Dear Sandra,
I just wanted to let you know that last night– when we realized what you had posted on your blog— we took down our “Party of Five” blog. This makes us heartsick, and we feel really upset about having to do it. There are many, many people who have written to us over the past three years telling us how important and inspiring our blog has been to them in terms of a whole range of things (including a deeper understanding of inter-racial adoption, education regarding Haiti, conscientious parenting, etc.).
White parents adopting black children, especially, have found the Party of Five blog helpful — in terms of raising cultural awareness, helping to educate about black hair, information about confidence-promoting picture books for young black children, etc. It is for all of these reasons that we had kept the Party of Five blog public even when we moved to a private blog in March. Last night, when we saw what you had posted on your blog — you having selectively chosen the most provocative photos of our children and posted them entirely out of context on your own blog — our hearts just sank. Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of beautiful photos of our children that we have posted over the years, you selectively chose the ones that you did. You did not ask for permission to post those photos in the manner that you did, and if you had asked us we would not have allowed for it. We had never heard of your blog before last night… but then we started getting a lot of strange comments coming in on the Party of Five blog… and it didn’t take long for us to trace them back to your blog post. It is probably hard for you to imagine how upset this has made us. As parents, our children and their safety and security and identity are our absolute number one priority in life. We immediately made the decision to pull Party of Five off the internet so that you — or others — will no longer be able to do what you’ve done to our family.
White parents adopting black children, especially, have found the Party of Five blog helpful — in terms of raising cultural awareness, helping to educate about black hair, information about confidence-promoting picture books for young black children, etc. It is for all of these reasons that we had kept the Party of Five blog public even when we moved to a private blog in March. Last night, when we saw what you had posted on your blog — you having selectively chosen the most provocative photos of our children and posted them entirely out of context on your own blog — our hearts just sank. Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of beautiful photos of our children that we have posted over the years, you selectively chose the ones that you did. You did not ask for permission to post those photos in the manner that you did, and if you had asked us we would not have allowed for it. We had never heard of your blog before last night… but then we started getting a lot of strange comments coming in on the Party of Five blog… and it didn’t take long for us to trace them back to your blog post. It is probably hard for you to imagine how upset this has made us. As parents, our children and their safety and security and identity are our absolute number one priority in life. We immediately made the decision to pull Party of Five off the internet so that you — or others — will no longer be able to do what you’ve done to our family.
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I just wanted to let you know that we are loving parents who care beyond imagination for the well-being of our children. Kyle and Owen are the center of our universe and we do everything in our power to give them the fullest lives possible. They are the happiest little boys you could ever imagine. If you could meet them you would immediately see that they are deeply loved, incredibly well cared for, and they are proud and self-confident black boys who will grow up to be proud and self-confident black men. They have many black role models in their lives, their house is filled with artwork by black artists, and they are already more educated on the history and culture of Haiti than many adult Haitian-Americans are today. I am so sorry that you felt the need to post your post in the manner that you did. I really hope that you know in your heart that we are loving parents who are doing the absolute best we can for our precious sons. We understand that we have a huge burden on us — particularly as white parents raising Haitian-American boys — and we take all of this extremely seriously.
With respect,
Heather Johnson
Associate Professor of Sociology,
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
