MSNBC column claims homeschooling is racist, part of ‘extreme’ ‘evangelical war’ to ‘dismantle’ public schoolshttps://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-column-claims-homeschooling-racist-part-extreme-evangelical-war-dismantle-public-schoolsIn an MSNBC opinion column Friday, columnist Anthea Butler warned about homeschooling being a "project" of evangelicals’ "war against public schools," one that also has "inidious" racist roots.
Butler began her piece by mentioning actor Kirk Cameron’s documentary "The Homeschool Awakening" and how it shows that staunch conservatives are planning to launch an assault against public schools.
"’Public education has become public enemy No. 1,’ the actor Kirk Cameron opines in a promotion for ‘The Homeschool Awakening,’ his documentary scheduled to hit theaters in June," she stated, adding, "as Cameron’s quote indicates, this latest project of conservative evangelical education is another salvo in the ongoing evangelical war against public schools."
"It should come as no surprise that evangelicals, fundamentalists and other religious conservatives have fought against public education since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education," Butler continued, framing this far-right, Christian "war" against public schools in a racial light.
Where is
LIEden's
Ministry of Truth?
So, for context, my wife and I homeschooled our children, "K-12". We started and for 4 years co-led a homeschool support group, volunteered at local and statewide conventions, and I was active on several homeschooling discussion sites. I'm not fishing for a pat on the back, just pointing out the contexts in which I became acquainted with and/or came into contact with thousands of homeschooling families. Even with that limited experience (thousands out of hundreds of thousand is a very low percentage), I can say from experience:
* While Evangelical Christians
might still be a majority of homeschoolers, a significant percentage of homeschoolers are liberal Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc., and many are atheists/agnostics;
* While whites are probably in the majority among homeschoolers, gazing around the exhibit hall of any homeschooling convention I've attended sufficed to see many east and south Asian, black, and (darker-skinned) Hispanic attendees. Did I mention that these conventions were put on by a Christian statewide organization?
* Our local support group grew to >100 families
really fast (it scared us, since finding places to meet and providing contexts in which supportive interaction could happen became interesting. For our fourth year we subdivided the group into several home groups, each with its own leaders, with oversight and things like the newsletter provided by the leadership of the whole group. Among the home group leaders were some non-whites, selected and asked to volunteer because of their qualifications, like all the group leaders.
* My wife and I, for several years, created, maintained, and distributed a homeschooling resources publication. After doing so for a few years, we started hearing that people requesting R4 Private School Affidavits from our county Office of Education received, along with their R4s, photocopies of a previous year's resource directory. We contacted the relevant Office of Education person, and found that she did this because she was more interested in children being educated than who did it. After that we provided each year's new edition until she retired a few years later. That was our "war against public schools", LOL, working with the Santa Clara County Office of Education!
Sorry for the verbosity, but concocting stupid false accusations is easy, as Anthea Butler demonstrated. Giving evidence that disproves the stupid false accusations is not brief.