Its funny how I could not find a decent article after an hour of searching on how to effectively teach a child about race.

It seems that EVERYONE has an opinion about this or that, and I have yet to read anything about Christ.

Apparently, the solution lies within the person, and not God.

Far be it!

You can’t teach race without God.

So, after an hour of reading this and that, I determined in myself to make up my own book list.

I did this because sometimes, as parents, we need a little help. A push in the right place.

Race is one of those things.

I’ve been thrown into this race talk with my children. I remember telling my pastors wife, not long ago that its been difficult. The girls just don’t understand why somebody would not like them, each child is different, and the talk is received differently. When I saw a look in my younger daughters’ face, it frightened me. She hates injustice, like her sisters taking her candy and not getting in trouble. This was big to her, and she had the look of resentment.

From then on, my husband and I determined within ourselves to find a better way. As I scrambled around for books, I realized the main book and really the only book is The Holy Bible.

If you do not instill the Word of God into your kids, you cannot effectively teach them about race.

Why, because God is love. We cannot love one another or have social justice without God.

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

1 john 4:8, Acts 17:28

With that being said, we integrated the race talk with the Bible.

We explained to them that God is no respecter of persons, followed by Biblical example:

“Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”

Acts 34-35

Then we sat down with various morning devotions that involved race.

For example:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37

Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman at the well, in John 4:1-26

We added in more Scripture, one a day:

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by a man’s face or height, for this is not the one. I don’t make decisions the way you do! Men judge by outward appearance, but I look at a man’s thoughts and intentions.”

1 Samuel 16:7

“Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.”

Colossians 3:25

“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.”

Romans 10:12

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:31

“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

1 John 3:15-16

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

1 John 4:19-21

“But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

James 2:9

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Romans 12:3

You see where I am going here. Gods word has ALWAYS had the answers. But since this country has taken God out of everything, the world is lost.

I remember the first major movie my girls ever saw were they were personally able to relate to the character.

It was a “An American Girl Story—Melody 1963: Love Has to Win” which is centered around a 10-year-old girl who sees inequality in all directions. That includes police brutality against peaceful African American protesters, young girls being arrested for eating at an all-white lunch counter, and most traumatically the 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing.

“The moon might be a safer place for a black child to grow up in than America.” Is stated by her grandfather.

The movie was a great watch, we had to stop it occasionally to explain some things to our daughters. However, after the first viewing, my youngest could not stand to watch it again. She loved the character, cheered her on, but the inequality was just too much for a little six-year-old mind to handle. No matter how much explaining we did.

My parents never explained race to us. As kids, we saw everyone as just kids.

I do remember times when shopping with my father, a big black man, might I add, standing at 6’2 and lean, many people, other than black would avoid the aisle. I never knew why, nor did my daddy tell me. I know now.

So, it’s no wonder that, when I saw the death of George Floyd, I quickly thought about my daddy. He was raised in a time where racism was dominate. To this day, its hard for him to trust another race, but he makes every effort.

That could have been my father. Most other races have always feared him because of how he looks. He is as sweet as a papa bear. My daddy!

Hate could have killed him too!

Therefore, we learned racism at school. We grew up in Long Beach, California and lived in neighborhoods where the schools were not what my parents considered good.

So, they fought to have us bussed to another school, miles away.

We always went to schools predominantly white, Latino, and Asian. We were let on early that we were “different,” and received many stares from many parents whose children played with us.

The funny thing is, I never even fit in with my own race, I was myself. I wanted different, and if I saw a certain trait in a person, I moved on. I wanted friends who shared the same interest. Most of my childhood friends were Latina girls. The best of friends I always had, until high school. Where I had my first black best friend. We have been friends since 2003!

I can only speak for me here, my husband had a different background, and grew up in a different atmosphere. If you would like his take, let me know in the comments below.

Race is tricky without the Word of God. So, I start my book list with the Bible.

I have listed books you can read with your child, or have family discussions with and I also tried to compile books that your youngsters can read on their own, as well as Children’s Bible stories that relate to the scriptures I listed above.

Sometimes, as parents, we can’t share our past thoughts on racism with our children. We need have a renewed mind in Christ, to teach love, and the consequences that happen without love.

I hope you enjoy these titles.

---

If you have any recommendations to add, leave them in the comments below.

I hope you have enjoyed this homeschool blog. Thank you for visiting us today, God bless you!

Love,

Randomnestfamily

From Our Shop to Your Homeschool:

Recent Homeschool Articles: