Reclaiming my voice as a transracial adoptee | Sara Jones | TEDxSaltLakeCity

"I was raised as if I was white". THIS. I'm a transracial adoptee too and that really hit home.

Ok, I’m freaking out because my name is also Sara Jones. I am also a transracial adoptee (I’m from Thailand) and was also adopted in the mid 70’s. I went my whole childhood never knowing anyone like me (grew up in a non diverse, rural community), and now I have literally found...well, another “me” in a way. Thank you Sara Jones for sharing your story. Your talk was honest, raw, and full of the many, MANY emotions I have felt about my own adoption, my birth family, and my forever family. Thank you for sharing your gifts as a communicator to bring our experiences to light.

What a charismatic speaker she is. I did not want the talk to end.

When she explained why her father gave them the tattoos 🥺💕 There are no boundaries to a parent's love <3 Amazing talk. Thank you!

Adopted from South Korea in 1988. Now at 32 years old, I feel like I am just starting to explore all the emotions, confusion, and identity issues I have struggled with over the years. You expressed everything I have felt so eloquently and much better than I can. I am so happy you were able to reunite with your family!

Emotional oxygen! I love this phrase, as a transracial adoptee (from within the states) I am so so happy I stumbled upon this talk!

I’m a 20 yr old transracial adoptee from Vietnam. Everything you said really hits home with me. Both my parents are white and I have a nonbiological Vietnamese sister who was adopted with me. She’s 7 days older than me so it’s like having a twin basically. You can imagine the jokes ppl had when they found out we weren’t related but were the same age:\ Being a transracial adoptee is such a confusing existence. I still have trouble processing all the emotions and have only come to realize them after I went to college and experienced more racism than I had even in my suburban Texas hometown. Thank you so much for putting this tedtalk together because it’s so hard to explain or even put into words what it is we go through. On top of that no one usually cares or understands only because they DIDNT live the same life as me or anyone else who’s been adopted transracially

This is so powerful! Thank you so much for sharing your journey! I resonated so deeply with your story! I too am a transracial adoptee! Hugs and solidarity! ✊🏽🙌🏽👏🏽

Thank you. I heard the same things growing up constantly about how "lucky" I was and how amazing my parents were for adopting me, yet no one ever talked about how much I had lost and never found again. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Thank you Sara for educating possible adoptive parents and the adoptees. I am 58 years old and was adopted into a white family when I was six months old. To this date I know nothing of my heritage. My adoptive mother would tell me to tell people I was white like her when I was asked. We know how that turned out, I was a social outcast. Still I'm not a fan of people. Been married 3 times. I am constantly questioning my sanity. Many times I though of just ending it but I'm still here. So many questions never answered. Thank you for your help in understanding.

As an adoptee from China... this hit hard... Truly inspiring.

Thank you for this talk. As a Korean adoptee just beginning my search, I feel as though I have hurt my adoptive family. I have been open with my desire to search and still I think I have hurt them. This was never my intention. I simply want to know if I have relatives and potential health risks i should be addressing now. But I love your point of view that we have things that need to be dealt with too. Grateful for my life but still mourning the things I also lost. Thank you again for this perspective!

Adopted from Manila Philippines in 1984 Just now starting that search and my biggest fear is that Im too late. Thank you for sharing your journey. Its like a hug my younger self needed.

thank you for reminding me about THE reason i am here ❤

Thank you so much. It’s hard sometimes to hear these type of stories, I often don’t want to hear them or feel like I’m being narcissistic and victimising myself when I feel these things or ‘indulge’ the feeling. It doesn’t feel even slightly as important as other issues in the moment. But maybe sometimes it’s okay if not a huge group is behind you, if the video doesn’t have the validation of millions or thousands of comments to verify what you feel is real. Maybe, sometimes, it will be received by the audience it’s intended for and aid them in their personal journey ahead. It meant a lot to me and it is emotionally taxing to watch this but when I finished it, I felt relieved. Whether we have similar or different stories, it feels nice to hear her put some things into words, to see others understand and to feel a little more understood where elsewhere it’s impossible to tell it in a way it is even slightly ‘relatable’ or... well people often don’t know how to react and idk how to react to putting them into such a position. So it’s nice to hear at least something and not just feel it collapse in on itself inside you despite all the good you’ve had in life. The contrast can hurt so much sometimes, like I was born ungrateful. Which, in turn, has me grasp at straws I might not even want or need. Or cover it up in a way that actually twists what I really want or am looking for. But I can’t even put into words what it is that I am looking for. Anyways, I’m rambling. Thank you for your story and for the people who react to know I’m not alone or just attention-seeking.

My brother told me about your Ted talk. We are both transracial adoptees from Seoul. There were many emotions I felt growing up that you referred to and I am glad that I am not the only one out there feeling that way! Thanks so much for speaking about your journey. So happy you were able to be reunited with your brothers and family. 💙

As the father of an adopted daughter from China, I appreciate your sharing your story in such an honest way. I got many great ideas for being a more empathetic parent from hearing your story. Thank you!

thank you so much for doing this TEDX talk...Obviously those gifted and talented comments by your teachers weren't too far off (seriously- not off at all). Of all the stories I have heard of transracial adoption, yours is by far the most compelling story to date. Your father was a very intelligent man with much intuition or insight to the workings of the world of adoption. I especially love how you brought the whole story around to the most important "feeling" we can own in life - Gratitude with a pure heart. Again- Thank you.

Very heartfelt and so candid. Loved it.

Sara, thank you for your insight and willingness to share your experience. I'm half-Korean and was adopted by a white family in the United States. My birth mother is also adopted--from South Korea when she was about a year or so old. It's something that I've only recently begun to explore, and your talk has really helped me articulate some of my complicated feelings about my adoption. It's hard for me to know how to explain these feelings of loss and anger to my adoptive parents, and it's even more difficult for me to discuss them with my birth mother. I wish there were more resources concerning this type of trauma. Thank you for bringing more attention to this issue--what a gift it was to listen to your experience.