Identity, Belonging, Racism and Multiculturalism 'Operation Babylift' was one of the defining events of the Vietnam War and its legacy will continue for many years. The world is unlikely to ever see anything like it again. It was at the end of the war in 1975, when under 'Operation Babylift' thousands of Vietnamese children were removed from the country and put up for adoption across the Western world. Al Jazeera's Cath Turner was one of those children - an Asian child growing up in white Australia. In this episode of Al Jazeera Correspondent, Cath returns to her native and adopted homeland to explore the psychological effects of transnational adoption on these Vietnamese babies. Taken from their homeland they became a very small minority in their adopted countries in a very obvious way By Cath Turner I have always known I had an unusual start to life. But like everyone else, I have no memory of my first few years. I do not remember anything about Vietnam. So I have always felt a bit detached from that part of my life. I have always talked about it like it was my cousin's experience or someone I vaguely know. When I pitched my story for the Al Jazeera Correspondent series, it was from a reporter's point of view. I wanted to draw attention to the short and long-term effects of adoption; of what happens when a child is moved to a foreign country and placed with a family that looks completely different. I wanted to talk about identity, belonging, racism and multiculturalism. It seemed like a story that people around the world would relate to, and Al Jazeera the perfect place to tell it. My editors agreed. But as we got closer to the first day of filming, I started to realise how personal it was going to be. Al Jazeera's viewers know me as New York correspondent. I am comfortable looking into the lens of a camera and talking about the United Nations, the New York Stock Exchange, the latest technology news or the economy. But that does not mean you know anything about my family, my childhood or where I grew up. This documentary was going to change all that. I was going to lay myself bare in front of the camera, relive some of the most difficult moments of my life and open myself up to judgement.
Identity, Belonging, Racism and Multiculturalism 'Operation Babylift' was one of the defining events of the Vietnam War and its legacy will continue for many years. The world is unlikely to ever see anything like it again. It was at the end of the war in 1975, when under 'Operation Babylift' thousands of Vietnamese children were removed from the country and put up for adoption across the Western world. Al Jazeera's Cath Turner was one of those children - an Asian child growing up in white Australia. In this episode of Al Jazeera Correspondent, Cath returns to her native and adopted homeland to explore the psychological effects of transnational adoption on these Vietnamese babies. Taken from their homeland they became a very small minority in their adopted countries in a very obvious way By Cath Turner I have always known I had an unusual start to life. But like everyone else, I have no memory of my first few years. I do not remember anything about Vietnam. So I have always felt a bit detached from that part of my life. I have always talked about it like it was my cousin's experience or someone I vaguely know. When I pitched my story for the Al Jazeera Correspondent series, it was from a reporter's point of view. I wanted to draw attention to the short and long-term effects of adoption; of what happens when a child is moved to a foreign country and placed with a family that looks completely different. I wanted to talk about identity, belonging, racism and multiculturalism. It seemed like a story that people around the world would relate to, and Al Jazeera the perfect place to tell it. My editors agreed. But as we got closer to the first day of filming, I started to realise how personal it was going to be. Al Jazeera's viewers know me as New York correspondent. I am comfortable looking into the lens of a camera and talking about the United Nations, the New York Stock Exchange, the latest technology news or the economy. But that does not mean you know anything about my family, my childhood or where I grew up. This documentary was going to change all that. I was going to lay myself bare in front of the camera, relive some of the most difficult moments of my life and open myself up to judgement.
Identity,-belonging,-racism-and-multiculturalism_1350527415.docx