“YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL: STORIES OF RACE, IDENTITY AND TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION” by Angela Tucker (Beacon Press, 208 pages, $26).
The title of Angela Tucker’s “You Should Be Grateful” echoes the misguided comments people sometimes make to adoptees, especially the ones who admit that they have mixed emotions about being adopted. Validating the complex, sometimes contradictory feelings of adoptees is a mission for Tucker, one she has pursued through work as a consultant and mentor, as well as in films, a podcast and now this book.
Tucker has a particular interest in the experiences of transracial adoptees because she’s one herself. Born to a Black mother in Chattanooga in 1985, she was placed in foster care and eventually adopted by a white couple who raised her — along with seven siblings, six of them also adopted — in Bellingham, Washington.
Readers may recognize the name of her father, Oterius “Sandy” Bell, who was known as Chattanooga’s “Flower Man” for his habit of selling flowers late night outside downtown restaurants and bars. He died in 2019.
Although Tucker is quick to acknowledge the love and support of her adoptive parents, she’s keenly aware that “being honest about adoption is a tricky minefield to navigate.” By sharing her own story and the stories of other adoptees, she hopes to make the path toward openness and honesty a little easier to follow.