Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

It is only months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nation is burning. Black and White America are locked in the tense grip of massive change. Into this inferno steps an unsuspecting young White couple. Neither truly knew even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. Over the fateful years to come, a Black child becomes perhaps the first in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a White family. Here is a brazenly honest glimpse into the mind and heart of that child, a true story for the ages that flows like a soulful river-separated from his mother at birth, placed into foster care, adopted, and finally reunited with his biological family in adulthood-an astounding journey of personal discovery.

Jaiya John has opened the floodgates on his own childhood with this piercing memoir. Black Baby White Hands, a waterfall of jazz splashing over the rocks of love, pain and the honoring of family. Magically, this book finds a way to sing as it cries, and to exude compassion even as it dispels well-entrenched myths. This story is sure to find itself well worn, stained by tears, and brushed by laughter in the lap of parents, adolescents, educators, students and professionals. Here comes the rain and the sunshine, all at once.

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Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

It is only months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nation is burning. Black and White America are locked in the tense grip of massive change. Into this inferno steps an unsuspecting young White couple. Neither truly knew even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. Over the fateful years to come, a Black child becomes perhaps the first in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a White family. Here is a brazenly honest glimpse into the mind and heart of that child, a true story for the ages that flows like a soulful river-separated from his mother at birth, placed into foster care, adopted, and finally reunited with his biological family in adulthood-an astounding journey of personal discovery.

Jaiya John has opened the floodgates on his own childhood with this piercing memoir. Black Baby White Hands, a waterfall of jazz splashing over the rocks of love, pain and the honoring of family. Magically, this book finds a way to sing as it cries, and to exude compassion even as it dispels well-entrenched myths. This story is sure to find itself well worn, stained by tears, and brushed by laughter in the lap of parents, adolescents, educators, students and professionals. Here comes the rain and the sunshine, all at once.

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Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

by Jaiya John
Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib

by Jaiya John

Paperback(2nd ed.)

$24.00 
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Overview

It is only months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nation is burning. Black and White America are locked in the tense grip of massive change. Into this inferno steps an unsuspecting young White couple. Neither truly knew even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. Over the fateful years to come, a Black child becomes perhaps the first in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a White family. Here is a brazenly honest glimpse into the mind and heart of that child, a true story for the ages that flows like a soulful river-separated from his mother at birth, placed into foster care, adopted, and finally reunited with his biological family in adulthood-an astounding journey of personal discovery.

Jaiya John has opened the floodgates on his own childhood with this piercing memoir. Black Baby White Hands, a waterfall of jazz splashing over the rocks of love, pain and the honoring of family. Magically, this book finds a way to sing as it cries, and to exude compassion even as it dispels well-entrenched myths. This story is sure to find itself well worn, stained by tears, and brushed by laughter in the lap of parents, adolescents, educators, students and professionals. Here comes the rain and the sunshine, all at once.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780971330818
Publisher: Soul Water Rising
Publication date: 04/21/2005
Edition description: 2nd ed.
Pages: 360
Sales rank: 663,100
Product dimensions: 5.51(w) x 8.54(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Dr. Jaiya John was orphan-born on Ancient Puebloan lands in the high desert of New Mexico, and is an internationally recognized freedom worker, author, and poet. Jaiya is the founder of Soul Water Rising, a global rehumanizing mission that has donated thousands of Jaiya's books in support of social healing, and offers scholarships to displaced and vulnerable youth. He is the author of numerous books, including Daughter Drink This Water, and, Freedom: Medicine Words for your Brave Revolution. Jaiya writes, narrates, and produces the podcast, I Will Read for You: The Voice and Writings of Jaiya John, and is the founder of Freedom Project, a global initiative reviving traditional gathering and storytelling practices to fertilize social healing and liberation. He is a former professor of social psychology at Howard University, and has spoken to over a million people worldwide and audiences as large as several thousand. Jaiya is a former National Science Foundation fellow, and holds doctorate and master's degrees in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a focus on intergroup and race relations. As an undergraduate, he attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he studied Tibetan Holistic Medicine through independent research with Tibetan doctors. His Indigenous soul dreams of frybread, sweetgrass, bamboo in the breeze, and turtle lakes whose poetry is peace.

Table of Contents

The Fire          
Convergence         
Dawn          
The Child Adopts the Family     
The Mother Tree        
The Father Tree         
Bunk Bed Brothers        
Strawberry Blondes        
Colorblind     
Alex Haley's Roots    
Token in the Spotlight   
Me & Muhammad Ali   
Hatred's Wake    
The Last Halloween   
Kinship Embrace    
Mother & Child Reunion   
My Name Is Jaiya    
Back to Bethlehem    
Healing in the Sand    
Afterthought 

What People are Saying About This

Sydney Duncan

"This is a pot of gold for adoptive parents, and especially for transracially adoptive parents. But more than that, this book is priceless for anyone who cares to voyage into the wonderland that is a child's heart."
MSW, Founding Executive, Homes for Black Children, The nation's first African American adoption agency

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