As a new homeschooler, I have been an active seeker of information.  I spent hours in the library, researching public education, educational alternatives and homeschooling.  I also sought out homeschool support groups in my area.

I became a member of an African-American homeschool group.  My membership in that group was extremely useful as it helped me to clarify not only my homeschooling agenda, goals and values but my religious beliefs as well.  I was challenged to define the roles of race and religion in my life in ways that I had never read or heard about before.  Here is some of my story.

Initially, the members of our AfAm support group formed with only a hazy idea of what we were looking for in the group.  Reasons for forming the group seemed as diverse as the founding members. Some had entrepreneurial ideas for the group, others wanted to be sure that their children learned African-American history, still others wanted their children to be exposed to other African-American homeschooled children.  And the majority of us also wanted our children to associate with other children who were being taught the ways of the Lord and we wanted the chance to encourage each other in the Lord.

It was this final point that I believe became the undoing of the unity of the group.  You see, for those members for whom this was not an important or even a desired shared experience, the topic of religion became a thorny one.  After countless hours of discussion our differences came down to this question: which was most important to us- our racial identity or our Christian identity? Or put a different way, if we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, should we focus on our racial differences? Could we really call ourselves an African-American support group if our group was based on Christian principles and included a Christian statement of faith? Would Muslim, atheist, buddhist and other non-Christian really feel welcome in our group?  Was it important that all stripes of African-Americans be included in our leadership then?  Would the Christian members of the group feel comfortable asking for prayer requests, discussing Bible studies and other topics of Christianity with some groups that are known in the African-American community as being hostile to Christianity because they view Christianity as racist?

The emergence of these tough issues challenged all of us to examine where we stood in terms of fatih and race.  I found myself standing at the intersection of race and faith and I felt exposed and batted about by the winds of controversey.  These were more than hypothetical questions. The answers to these dilemmas would determine our mission as an organization and therefore our activities, affiliations and goals.

In the end, after consultation with my husband and much prayer, I decided that for my family and I our Christian identity superseded our racial identity.  We want to teach our children that all peoples are seen as one by Christ by example. Seeking support from racially separatist organizations does not suit our family' statement of faith or our desire to live more Christ-like.

Having said that, I do see a role for organizations designed to inform and empower African-Americans to homeschool.  These do not have to be exclusively African-American organizations.  In fact the HSLDA, a Christian homeschool group, is leading this effort at this time.  It has never been more important.  Right now, African-American academic is at an all-time low both in public and private school settings across socioeconomic lines.  Decades at attempts to reform have failed.  I would like to see an organization that targets African-American parents to encourage them to consider homeschooling as a out of the cycle of poverty and academic under-achievement that is devastating our communities.

Links-race and Christianity:

Racism in the Bible

Book Review on Racist Christianity

Answers about African-American Christian History

Kwanza and Christians