(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) A leftist professor of Africana studies has taken to the digital pages of MSNBC to warn her peers about the racist origins of the homeschooling movement.
It may seem harmless, but the insidious racism of the American religious right’s obsession with homeschooling speaks volumes, writes @AntheaButler. https://t.co/7JCUCXd7Q6
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 12, 2022
As more and more disenchanted parents of all races turn to homeschooling in the aftermath of the pandemic, the Left is worried that they will lose their grooming grip on future generations.
Following the lead of disgraced former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann — who spent Mother’s Day attacking homeschooling mothers — University of Pennsylvania professor of religious studies and Africana studies, Anthea Butler, wrote a tendentious column comparing homeschooling parents to segregationists.
“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 wrote, referring to the ruling that abolished racial segregation in public schools.
Not content with the mere implication, Butler went on to describe homeschooling as “another, more insidious way to circumvent integration.”
Homeschooling, Butler said, is one part of an attempt by fundamentalist and racist Christians to dismantle the public education system.
“This dismantling has taken shape over the years in various ways: in segregation academies, in school vouchers, in attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education,” Butler wrote.
She also pointed to President Donald Trump’s appointment of Betsy DeVos, a prominent school choice advocate, as Secretary of Education as an example of this sort of racism in action.
DeVos’ crime, according to Butler, is to tell the truth about critical race theory at “homeschooling conventions.”
Butler is forced to admit, toward the end of her column, that many of the new post-pandemic homeschoolers are black.
“Some of that increase may be attributed to Black parents and other diverse groups who are now finding homeschooling as an attractive alternative,” Butler wrote in the only sensible part of her column.
Meanwhile, as KTTH has reported, Seattle Public Schools are hosting racially segregated “listening sessions” to discuss making the school district “more welcoming.”
“The district is trying to segregate our communities,” one parent said.
