Kaylee Wilson, a white mother, faced online backlash after posting a video of her adopted Black daughter, Wella, struggling to balance a bag of rice on her head while shopping. In the video, Wilson was heard telling the nine-year-old to carry the bag because “it’s in your blood.”
Wilson, who has one son and three daughters, two of whom are Black, defended her comments amid the criticism, as reported by Daily Mail.
“Put it on your head, like an African,” Wilson can be heard ordering her daughter, who was originally born in Ghana. “Come on, come on. You have to know how to do this. This is like in your blood,” she tells her as the youngster struggles to place the 20lb bag of Royal Basmati rice on her head.
RELATED STORIES
The young girl can be heard saying “ow!” upon feeling just how heavy the bag is.
A caption appears over the video stating, “We will do more training once we get to Nigeria.”
The video then shows Wilson attempting the same task, struggling with the weight of the rice sack as she tries to balance it on her head.
“Oh that’s pretty heavy! Oh gosh!” she says aloud, before walking off down the aisle balancing it on top of her.
Despite the cultural insensitivity of her remarks towards her daughter, Wilson defended herself in a follow-up post, responding to critics.
“We’ve spent over 2 years living in various African countries learning the culture and spending time with the people,” Wilson wrote on her Instagram together with the African flags of Ghana and Nigeria.
“They don’t get offended, and they LOVE when we partake in their culture. We look forward to moving back to Lagos soon!”
Online commenters harshly criticized Wilson for her remarks about the child she adopted in 2016.
“It’s in ur blood was not a cute thing to say to her,” wrote one poster.
“If this is what you willingly film I wonder what happens in privacy,” added another.
“You have no shame. That poor baby deserves so much better. Praying she finds a loving and caring family she deserves. Rather than being EXPLOITED repeatedly by the so-called ‘family’ that adopted her,” wrote a third.
“The fact that you don’t know why your words are insensitive tells me all that I need to know… the historical context is so far beyond people being ‘offended’ or ‘sensitive’,’’ another commented.
“This is SO disrespectful, even IF she is an African since when is something from her culture IN HER BLOOD? Carrying a bag of rice is NOT in her blood!” one follower stated.
“I am AFRICAN and live in Africa and my parents have NEVER made me carry a heavy bag on my head. How carrying heavy bags on our head is in our blood, according to you, is diabolical,” chastised another.
In a recent social media post, Wilson’s family announced their plans to adopt a third baby from Africa later this year. This adoption process will require the family to move to Nigeria for at least six months to complete the necessary paperwork.
“We have realized even more the past couple months that adopting children is our main calling – to go get the children that God highlights to us and bring them back to our homestead to heal and be loved and raised in our family,” Wilson wrote.
