Loving Across the Color Line: A White Adoptive Mother Learns about Race

This is a book that should be read by everyone, regardless of color. It provides the reader with a moving, in-depth portrayal and analysis of a white woman seeing the world for the first time through the eyes of black person-her adopted daughter. It is a very open, honest account that reveals how even without knowing it we are capable of inflicting damage upon others if we are unaware of what we are doing. The civil rights battle has come to an apparent deadlock, and this book has the potential to help move it forward. In reading this book, a white can gain a greater appreciation for the daily blows a black person receives that a white would never notice, and a black reader can be given hope that white America is capable of resolving the race problem. We see how the concept of color-blindness, desperately insisting that everyone is the same, is doomed to fail, and we must instead be positively color-concious, recognizing and appreciating the color differences that obviously exist between each other.It is simply not enough in this day and age to say, "Blacks aren't legally barred from doing anything a white can't do. If they aren't advancing, then it clearly is not society's fault" and then wash our hands of the problem. No, what we MUST do instead is to stretch our minds and look, really look, at what the current situation is for black people. Seventy percent of all African-american men between 18-29 have been incarcerated. Health and unemployment statistics in black communities across the country have plummeted to Depression era levels. This cannot all be viewed as "their" fault. Clearly, something larger is crushing upon black community, something isolated legislative measures from days long past simply can't do anything about. We as a society are doing something fundamentally wrong, something that is destroying any notion that our country is a fair and tolerant one. What kind of tolerant country imprisons seventy percent of its most prominent minority? What kind of country, while indundated with wealth and power, leaves a huge segment of its population behind in the dust because of their color? If we are to entertain any notion of the USA being as wonderful as a country as we desperately hope that it is, then we must make sure that it is a wonderful country for ALL of its citizens, not just the majority. If we fail to do so, we fail ourselves because then we must either stay ignorant or lie and hold fast to the belief that this country is good and just. If we succeed, we come that much closer to living in a truly free society, and realizing the dream that has awaited this nation for so long. If and when this does happen, it will be because of people such as Sharon Rush, who transcended her entire sense of self in order to learn from the suffering of a child what only true love and compassion can teach--differences exist, how we react to them, however, is up to us.

My husband and I are White and licensed foster parents who have not yet taken any children. I read this in part because -- who knows? -- maybe we will foster across the color line.I read this book because I was looking for insights on how to be a better foster parent to children of color. Alas, there is very little practical advice on how to parent better. Instead, the book shows how to be a better White person. Now, this doesn't mean it's a bad book. Many White people (probably myself included) do not begin to understand what it's like to deal with the everyday slights that come with being Black. This book is valuable in part because it's harder for Whites to discount observations of racism when they come from a White person.My only real frustration with the book was her assertion that Whites need to repudiate their privilege, without explaining exactly what she means by that. I could have a little ceremony at my home where I declare that I am unwilling to continue to benefit from White privilege, but that wouldn't make store owners suddenly start scrutinizing my every move. It wouldn't make police officers start questioning my right to stroll through affluent neighborhoods in the evening. I wouldn't become invisible to wait staff or charged more at restaurants.If I were going to recommend a book to a White person who doesn't believe that racism in America was ever as bad as Black people say, I would recommend _Black Like Me_ by John Howard Griffin. If I wanted to convince someone that racism *still* exists, I would recommend this book.

The subtle, pervasive nature of racism is captured by the mother of a bi-racial child. Sharon Rush reveals the debillitating effects of prejudice so often caused by people with good intentions. "Loving...", to this white reader, was an eye-opener and a call to action. The message delivered in this well-written, true life story, is for all who seek a better understanding of the insidious nature of racism revealed in everyday events.

Very informative and interesting book. Ms. Rush covers some delicate and important issues about race. Many of them are subjects most of us don't want to think about much less talk about. As an adoptive parent I found her book eye opening and insightful. A "must read" for anyone that adopts across the color line. Her stories and insights are written in a way that makes even the most well meaning think twice about our precepts of race relations. She reveals many "unconscious acts of racism" that the White population probably would not notice. They effect people of color every day of their lives. It's a book that I'd like to see discussed in every school system. If not as a part of the curriculum at least as a study book for the teachers. Every adopted child should come with one at their placement!