Friday, August 17, 2007

New York Magazine Article

There's a great article on transracial adoption in New York magazine that you can check out here:

http://nymag.com/news/features/35817/

And here is what I sent to their comments section.

While I appreciate the positive article on blended families in New York, I would have liked the author to address the more serious concerns of transracial adoption, especially acknowledging that the stereotypical family played up by the media as "the couple gone to Africa to pick up a new accessory" doesn't actually exist. There are many lower-middle class families who save for years in order to give a child a chance of a better life. And perhaps more importantly, I would have liked for there to have been a correlation drawn between this article and the article on the longevity of New Yorkers. It is not a coincidence that the number of deaths by AIDS in 2005 dropped 80% from 1994, the same year, in fact, which the atrocious patent laws on life saving antiretroviral drugs expired. The UN estimates that, currently, there are 14 million AIDS orphans and that by 2010 there will be 25 million. The point is, if these patent laws had not been enacted, perhaps there would never have been a need for a decrease in the New York statistic, much less in the rest of the world who are still trying to find ways to afford them.

Sincerely,

Anna and Benjamin Thomas
Brooklyn, NY

3 comments:

bethany weaver said...

i appreciated the article link. so much to think about and learn. you are doing a great job, and i'm so proud of you both. we're praying for you guys!

marshall&emily said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
marshall&emily said...

...I mean the part about international adoption being easier or less expensive. But regardless of that argument international adoption has it's own merits for the reasons you just gave.