Invisible

Photo by Clay Banks

I became forgotten long ago
In my homeland, in Seoul
Orphaned and alone
I was invisible

Somehow out of hundreds I was chosen
Given a purple dress and hope
I flew to the United States, to my new home
Yet still, I was invisible

Rejected by them
I was different, I did not belong they said
I left confused and alone
Again, I was invisible

Placed into a new home
It was wild, full and so many around
19 kids, all different, yet all the same
Yet still, I was invisible

At seventeen, I left rejected again
Never was a child, but not yet grown
I made my way into the world alone
Yet in the sea of white faces, I was invisible

College, work and marriage
I found my way bit by bit
Determined and bright, driven and successful
Yet in the sea of white faces, I was invisible

Why was equality so hard?
Why was inclusion so evasive?
I did everything right, yet I was not right
I was not white

Then came 2020
The mourning of Black lives lost
The accountability in unified voices
Say Their Names

Through Black Lives Matter
This “Model Minority” was given a voice
I made a choice to speak and be seen
I was invisible no more, no more
I am Free.

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Adoptee Voices

Grace Foster

Grace was born in South Korea. At 3 years old, she was abandoned at the local market and orphaned. She immigrated to the US at 5, eventually end up in the foster care system and then adopted into a multi-racial family of almost 20 adopted children and white parents. Support Grace's work. Her experiences as an immigrant, foster child, person of color in a very white community, and also her very difficult experience as an adoptee, influenced her narrative of self-rejection of her Asian identity. She was in constant pursuit of finding “white belonging” for over 25 years and never achieved it. But now she has created her own belonging and is inviting others to join in her community.