We Refuse: Why Black Families Are Choosing to Homeschool

I’m reading a powerful book right now: We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson. It’s a great look at how our people have always fought back. And as I read, I started thinking about us: Black homeschoolers.

Homeschooling is resistance too.

We didn’t choose to homeschool because it was trendy.

We didn’t choose it because it was easy.

We chose it because we refuse.

We refuse to hand over our children to systems that were never designed with them in mind. Systems that still carry the fingerprints of plantation logic and colonial control. Systems that call our children “disruptive” when they show brilliance, “defiant” when they ask questions, and “behind” when they don’t measure up to someone else’s standard.

We refuse.

We refuse to let our children be miseducated.

We refuse to let their first lessons be shame, silence, and survival.

We refuse to let them be molded into something smaller than what their ancestors dreamed.

We homeschool because we know that liberation begins at home.

Because we’ve seen too many of our babies lose their light before they even hit double digits.

Because we believe in African-centered education that nourishes the mind, spirit, and soul.

We refuse to let their worth be measured by test scores.

We refuse to let them only meet Malcolm in February.

We refuse to watch them sink under labels, under expectations, under desks where they don’t belong.

We are not waiting for a revolution. We are raising one.

This isn’t isolation. It’s reclamation.

It’s not running away. It’s returning.

To ourselves. To our way. To the village.

And so, with revolutionary love, with intention, with fierce protection…

We refuse.

Baba Dr. Brotha Samori Camara