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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRep. Alvin Holmes (D-AL): White abortion opponents would abort interracial fetuses
For.the second time in a month, Rep. Alvin Holmes has garnered national attention for racial comments made during debate about an abortion bill. On the House floor Tuesday, Holmes said 99 percent of the white legislators in the chamber would raise their hand to say they're against abortion, and that same 99 percent would make their daughters get an abortion if they were impregnated by a black man.
"You ain't gonna have no little black baby if you got two other white children, and then she's gonna have a little black baby running around there in the living room or in the den with the rest of them," he said. "They're not going to let that happen. You know that and I know that."
Holmes, D-Montgomery, also said he'd mortgage his house and bring $100,000 in cash in a briefcase tomorrow if anyone could show "a whole bunch of whites" who have adopted black children in Alabama.
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Holmes said he's gotten more than 150 calls from news outlets all over the country since Tuesday. He said he stands by his comments and is entitled to his opinion.
"During the time I was growing up, this happened many times where whites got pregnant by blacks and in every instance their parents made them have an abortion," Holmes said. "It's not as obvious now as it was then because back then most white people were against interracial dating."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/07/holmes-racial-abortion-comments-national-headlines/6158951/
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)exboyfil
(17,863 posts)Holmes, D-Montgomery, also said he'd mortgage his house and bring $100,000 in cash in a briefcase tomorrow if anyone could show "a whole bunch of whites" who have adopted black children in Alabama.
http://www.abc3340.com/story/25206765/trans-racial-adoption-rally-in-montgomery
It was a dumb insensitive statement on his part. I know several conservative parents who have taken biracial grandkids and given them as much love as any other grandbaby. Several are actually raising them because the parents are mostly AWOL.
theboss
(10,491 posts)There is a huge community of white people who have adopted black children. I know this, because I am part of it. My old boss was part of it too. And this is something that cuts across political and religious lines. I know gay couples that have done it. And I know home-schooling Christian conservatives that have done it.
And here is the dirty little secret about it: 99 percent of the less than approving comments I've heard on this subject come from black people. I think they - with some justification perhaps - view it as white people riding in to "save" black children.
(Of course, this is DU so I'm going to get accused of being an insensitive racist for that last part. Here is my issue with white families when it comes to adoption. Too many - in my opinion - seek white babies. And they just aren't available. That is why it became so fashionable for so long to adopt out of Russian "orphanages." If you go to your local Family Services website, you will see dozens and dozens of black and Hispanic school-age children who are simply not in demand in the same way white babies are. And it frustrates me. Note: My wife and I adopted a sibling group. They were 4, 7, and 10 at the time).