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I glanced at a friend and fellow writer’s blog and saw the listing of readings in the city. I was still gestating the Letters to the Editor this morning where a woman said she got the mayor of Harahan to change from Happy Holidays to Merry Christmas – good grief – evolution is slow to come to New Orleans (really). And then I read on Google+ a post about what White Girls Say to Black Girls and the post said that it was good to use humor to point out very difficult subjects like racism. I admit I did smile about the, “Can I touch your hair?” because it seems that everyone wants to touch Tin’s hair. I also read a letter from Odyssey House’s Ed Carlson about what the city needs to be addressing given the crime stats none of us enjoy here. And I put all of these together and came upstairs to my office and thought, “It’s not taking a 16 year old boy who has grown up believing that drugs and guns are his only option and having them work in a 9-5 job.” I still believe it’s about taking a 16 month old boy and opening his mind through books, music, and giving them a childhood.

Yesterday, I was in the park by the Waldorf School and a group of adults wandered across the street and with them came a barely two-year-old girl. They then left her behind as they walked back to their house and some got in their car and left. The parents standing around watching the kids were perplexed and one even asked, “Who will watch this child?” To which there was no response. After ten minutes the toddler began to walk out of the park into the street and I jumped up to get her. The man in front of the house shouted, “Whatcha doing? Stay there in the park.”

It took a woman to come out of the house and cross the street. She said the daddy had run to the store and thanked us. But it shook me. To my core. And if I had the capacity to house another child, I would have asked them to let me parent that child. There is a strong bias in the black community in New Orleans against adoption. And certainly against whites adopting blacks. And good lord don’t even get started on the black opinion of gay adopted parents.

But I have to ask you at the end of the day – what is best for all humanity. Isn’t it that babies be offered nutrition for their mind, body and soul? And does it matter what color, sex, or persuasion the parent has that provides it. I’m not talking about people who have more money than other people, I’m talking about resources plain and simple, people up to the job of parenting, people who are willing to put aside their own best interest to take up the best interest of a child.

I read my friend’s blog, and listed there was a poem about Helen Hill and all the optimism she brought with her to any person or place she touched. A victim of New Orleans ridiculous murder rate, a victim of everyone thinking those in charge are going to do something about it, a victim who made us all victims of her loss.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 11:42 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.