Babies R Us held a
contest of 'first baby in 2007', and the winner is a Chinese American girl born in a hospital in New York city. The prize, $25,000 US bonds for the girl's future education was withheld because the mother of the girl is an illegal immigrant. The prize was then given to an African American baby, the runner up.
The award in the form of US bonds is a scholarship that goes to the first
American baby that's born at the starting of year 2007. The money will be available when the baby turns 18 years old.
The Seagull considers this a vivid case of discrimination on color. The money was intended for the child's education. The child is a legal US citizen. Her prize was taken away because of her mother's immigration status. This in fact created a second class citizen based on a person's parents, which is totally unacceptable.
After a month long protest and facing a lawsuit, Babies R Us decided to give equal prize to all top 3 babies. The correction was welcomed by some ethnic communities, while irritated some
all through (as in the runner up baby's mother's words) Americans, and agonized criticism from some others, for example,
Sean Hannity of the FOX News.
