Black Faces in White Spaces: Racism Within Homeschool Groups
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2022
- In this episode, I will be having a candid conversation with Pamela Smith a veteran homeschool mom, business owner, and former director of an evangelical homeschool program, who is working on a groundbreaking book titled, Black Faces in White Spaces. In her upcoming book, Pamela shares her heartbreaking experiences as a black, Christian homeschool program director and starts a very necessary conversation about what homeschoolers of color at times experience and also the underlying fear many new black homeschoolers have of entering majority white, evangelical homeschool spaces.
I have absolutely experienced this. Currently I am a director of a program. It is not easy.
Well that surely explains a few things about why there’s a sea of white/some browns but that’s it in all of our homeschool communities. That seriously sucks and I’m so sorry that y’all have had that experience across the board & in all (or most) of your experiences.
Just FYI there are a bunch of evangelical Christians I'm Africa. If your daughter wants to visit she can make sure she post pictures. Always, keep your options open
I literally had a panic attack listening to this. So much of it sounds familiar. I lead a mixed race group with a white partner and am respected by the very few white folks who join, but so many don’t join because of who I am. Ps. We focus on history.
I know this is a touchy subject, but it needs to be discussed because a lot of us have experienced some aspect of this. I wanted our conversation to be seasoned with grace, however, and not come across as bashing. I am hopeful that this conversation will give our evangelical brethren and us some food for thought since as Christians, we are all a part of the body of Christ.
A Heart 4 Homeschool you did an excellent job.
@@MsAndrea Thanks so much!
There were so many takeaways from your candid conversation.They’re comfortable with us being the aid or help but never in a position of leadership higher then them. Thank you for your transparency. 🫶🏾
To be fair, this was an experience highlighting racism and discrimination, but that is not the case always. I was actually President of my local predominantly white, Christian co-op. I've also been welcomed into other co-ops without incident. That by no means takes away from the fact that co-ops have the capacity to be more segregated, divisive, and harmful than public schools if we don't acknowledge and speak against instances like Pamela Smith's when this happens. I am never surprised when this happens in the world, but God forbid we, as Christians, claim Christ and act the way Pamela described! Thanks for listening and for your comments!
As a white evangelical homeschooling mom, I absolutely have respect for whoever shows me they are respectable. This lady in the video would have had my complete respect and I would have loved to get to know her and have our children hang out together as well had I been in her co-op. I look at everyone for who they are on the inside by how they handle themselves and what their responses are showing their hearts; and if they are Christian, they are my sisters and brothers in Christ and that is all that should matter at the end of the day.
I truly enjoyed your conversation and it has brought up a couple of things I have yet to put in depth thought into. This is for the fact that, yes, I am white and I haven't had to deal with some of these things these fine ladies have yet I have been the victim of racism at a very early age at public school in the 2nd grade; my best friend was black and her mom told her that she couldn't be my friend anymore because I was white. I was heartbroken because she and I had so much fun and were always partners when we had partner assignments and we even swapped eachother our favorite stuffed animals to have a sleepover one night! I loved being her friend and she eventually got very aggressive toward me after her mom forbade her from being my friend and one day she said "one day black people will own white people." My mom and dad hadn't told me about slavery when I was that young so I hadn't the slightest idea what she was even talking about but it scared me because the thought of anyone owning another human being hurt my heart and I just didn't know what to do with that other than just go away and leave her alone. This stuck with me for a long time because obviously, 30 years later I still remember this so vividly. I wanted to tell this story to remind people that racism can affect any melanin content and although we don't as often see it the way I experienced it, it is ugly in ANY and ALL forms!
I am thankful that Christian women of all shades of brown (we are ALL just different shades of brown; put a piece of white construction paper beside my head and you will see that I am not "white" the same way if you hold up a black sheet of construction paper to either of these ladies' faces, you will see they are not "black" just varying amounts of melanin "brown") are choosing to talk about this. It's important to talk about the 'uncomfortable' realities of different people because we are all different and each set of experiences = different realities. I absolutely agree with the lady on the left when she said that we NEED to do this to make sure our children's realities are better than ours because that is the ultimate job of a parent. I believe that Jesus Christ is the ULTIMATE answer to these issues; Christ is at the CORE of healing and we ALL need to understand that we are ALL sinners and sinners is how OUR maker sees ALL of us (except Jesus who is blameless and sinless) and this is the most important way we need to come together!
Thank you for being my sisters in Christ and I pray our children retain their ability to "just play without seeing outward differences before understanding the inner common trait that unites us all."
❤️✝️❤️🙏❤️