Not My White Savior: A Memoir in Poems - Softcover

Lee, Julayne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1945572434 ISBN 13: 9781945572432

Publisher: Rare Bird Books, A Barnacle Book, 2018

Synopsis

A provocative and furious book about race, culture, identity and what it means to be an inter-country adoptee in America

Julayne Lee was born in South Korea to a mother she never knew. When she was an infant, she was adopted by a white Christian family in Minnesota, where she was sent to grow up.

Not My White Savior is a memoir in poems, exploring what it is to be a transracial and inter-country adoptee, and what it means to grow up being constantly told how better your life is because you were rescued from your country of origin. Following Julayne Lee from Korea to Minnesota and finally to Los Angeles, Not My White Savior asks what does "better" mean? In which ways was the journey she went on better than what she would have otherwise experienced?

Not My White Savior is angry, brilliant, unapologetic, and unforgiving. A vicious ride of a book that is sure to spark discussion and debate.

About this title

About the Author

Julayne Lee was given up for adoption in South Korea as a result of the Korean War. She was adopted by an all-white Christian family in Minnesota, where she grew up. She has spent over fifteen years working with Overseas Adopted Koreans (OAKs). She lived in Seoul and now resides in Los Angeles, where she is a member of the LA Futbolistas and Adoptee Solidarity Korea―Los Angeles (ASK-LA). She is also part of the Adoptee Rights Campaign working to pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act to ensure all inter-country adoptees have US citizenship. This is her first book.

Review

"I thank God for this book! Not My White Savior. Julayne Lee has me captured in all of the poems. In her poem, "The sound of my name is revolution", she mentions that the sound of her name is “a melody, unknown familiar song...a punch to my gut.” Revolution. One of my favorite poems in this book is the letter to family called "Dear white family" where she explains “I cannot meet you on your white side, white lies suffocated me.” I love this collection of poems. Another favorite of mine is "Fuck you white Barbie" where she states “White Barbie did not help my self-esteem, she deceived me into thinking I had status.” Julayne goes IN in this book about being a Korean adoptee into a white American family. Listen to her revolution song."
―Jaha Zainabu, writer, poet, and writing teacher at the Community Literature Initiative

"Through the lens of her experience, Julayne Lee reveals in these poems the trauma of adoptees, the blindness of the world to their suffering, and the truths we must understand in order to do the work of ending a practice that sees children as profit."
―Beau Sia

"Not My White Savior is an unflinching poetry collection that rages against the injustices suffered in silence by the adoptee community and, for many years to come, will serve as both beacon and megaphone for those two hundred thousand forgotten children scattered across the globe."
―World Literature Today

About this edition

• Publisher: Rare Bird Books, A Barnacle Book
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1945572434
• ISBN 13: 9781945572432
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128