Madonna, you have screwed up...

I has taken me all day to come up with a way to articulate how I feel about Madonna adopting a young child from the African Nation of Malawi.

www.tmz.com

According to CNN "a small private jet carrying the one-year-old Malawian boy
pop star Madonna hopes to adopt took off from the southern African country on
Monday, a Reuters witness said. The child, David Banda, was
accompanied by one of Madonna's bodyguards on his flight out of his
native Malawi and is believed to be en route to Johannesburg."

Issue #1 - You are RIPPING a child away from his father, grandmother, country and everything he has ever know and you send your BODYGUARD!

"Human rights groups had planned to file an application on Monday asking
the court to block the adoption. Malawian law prohibits adoptions by
non-residents, but officials are granting an exemption or waiver to Madonna, who
has confirmed her intention to adopt the child who lives in a dilapidated
orphanage near the Zambian border. "They (government) haven't followed the law. What has happened is a shortcut," said Boniface Mandere, a spokesman for Eye of the Child, which is among the groups seeking the injunction. Madonna spent most of her time in Malawi visiting orphanages and meeting charity workers as part of a campaign to publicise the plight of some 900,000 orphans in this nation of 13 million people, where AIDS has destroyed many families."

Issue #2 - Human rights activists fear that this adoption with instigate the age old custom of selling African human beings. Even though the child lives in an orphanage, the fact that this child does have a LIVING father and a grandmother makes his situation somewhat different. Were there no children in that orphanage with no living parents who were available for adoption?

"Monday's events came less than a week after Malawi's High Court granted the
entertainer and her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie an interim order allowing them
to take custody of the child. The couple, who arrived in Malawi on October 4
on what was described as a humanitarian trip, left last Friday without the boy,
who did not have a passport.

Issue #3 - So she left on Friday and the child left on Monday...she couldn't have stayed the weekend? If she wanted this child so badly why didn't she stay in Malawi until the child was legally able to leave the country?

She has pledged to donate about $3 million to the campaign to help these children, many of whom are infected with HIV. The effort is being spearheaded by her Raising Malawi charity. A final court decision on the adoption was expected within two years, after officials have a chance to monitor how the child relates to his new environment in the United States and Great Britain where Madonna and Ritchie have homes, according to a senior government official.

Issue #4 - She didn't even give up the money! This is like when I was little and would call the Jerry Lewis telethon and pledge money w/o telling my mother! Jerry Lewis never saw a dime but I'd see my name crawl across the screen with my donation amount.

I am a firm believer in adoption. There are millions if children all over the world who could benefit from being adopted by a loving and financially capable family. There are thousands of children in THIS country who would benefit from the same. IF Madonna and Guy are adopting this child out of kindness and generosity then they are to be at least respected. However, I do not believe that it is a coincidence that this particular MEDIA WHORE would cause such a spectacle around what should have been an private family event.

I am often uncomfortable when Caucasian people adopt children of African descent. I believe that in an effort to foster the idea of a "melting pot" culture and racial identity are often lost. I'm not sure that Madonna, a woman who has appeared in video's with cornrows, who has attempted - very poorly - to rap in songs, who claims Detroit with a sense of Ghetto pride, would be my choice to foster African pride in anyone.

I understand that this child was living in an orphanage. I understand that his father could not afford to take care of him. I understand that his dad thinks that this adoption will give his son a chance at life. I get all of that. But this is a GLOABL problem. It is bigger than one aging popstar and her not such a good director husband. What kind of life is she leaving the dad with? Did he get paid to allow his son to be adopted by Mad y Guy? And if he did receive payment, if the government received payment, if the orphanage received payment does that not take us back to the issue of PAYING FOR A HUMAN BEING? Just because he wasn't ripped from his mother's arms and thrown on the Amistad doesn't make this situation morally valid.

However, since the government of Malawi didn't ask me, or it seems ask anyone, I have no control, no say so, no options in this situation what so ever. So all I have is my little blog and my big mouth. All I know is Madonna better be on Oprah next week explaining this all to us.