A social video showing a mother instructing her adopted child from Africa to put a bag of rice on her head because it’s “in her blood” drew backlash over the mother’s cultural education methods.
The video was posted on Instagram and YouTube Shorts by Kaylee Wilson. In it, Wilson directs her young adopted daughter to balance a large sack of basmati rice on her head while walking.
“Put it on your head, like an African,” Wilson encourages. “C’mon, you have to know how to do this. It’s in your blood.”
As Wilson films the child walking with the bag on her head, she posts a short caption over the video stating, “We will do more training once we get to Nigeria.”
The video also shows Wilson balancing a sack on her head and walking through what appears to be a warehouse wholesale store.
In many African countries and other areas of the world, head-carrying is a practice that helps people carry and transport goods. The practice is deeply ingrained in the economic and social infrastructure as an important domestic and occupational responsibility.
While some deemed the moment cute and instructive, others expressed concerns with Wilson’s verbiage while educating the child about her heritage. Most commenters believed Wilson lacked cultural competency due to her choice of words and urged her to adopt better teaching styles.
“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,'” one person 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!” someone else wrote.
“I am AFRICAN and live in Africa and my parents have NEVER made me carry a heavy bag on my head,” another comment reads. “How carrying heavy bags on our head is in our blood, according to you, is diabolical.”
Wilson posted a follow-up video on her social media pages stating of her children, “They are proud to be African,” with emojis of Ghana’s and Nigeria’s national flags.
“We’ve spent over 2 years living in various African countries learning the culture and spending time with the people,” Wilson stated. “They don’t get offended, and they LOVE when we partake in their culture. We look forward to moving back to Lagos soon.”
Wilson, who runs an adoption coaching business, operates social channels with content about her lifestyle caring for her adopted and biological children.
