Sandra Bullock, Racism & Transracial adoptions

Actress and adoptive mother Sandra Bullock is answering questions concerning teaching her 5 yr-old adopted son Louis about racism and sexism. Transracial adoptiond sare relatively new in the United States and was prohibited until the Clinton administration helped pass and implement federal laws regulating adoptions in the country. The experiment continues.

Non-white children who have been placed with white families in the 90s have reportedly grown up with identity problems and were not equipped to deal with the outside world in a society where institutional and societal racism exists. As a black male, Louis is likely to encounter racism as he grows older when just this month, a 12 yr-old Black male student was removed from his class after an Asian female student complained that he was staring at her.

Bullock was asked in an interview recently by the BET cable network which is owned by Viacom, about #BlackLivesMatter and whether she talks to her adopted black son about racism. Bullock replied “absolutely.”

“It’s an open conversation that we have. He fully understands what that means. He doesn’t understand why people judge each other based on color of their skin, but he knows they do. He also knows that there’s sexism, he knows that there’s homophobia. He knows a lot for a five-and-three-quarter-year-old.”

“I think if you don’t start the conversation very early on, you’re doing them a disservice. I can’t ride in a bubble with him. I want him to know the truth, but I also want him to know the good in the world as well. Those are hard conversations to have, you know. It’s not any conversation any parent wants to have with their child, is that you’ll be judged by the color of your skin rather than the content of your character. But it exists, and I want him to be safe and I want him to be aware. Once he leaves that house and I’m not with him, it’s his life and how he approaches it is his decision. But I want to know that I did the best I could as his mom to educate him on the ugliness in the world, and also the beauty.”