and star power to bypass Malawi's adoption procedures.
Madonna ignored Save the Children back then with their silly bellyache and she'll likely do the same with the committee.
The figures tell the grim tale of why she should. According to UN estimates, half of the 1 million Malawian children have lost a parent or both parents and half were because of AIDS. More than 13 percent of Malawi's 13 million people are poor, dirt poor and, not surprisingly, the majority of them are women.
Malawi is hardly an aberration. More than 12 million children have lost one parent or are orphans in African nations. And given the rampant number of AIDS cases, and the warfare and poverty that plague many of these countries, the number of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS will soar to nearly 20 million next year, according to the UN. Apart from a string of cramped, desperately underfunded and in many cases unsafe orphanages in sub-Saharan Africa, many of these children are doomed to live out their childhood in a caretaker existence.
That's only the start of Africa's orphan misery. These children are still mostly unwanted anywhere else in the world. In 2008, 2,399 visas were issued to African children adopted by Americans last year, out of 17,438 adoptions from abroad, according to the State Department. Ethiopia, with a paltry 1,725 orphans taken in by Americans, was the only African country that cracked the Top 10 list in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2008.
Madonna has raised millions through her Raise Malawi Organization to fight poverty and disease in the country. She's made plans to build a school for young women there, and done more than any other U.S. celebrity to raise attention to the plight of Malawian orphans and women. She has put her money and name behind tackling one of the world's toughest problems and that's providing a better life for Africa's dispossessed children. For that she's piteously ragged on, sniped at and backbitten by media-chasing hounds and a handful of sanctimonious orphan relief groups. Why?
Human rights and child protection groups claim Madonna tossed her money and celebrity around to bend Malawi's adoption laws to fast-track the adoption, and that the adoption is another celebrity publicity stunt. Both are falsehoods. She observed the rules in 2006 with the adoption of Banda, and Malawi's courts have granted her an interim adoption order. She also kicked in a lot of dollars to boost orphanage services in the country. As one of the world's best-known superstars, Madonna hardly needs to snatch an African child to grab camera action.
The unstated, and more contemptible, reason that certain groups and individuals are upset about the adoption is the archaic notion that a white person, especially a wealthy white celebrity, is culturally clueless when it comes to raising a black child.
What makes this notion mind-boggling is that the crisis is not just one in which African babies are shunned in America -- African-American orphans are too. In 2006, there were more than a half-million children in foster care in America, according to the 2008 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report. Nearly 32 percent were African-Americans and they stayed in foster-care homes on average a year longer than white children.
Madonna did a huge service by using her star power to cast light on Malawi and Africa's orphan misery. You go, Madonna.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report," is streamed nationally on blogtalkradio.com
Originally published in the Chicago Tribune.
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I tried joining her site to drive my point home. That she is a do gooder aloof to her identity who needs to do for her own for a change. What has she done to help with the earthquake in Italy? Her failed adoption marks perhaps the first time in history that a major celeb has been publically rejected trying to do good. I can't help but wonder why. But I know why. Fans like the pop star. But critics just don't like Miss Ciccone.
What's that old saying? "No good deed goes unpunished
If Madonna were following the established rules of Malawi that might provide some mitigation for her actions. But she isn't living in country for 18 months like "ordinary people" would have to do before adopting a child.
And my complaint is not that she is white and the children in question are black, this is not necessarily about cultural or racial differences. It is about the presumption that Madonna (the baggage of her lifestyle and all) is doing something "noble" with this adoption.
It's part and parcel of the continuing notion that in order for this child and others to "have a good life" they have to be plucked from their homelands and land in the arms of a celebrity.
If Madonna wants to give these children a better life, fund a health clinic. Spend what she spends each month on the ridiculous -- no, WRETCHED excess of filling a damn swimming pool with "Kabbalah water" and all of the other crap she does, by doing something that will really make a difference rather than buying another "trophy child" found on her safari in Malawi.
And the rest of you stop inflating her damn ego by blowing smoke up her arse. She's narcissistic celebrity. This isn't about little Mercy or David. It's all about Madonna.
I have spent several months in Malawi. Mr. Hutchinson's description of the conditions in the country are accurate. The country is filled with poverty beyond what most of us reading on this site can even fathom. Diseases long eliminated from the Western world -- like polio and bubonic plague -- are common in Malawi. And the AIDS epidemic has devastated the country.
That said - the issue with Madonna's adoption that angers me is not that she is white, or even that her motivation might be a selfish play for publicity. My anger is at the economic system that pays Madonna millions and millions of dollars to sing and dance, while the community from which this child comes struggles to live on pennies a day and often suffers from preventable diseases. Her desire to "rescue" a child from Malawi is indicative of the all too common approach to Africa. We simply ignore that fact that our over-consumption, our fascination with materialism and our apathy toward the suffering of millions of people is what created the orphan crisis in Malawi in the first place. The money she is spending on pursuing this adoption would have much more of a lasting impact if she instead supported programs to help Malawians become more economically self-sufficient. Then, the children of Malawi won't have to rely on the hope of a rich foreigner to save them from their own lives.
I think people believe that poor children should be happy that ANYONE wants them.
Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly, would you allow Madonna to raise YOUR CHILD given everything and everybody this women has done? Its about this woman and the process, not the concept of multi-racial adoption.
I could care less what race the child is. The child she wants to adopt and the one she did were in orphanages because their parents were too poor to take care of them so as a last resort they gave them to the state. If Madonna really cared she'd give the families money so they could be reunited with their children - the ones they had to give up because of poverty. But instead she's taking advantage of severe poverty to swoop in at take these children to a foreign country. Why you're making this a cultural thing is beyond me. There are lots of children available for adoption with no families. These kids have families, it's just that the families are too poor to take care of them. It's heartbreaking that she's vulturous enough to do such a horrible thing. Why do you think she chose this country? Don't be naive.
I really like how these celebs insist on adopting kids from impoverished minority countries but never from impoverished eastern European countries.
Yours is one of the most asinine statements I've seen regarding this issue. Pure ignorance.
Where did you adopt your child from and why?
People here seem to know better than anybody else what to do in Africa so i'm asking myself why don't they do something instead of wasting their time condamning other people's actions ? It's easy to judge behind a screen. At least she's doing something . I don't have her means so i'm glad she's doing something not only for this little girl but for Malawi and even if it's not enough it's more than what i'm or you are doing for Malawi. Does she needs it for publicity ? Absolutely not both times she adopted an african child she got the worst press ever the mere fact that she agrees to go through this international public lashing again proves that she's attached to this little girl she has been in the process of adopting for the last 2 years and half. Who would adopt a 4 y/o child ? Usually people want babies and that's another proof of her commitment. If Madonna was as cynical as you all seem to be and desperately wanted a child she would have paid one of her assistants to beare it for her.
What's really astonishing here is people talking with no qualms about someone and saying things as if they were facts.
Instead of judging try doing better than her to make your point otherwise shut up ! At least she's changing ansd improving people's lives and you what are you doing ? Why don't you put your time and money where
"The unstated, and more contemptible, reason that certain groups and individuals are upset about the adoption is the archaic notion that a white person, especially a wealthy white celebrity, is culturally clueless when it comes to raising a black child."
You're absolutely right there.
Firstly, cultural awareness is all well and good, but in the hierarchy of a child's needs, it has to come after the basics of food, shelter, education, love, affection etc. I'll grant that there are abusers and paedophiles out there who obviously must not be allowed to adopt. But anyone who thinks that life in a Malawi orphanage is better than life with a wealthy white family that offers genuine love and care should go and spend a week living in a dirt-poor village in Africa or even rural China. Then come back and tell us that the kid would be better off staying there rather than eating her fill in Madonna's family.
And secondly, this cultural argument is inaccurate and outdated anyway. Multi-racial families are everywhere and will hopefully eventually be the norm rather than the exception. The best way to ultimately get rid of racism in the world is for more families to be genuinely colour-blind - and the most colour-blind of all are children who have been raised in multi-racial or mixed race families. I'd argue that cross-cultural adoption is actually a good thing for this reason.
That is not my issue with it. It's the David, for example, has family. Why take the boy away from his family? Why not help the family stay together by providing a stipend? Why not make a contribution to the community. Why take the child out of his country? It's not like she couldn't have adopted an ethnic child in the U.S. or U.K. I feel like this is all for show. That's the issue.
The child is living in an orphanage. The latest report is that she has only an uncle who has chosen to release the little girl. Does this relative have any rights or would you insist that he raise her despite his decision?
those are the reports, alot of what Madonna and her team have told the press...
and the Malawi authorities has been denied by other sources. For instance,
Madonna was claiming in the beginning that David didn't have anyone from
his family come to visit him. His father was distraught in an interview asking
why she would say that. He used to ride his bike to see him every week.
As far as Mercy goes HER FAMILY DOES NOT WANT MADONNA TO
ADOPT HER> they probably spoke with David's Dad, who was told that
he could stay in touch with his son, then never got any contact info.
I almost cried when I read in an article that he said "I just want to know if
he is clever". What kind of person takes a child away from his father, and
then doesn't even allow him to contact him. It is absurdly apathetic,
which I feel Madonna is. She can build 50 orphanages and I will always
wonder about her intentions.
i'm all in favour of Madonna's good works in Malawi, and commend her for them.
But the adoption of these children is simply her playing god:
"And now I'll choose....
I find it disgusting.
Why doesn't she use her entire fortune to make a real difference in Malawi?
When an 'average' family adopts a child, or children, it is often is a real sacrifice.
For her, it's just another photo-op.
So you know Madonna personally in order to make these assessments? She is making a lifelong commitment to this child. Why do you get to tell her what to do with her money?
no, she's just paid attention and does the math. Unlike others who just repeat
statements but don't look at the true reality. Madonna uses everything for photo ops-
what ever happened to those Chihuahuas she got when they were the HOT thing?
Since Madonna wants to do it & has the money to adopt a black child, she will do it, like it or not. She could & will do a good job of raising this child & her other children. Who knows, her actions could encourage others who are capable of parents go follow her example? That wouldn't be a bad thing.
OK, Puritanical trolls & bigots, have at me & Earl? Remember you may use sex to produce children. It's safe to say that Madonna likes sex. Madonna's biological clock is running down. She's using adoption to bring more children into her life.
Madonna loves her kids. Her work in Malawi is commendable and should be applauded. Who adopts kids as a publicity stunt? That's a crazy idea and those who promote it are mean and stupid people. Madonna does not need to adopt a child and raise the child for publicity. Too bad the media cannot present the truth in even the best things people do. Why does it always have to be controversial when a celebrity mother reaches out to serve the neediest children? Its stupid. That is how they ought to use their fame and fortune in my view. It is healthy. If I had money and power I'd use it to help hurting kids too. Its a no-brainer. Go Madonna! Thank-you Earl Ofari Hutchinson for this post. I whole-heartedly agree.
"Madonna does not need to adopt a child and raise the child for publicity"
Thank you!! She's one of the most overexposed people in the world. She probably couldn't care less about publicity.
Yeah, right... tell that to her PUBLICIST!
Good for you! Ditto a million times over.
um, her work in Malawi, converting these Christian kids to Kabalah against their families wishes? Giving out copies of her Childrens Book that didn't sell and Kabalah books? Telling everyone she is going to save them - she has a Messiah complex. Now she is trying to become 'Evita' to a nation. She did say she felt this strong connection to Evita, and she does copy things - from Marilyn Monroe to Angelina and everything in between.
Fox just reported that the 3.7 mil she supposedly raised at that Gucci or whoever it was fundraiser cannot be accounted for. Madonna needs tax write offs, what better way than to jump on Bono's bandwagon - Africa is HOT right now.
Wish so much the untruths could disappear and only the truth be visible.
All the Madonna supporters would cease.
What a horrible person Madonna is. Imagine, taking a child out of an overcrowded orphanage in a country that is plagued by famine, poverty, HIV infection and illiteracy, and then giving that child a life that affords him/her every possible opportunity.
What kind of monster would do such a thing???!!
As a black man with a white mother I can assure that some white people are culturally clueless. Some of my own relatives still manage to shock me with their ignorance.
When Madonna first hit, they tried to pass her off as Black, didja know that?
No! How was that supposed to work?
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