'Little chocolate brown guy' and she 'is ok because she's light': Adoption casework fraught with racism

An 'unusually unpleasant and disgusting view of humanity', assesses expert.

"Nice little girl - not noticeably dark".

"This last one is ok because she is light".

That is the message in letters from the adoption agency AC Børnehjælp in the 1980s about children from Lebanon.

DR has recently reported on how, according to experts, the adoption agency has been responsible for getting Lebanese children adopted to Denmark using means such as bribery and outright child trafficking. This is revealed in the new podcast series 'Falske minder'.

But the podcast series also reveals that the adoption agency has used language about the children that, according to an expert, is racist.

"It is racist and an expression of an unusually unpleasant and abhorrent view of humanity. It is a devaluation of people," says Klaus Josefsen, an external associate professor in administrative law at Aarhus University.

He believes that the descriptions are so crude that he has never seen anything like it before when it comes to adoption cases.

'Dark in the Sound' and 'mixed children'

DR has found the examples in letters and minutes of conversations between AC Børnehjælp's director, Folmer Lund Nielsen, and the agency's employee in Beirut, Grete Buhr.

Sunday's BT visited Grete Buhr in Beirut, who told the newspaper how she picked up children in a small bullet-riddled Honda during the civil war in the 1980s. A total of 63 adoptees have come from Lebanon to Denmark - Grete Buhr arranged for 49 of them. Original photos and text: Erik Pedersen, BT

The correspondence shows that Grete Buhr writes about the children's skin color when she is going to tell the adoption agency in Denmark about a new child they may have the opportunity to adopt. And it appears that the children's skin color is mentioned in connection with the child's suitability for adoption to Denmark.

- As I said, she is a little darker in tone than the average Lebanese child, writes Grete Buhr to AC Børnehjælp.

Folmer Lund Nielsen responds to this:

- We have chosen to place her with XX because you mention that she is a bit dark, and so is their boy.

Elsewhere, Grete Buhr mentions the children of Filipino women with Lebanese men:

- The question is, how interested are you in having these mixed children? The last one here is ok because she is fair.

And Grete Buhr describes another girl like this:

- Half Sri Lankan and half Lebanese, very adorable and white girl.

In several letters, pictures of the children are attached, "so that you can see the color or compare", as it says somewhere.

'He doesn't have to be paid for'

One example concerns a little boy whom Grete Buhr refers to as "a little Negro boy". At the time, he was named Johnny.

- She asks if we have parents for a little Negro boy, says a transcript of a conversation between Grete Buhr and Folmer Lund Nielsen.

Grete Buhr believes he is "mulatto" and calls him "the most adorable little boy on earth" and "the little chocolate brown guy".

But when they finally talk about the expenses Grete Buhr has for the children she expects to be able to give up for adoption in Denmark, she says:

- GB (Grete Buhr ed.) says the black one won't cost much! He's cheap, haha. He doesn't have to be paid for, she says."

And in a letter, Grete Buhr later writes that she had been arguing with the orphanage in Beirut where 'Johnny' was. The argument was about the payment for the boy, who Grete Buhr believed should be free of charge.

- There is nothing discriminatory in my stance of not wanting to pay for Johnny, but when no one else in Lebanon wants him because of his skin color, he should not be "sold" because we take him.

'Our mother acted out of care'

Grete Buhr died 18 years ago, and DR has therefore presented her criticism of child trafficking and racism to her children. They call it "violent accusations" directed at their mother.

- Accused, she herself does not have the opportunity to defend or explain.

They emphasize that their mother facilitated adoptions with good intentions.

- Our mother acted out of care for the children who were born during a violent wartime in the hope of giving these children a better future in Denmark, without war, destruction and death.

The criticism has also been submitted to the descendants of the former director of AC Børnehjælp, Folmer Lund Nielsen. But they have not responded to the inquiry.

'Johnny': It's shocking

DR has met the now adult man, who is no longer called 'Johnny', but who wishes to remain anonymous for reasons of his privacy. That is why we continue to call him 'Johnny' here.

Johnny had an impression of the now deceased Grete Buhr as a woman who felt she was doing something good.

Read also : She was seen as a savior who gave orphans a new life in Denmark. But there was also another story

But when DR tells him about how Grete Buhr and Folmer Lund Nielsen refer to him, and how, according to experts, they have been behind child trafficking, his image of her changes.

"That thing about paying back and forth and ordering children. It's shocking to hear in my own context," he says.

'Johnny' is clearly affected by the racism that can be read in the correspondence, and believes that even as a child he was treated worse than the other children.

- It rips up a lot of things, says Johnny.

 

It almost touches on a form of colonial vision from the past - and we are talking about the 1980s here.Associate Professor of Administrative Law Klaus Josefsen

External associate professor Klaus Josefsen believes that the correspondence between Grete Buhr and AC Børnehjælp testifies to a view of humanity that we would under no circumstances accept today.

- It's shocking. It almost touches on a form of colonial vision from the past - and we're talking about the 1980s here, he says.

In violation of convention and law

External lecturer in administrative law Klaus Josefsen believes that the cases from Lebanon involve a violation of the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination, which Denmark acceded to in 1971, and the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination on the Grounds of Race, etc., also from 1971, which is the Danish concretization of the UN Convention.

Rules that Danish authorities, such as the embassy in Beirut and approved adoption agencies, such as AC Børnehjælp and their mediation contact, were also obliged to comply with.

- These are extremely crude statements made by the Danish liaison, Grete Buhr. It is explicit racism, which she is clearly guilty of, he says.

- And it is especially shocking that the mediation organization at the time, AC Børnehjælp, which was approved by the Danish authorities to mediate adoptions, had full knowledge of this, he says.

Racism makes it clear that it was trade

Professor of social law at the University of Copenhagen, Stine Jørgensen, has also seen the correspondence from AC Børnehjælp.

The way the children are mentioned makes it clear that there has been child trafficking, she says.

 

The fact that some people are worth more or less than others because of their skin color clearly shows how the children who are released through international adoptions are considered commodities. Professor of Social Law Stine Jørgensen

- The fact that someone is worth more or less than others because of their skin color clearly shows how the children who are released through international adoptions are considered commodities, she says.

Stine Jørgensen emphasizes that the official justification for having a system for international adoption is to ensure the best interests of the child. It is about wanting to secure a family for a child who has no family.

- But then you can't start squinting at their skin color, you have to help the children who are in need - regardless of their skin color. So that completely goes against the idea of ​​the good welfare state that helps the children who would otherwise die on the streets or live in poor orphanages.

Behind the iron gate of a cemetery lies a secret that will change the history of many people. You can hear more about the cemetery, racism and the role of the authorities in the DR podcast series 'Falske minder'.