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: #133262 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.

Pity Party!
Honestly, I only made it half way through the book before I could not stand it anymore. Although the author is a very eloquent writer, his pity party over his life was more then I could bare. He was raised by wonderful loving parents who did the best they could to raise him with all the opportunities, guidance, love and affection they could. He had extended family that loved him and treated him with respect (and by his own admittance, some overcame huge prejudicial upbringings to fully love and accept him as their kin). He had friends that accepted him, and loving siblings. He had a better life then I would say the majority of children growing up in America do. He had enough food on the table, family traditions, safe housing, wonderful memories, and most importantly loving family bonds. Although he was adopted by white parents (the author is black), he himself admits that they rescued him from a neglectful foster home. He came home to them so neglected that his head was flat and his muscles weak. His parents nursed him back to health. He waited 9 long months for a family, and because there were no black placements available, he was adopted by a white family. ANY family is better then living in a negectful foster home. FAMILY is the most important thing! Just ask the children that age out of the foster care sytem without one, 50% end up homeless and on drugs. Yet, this author does nothing but complain about how hard it was to be black in a white family. He gives no real evidence of this, no one treated him badly, he did not have major negative experiences within his family, he just was sensitive and felt insecure. Just think how insecure and unloved he would have felt if he were never adopted. Or stayed with his birthmother who was in no condition to raise another child? His parents moved away from their families to raise their black sons in an environment that was not prejudice. They did the best that they could. But all the author felt was sorry for himself. He was insecure and was always convinced that people did not truly love or accept him, despite their actions. He blamed things like having to share the back, cold room (a room his parents made several attempts to heat and make more comfortable) with his brother because he was black. Please, my husband who was the biological son of white parents slept out in the camper when his family got too big for their home, not because he was unfavored but because he was the eldest boy! I think the author needs to get a life! And realize the blessings that he was given. There is a huge orphan crisis in the world. Millions of children are going to bed hungry with no one to kiss them goodnight. Should we allow them to suffer or should we look beyond race or culture and bring them into good homes, in which they will be loved and valued? Which is the bigger sin, to love someone unconditionally who looks different from you or to allow someone to suffer alone because they are different. This author needs to get over his insecurities and look at all the good things that he had in his life, see how others have to live, and thank his lucky stars. I for one, do not feel sorry for him.