Most TV and movies portray adoption as a white parent adopting a child. This is true in such mainstream shows as Friends, Glee, 90210, Modern Family, Sex and The City, Grey’s Anatomy, and Parenthood. This representation is often how people think of adoption, something that can get frustrating for Nishta J. Mehra, an Indian woman with a white wife and black adopted child.
As a child, Nishta grew up as one of the only Indian children in a predominantly white neighborhood, something she talks about in her book, Brown White Black. Now, she’s writing about her own experiences, both as a first-generation Indian-American and as part of a larger multiracial family.
Nishta J. Mehra is the proud first-generation daughter of Indian immigrants and the author of two essay collections: The Pomegranate King and Brown White Black. Mehra currently lives with her wife, Jill, and their seven-year-old, Shiv, in Phoenix, Arizona.
This episode was produced by Julián Esteban Torres López, Aïcha Martine Thiam, and Nicole Zelniker.
Check out our Being Mixed-Race series, inspired by Nicole Zelniker's book, Mixed.
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