ABSTRACT
Reports of “crack babies” mobilize sympathy for the struggling adoptive mother, who is generally white and middle-class and who is trying to undo the influence of the “bad” mother who is often black and part of the underclass. Media representations of crack divide ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mothers along class and race lines; this is part of a broader politics of reproduction and nurturance and of racial and class divisiveness. “Jittery, irritable” babies or children “overwhelmed by the sensations of everyday life” are common occurrences, and it would appear impossible to establish these conditions as due to such a specific cause as in utero exposure to crack cocaine. Children are portrayed as the innocent victims of their mothers’ willing negligence. Effectively, this eliminates any strategy for tackling the drug problem that would involve giving these women more autonomy and access to resources.
