((PKG))  ADOPTION 3 / FEAR   
((Banner:  Police)) 
((Reporter:  Claire Morin-Gibourg))
((Camera:  Arzouma Kompaoré))  
((Map:  Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado)) 
 
((April Rauch, Mother of Adopted and Biological 
Children))  
What I do ask you almost every single day is to not wear 
your hood on your sweatshirt.  People perceive differently if 
they see you in your hooded sweatshirt versus your brother 
in your hooded sweatshirt.  You’ve told me that you’ve been 
followed in the Safeway up there, right? 
((Guyan Rauch, Adopted Son)) 
Yeah.
((April Rauch, Mother of Adopted and Biological 
Children))  
So, you know, so both the kids go up to Safeway to go 
grocery shopping.  Do you get followed at Safeway?  
((Henrik Rauch, Biological Son))  
I haven’t noticed it.   
((April Rauch, Adoptive Mother))  
You haven’t noticed it? 
((Guyan Rauch, Adopted Son))  
That’s probably a ‘no’. 
((Journalist))  
Are you worried about your brother?   
((Henrik Rauch, Biological Son)) 
Yeah.  I just don’t want him to get hurt because of the way 
he looks because he is my brother.
((April Rauch, Adoptive Mother))  
I thought that we were prepared to parent children of color.  
But I remember that the very first thing that really rocked our 
world was [the killing of] Trayvon Martin. 
((Picture of Trayvon Martin / Credit: AFP))   
Because I remember that photo that was released of him in 
his hoodie that looked so much like you, and we took you 
kids to the march here in Seattle.  And that just rocked my 
world.  That could have been you guys.
((NATS:  children marching and chanting)) 
(Chant:  I am Trayvon!  I am Trayvon!))  
((Locator:  Denver, Colorado))  
((Alex Landau, Adoptee))   
I was adopted when I was two days old.  
((Patsy Hathaway, Alex Landau’s Adoptive Mother))  
We just wanted a baby that would be healthy that could be 
ours legally and we did not care about skin color.  
((Alex Landau, Adoptee))  
When I was four years old, we adopted my younger sister 
Maya from a different biological family.  She is my sister just 
like my parents are my parents.  I never really had the ability 
to distinguish my skin color and how my skin color was 
different from other folks around me, even my parents.  
((Patsy Hathaway, Alex Landau’s Adoptive Mother))  
When you are Caucasian parents, you may go into it thinking 
on some level that you understand the concept of 
colorblindness and superficially we were terrific.  I mean, we 
knew that it would be good to have a name identity that they 
could relate to being black.  Alex was named after Alex 
English, an amazing Denver Nuggets basketball player who 
is also a poet, and Maya was named after [writer and 
activist] Maya Angelou.  And we joined a group for 
transracial adoptions and we bought the right kind of books 
and with black characters but we didn’t understand what it’s 
like to be black in America, what it’s like to grow up in a 
transracial family.  I did not understand about race.  I was 
totally naïve. 
((Alex Landau, Adoptee))  
((Credit:  Youtube, University of Denver Graduate School of 
Social Work))  
My name is Alex Landau and I appreciate everybody coming 
out here this evening.  I also am very thankful to be here.  I 
am a human right activist.  I am a community member in the 
Denver metropolitan area.  I am a survivor of extreme police 
abuse.  I didn’t even fully understand their capabilities.  I 
assumed being out of handcuffs that I can have an 
interaction with these law enforcement officers who were 
searching through my '84 Lincoln Town Car.  And to give you 
a description, if you’ve seen 'The Godfather' it would be what 
some people might consider a mobster mobile, very old, very 
big body.  I asked if I could see a warrant before they 
continued searching my car.  
((Chyron:  Re-enactment))   
((Alex Landau, Adoptee))  
However, these officers immediately became irate and 
began to punch me in the face.    
((NATS:  Alex Landau in the street where the beating 
happened)) 
It’s like right in this area, facing underneath my car and I 
could just feel the gun pressed to the side of my head.  And 
then, when I regained consciousness, they rolled me out by 
my ankles and dragged me across the grass.  And then let 
me bleed on an officer's jacket until the paramedics arrived.  
((NATS:  Police cars)) 
((Alex Landau, Adoptee))  
I almost bled out on the way to the hospital because I went 
into hemorrhagic shock.  And so, after the photos were 
taken, I received 45 stitches.  I was treated for a broken 
nose, diagnosed for a concussion and later with a brain 
injury. 
((Maya Landau, Alex Landau’s Adoptive Sister))  
I want you to know that, like, it affects me all the time.  But 
me, as a person, it’s hard for me to fully come up with the 
words to just say, I’m so sorry for what you went through and 
I should be more vocal and I am learning how to do that.  I’m 
learning how to be more outspoken.  
((Patsy Hathaway, Alex Landau’s Adoptive Mom)) 
What I had to do after the assault was to begin to talk about 
it and to fight for Alex.  
((Photo Credit:  Danielle Lirette))  
And by fighting and speaking out, I began to lose friends and 
immediate family members that I would talk about this stuff.  
But it’s been worth it, because that’s what you do.  If you 
don’t talk, then you’re complicit.  If you don’t fight racism, 
then you’re complicit.
((NATS:  Excerpts - "Mr. Officer,” Alex Landau))  
((Courtesy:  YouTube))  
((Popup Banner:  Landau settled a lawsuit with Denver City for 
$795,000 in 2011 and two officers were fired)) 
((Alex Landau, Adoptee)) 
It’s made me colder and it’s made me bitter.  There is a part of me 
that has been permanently altered.  I am a different person 
because of that night and it totally changed the trajectory of my 
life.  
((NATS:  Excerpts - "Mr. Officer,” Alex Landau))  
((Courtesy:  YouTube))