My Reaction to the Anna Mae He Case

I'm not going to sum up this case here, because readers will probably be familiar with it already. Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry for Anna Mae He just in case. Here's another recent link that goes more into legal detail.

I've resisted commenting on it because I don't really have anything new to say, plus the more I learn about it, the more depressed I get. It was so obvious that Anna Mae should have been returned to her parents. I'm glad it's finally happened; sad it took eight years because of a racist judge in the beginning stages. The Bakers are no better than baby thieves. There are many children out there that truly need homes; instead, the Bakers decided to trick some desperate people out of their child. They tried to wash the Chinese out of her. Eight years later, and they're still acting like bandits. Here are some quotes from news stories that illustrate their disgusting nature:

laborlawtalk.com:
Mrs. He said her daughter had shown her the picture during a court-ordered visit last fall, and that she had later found it in her purse and shown it to a television reporter. She was concerned that while in the Bakers' home, her daughter's hair had been dyed and her ears pierced, contrary to Chinese custom.

Why on earth would you dye a toddler's hair? Especially Asian hair, which is very hard to dye and always has to be bleached first? Because they wanted her to look more white, I presume.

commercialappeal.com:
Anna's seen the Hes twice that she can remember, once at Wal-Mart and most recently at the park. Anna didn't want to talk to them, didn't want to know them.

She doesn't want to learn to speak Chinese. She wants to learn Spanish.

Louise had a piece of art made with Anna's name in Chinese letters.

Anna told her to take it down.

"She doesn't want any part of it," said Jerry. "We haven't made her listen. Now we have to."

commercialappeal.com :
Person expressed his displeasure with stories, photos and video of Anna Mae at the Bakers' home published and aired Wednesday by USA Today and ABC-TV's "Good Morning America."

In the newspaper article, Jerry Baker asks her where she wants to grow up, the United States or China. Anna replies, "United States." In the "Good Morning America" video report, Anna Mae is shown wearing a sombrero and declaring she is Mexican, not Chinese.

Person did not ban attorneys and their clients from talking with the media, but the judge did not rule out issuing a gag order if such reports continue, said Larry Scroggs, chief counsel for Juvenile Court.

The Bakers lost their case. They should be working together with the Hes to make Anna Mae's transition to her parents as smooth as possible. Instead, they're putting her on the media stage like a trained monkey. The Bakers really think videos where she denies being Chinese is really going to help their cause? Imagine the shame when she sees those later when she's older. This is what really tipped me over the edge, because I hate to take emotional sides on high-profile custody cases. I resist because I know I probably don't know the full story. But this one is so easy to call.

The Bakers were given Anna Mae to be temporary guardians to her, by a desperate couple that trusted them as fellow Christians. They abused that trust. They harmed a few people very intensely, but have also caused harmful embarassment to other large groups: white people, Christians, foster parents, adoptive parents. I hope someday they'll realize how badly they acted, and start trying to make up for it. I have at least that much faith in their humanity.