Product Description

July 15, 1968. It is only three 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 significantly knew even a single African American person while growing up. Now, a child will change all of that forever. In this fateful moment, a Black baby 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

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114173 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-05
• Released on: 2005-05-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

Review
"A pot of gold. Priceless for anyone who cares to voyage into the wonderland that is a child's heart." -- Sydney Duncan, MSW, Founding Executive, Homes for Black Children, March 2002

"A pot of gold. Priceless for anyone who cares to voyage into the wonderland that is a child's heart." --Sydney Duncan, MSW, Founding Executive, Homes for Black Children, March 2002

"An astounding memoir of self discovery through the eyes of a Black child adopted by a White family. Revelatory. Transformative." -- Soul Water Rising, June 2005

"Our concept of civil rights and spiritual responsibility has been peeled back afresh and rendered deeper with this book." -- James M. Jones, Ph.D., author of Prejudice and Racism, February 2002

"Our concept of civil rights and spiritual responsibility has been peeled back afresh and rendered deeper with this book." --James M. Jones, Ph.D., author of Prejudice and Racism, February 2002

"Powerful. This book is not only beautifully written, it also deserves a wide audience." -- Writer's Digest, April 2003

"Powerful. This book is not only beautifully written, it also deserves a wide audience." --Writer's Digest, April 2003

From the Author
No matter how many books I write, this one will stand alone as my most personally meaningful. I make no claims that this sojourn represents THE authoritative voice on such childhood experiences. But in that my truth has now been told, it has the opportunity to wed itself to other testimonies, so that we might together creative a collective authoritative voice of those who have walked this certain path. Through honesty do we honor, therefore my story is not nearly a complaint but rather, by virtue of its honesty, a celebration of one child's life.

About the Author
Jaiya John is the founder and Executive Director of Soul Water Rising, an educational mission devoted to improving human relations, eradicating prejudice, and fostering spiritual growth. For over a decade he has traveled the nation as a professional speaker, poet, author and youth mentor. Jaiya’s passionate, poetic presentations combine spiritual and social science insights. This work is truly his mission, ministry and life. He has appeared on CNN, B.E.T., Fox Television and National Public Radio. He authored the award-winning memoir, Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib. Jaiya also spent four years as a professor of social psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Jaiya was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Immediately placed in foster care and eventually adopted, Jaiya lived as an African American in a predominately Caucasian American environment. This childhood branded in him a burning passion for giving his life to improve the way human beings relate to each other. Jaiya studied psychology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and earned his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz in social psychology. He lived and studied during 1988 in the nation of Nepal, where his research on Tibetan medicine instilled within him an appreciation for holistic concepts of physical, emotional and spiritual health. Being of not only African but Seminole, Blackfoot and Cherokee descent; and having grown up in the midst of the Southwest’s American Indian and Latino communities, Jaiya has an appreciation for the spiritual and communal passions that spring from these worlds. This spirit he ingrains in his own beliefs and messages about our social world. Jaiya believes that in every moment of life, each of us is a teacher and a student. He is faithful to his purpose: fostering relations among humankind living in a world where we have learned to let the differences in our divine nature divide us.

Customer Reviews

Thank you, Jaiya, for sharing your soul...
Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib by Dr. Jaiya John touched my soul. It is a journey into the world of a child who was a stranger surrounded by well meaning adoptive parents who were unable to reach the depth of his heart and soul. As you read his book, you move through the depth of a range of emotions and emerge with a hope that armed with sensitivity and knowledge, there is a future for the children caught up in the system. Prior to adopting my first child 25 years ago, I read a book about the account of an adoptee. That story enabled me to prepare myself for how my children might feel being adopted. Dr. John's book is the "Transracial Adoption Bible" sorely needed in this arena. As a transracial adoptive parent, adoption worker and trainer, "Black Baby" has become required reading for those families that I work with or train who desire to parent transracially. When I train prospective aodptive parents, all of them indicate that they want the best for their children. If we look at ourselves honestly, we realize we cannot be everything to our child. Jaiya's poignant life journey compels us to shed our color-blind ideas and recognize we live in a race conscious society that will see color and react according to preconceived notions. We cannot protect our children forever; we must give them the tools to survive in this society. For those who have or are considering adopting transracially, once you read "Black Baby", you will have walked in Jaiya's shoes and you cannot help but come away enlightened and armed with the knowledge you need to do right by the children you love so much. Thank you, Jaiya, for sharing your soul. We need you in this field "It takes a whole village to raise a child."

Courageous words spoken for our children.
I am a single white mother of an adopted black daughter living in a small, predominately white, southern town. As Jaiya's life journey unfolded across the pages, I heard my daughter's voice speak to me from her crib. The words I heard were my fears that keep me awake at night. By sharing his life, Jaiya brings to light the responsibility that we (as adults who have chosen a transracial family) have to embrace, respect, love and consiously integrate the culture, origin of birth and race of our children. Thank you Jaiya for courageously speaking for our children. May their lives be blessed.

Life Changing
I laugh. I shake my head and feel kinship. I cry and take long walks. I sigh and realize my parents didn't know how to protect me-it wasn't malice. I get why I am the way I am. 36 years of baggage is disappearing. I am so thankful that Jaiya John wrote his story and that I was lead to it. I marvel at the similarities in our circumstances that I thought only I owned. I have a new level of understanding about why I do the things I do to this day.

It is such a relief to me that after all these years there is proof that I wasn't making up stories about feeling lost and alone. This book have given me a self-assurance I never had before and because of it I walk in the world differently because I know I deserve to. Conversations about my life are being spoken. I got an apology from my biological father...and felt peace. People have no idea how much this book has changed my life.