Olde Hornet
Well-Known Member
My Adoptive Parents Hid My Racial Identity From Me For 19 Years
My Adoptive Parents Hid My Racial Identity From Me For 19 Years
My parents successfully passed me off as a dark-skinned Italian for 19 years of my life.
Twenty-six years ago, a well-intentioned white couple adopted a baby from Bogota, Colombia. However, it wasn’t until the baby was 19 years old that she discovered that fact.
You see, my parents decided that they were going to approach my adoption as if they were completely colorblind, despite the fact that we are not the same race.
My brother was also adopted from Colombia, but we were both told that we were Italian and Portuguese, just like our adoptive parents. Your parents’ word is gold when you’re a child; at least that’s the best explanation I have for how my parents successfully passed me off as a dark-skinned Italian for 19 years of my life.
Of course, during those years I asked them time and again. “Mom, why is my skin darker?” or “Why wasn’t I born in America?”
They always had answers. I was told that my great-grandparents had skin darker than mine, but black-and-white photos didn’t show it well. That my parents went on vacation and unexpectedly had me in Colombia.
I didn’t know any better. We couldn’t just Google things on our smartphones in the ’90s.
When I was a little girl in elementary school, I was the darkest girl in my class. We were all hanging out during free play during second grade when a little blonde in a pink dress came up to me and shoved me. “You can’t play with us! You’re black!” she yelled. I was stunned, and simply just stood there in silence.
I looked down at my brown skin, and didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened and unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the last. She knew I didn’t quite belong.
