One Family's Freedom School Experience
“Our son, Dax, attended Freedom School for the first time last year, and he will be an enthusiastic attendee again this year! My whole family loves Freedom School. Here’s just one of the reasons I, as a mom, love it so much.
My husband Phil and I adopted Dax as a newborn (we met him when he was 8 minutes old!). An adoption between a child and parents of different racial or ethnic backgrounds can be called a transracial adoption, and that’s our story. Our son is black, my husband and I are white.
We didn’t go into transracial adoption blind to the unique challenges it would introduce to our family. However, we were still surprised at how early Dax became aware of and began processing, often being in the racial minority. At three years old, on the way to his predominately white preschool, Dax told Phil, “Sometimes my brown skin feels lonely.”
Many things in our lives have changed because of that statement. Still, there is a sometimes-heartbreaking gap between what we can provide our son based on our experience and what he needs based on his experience. And then: Freedom School.
At Freedom School last year, my son was in a group of Scholars led by an incredible SLI (Servant Leader Intern) named JC. Kindergarten in Washington Township (Go Willow Lake Lions!) allowed Dax to be surrounded by kids who looked like him, which he absolutely loved. Freedom School offered my son access to a group of vibrant, brilliant, and Black young adults who had the tools to help him understand and feel less lonely in his own story and experiences.
One day, during IRC (Integrated Reading Curriculum), JC read a book to her group of Scholars where the main character experienced being the only Black kid in a room. Dax, who was 6 years old then, could share with his peers that he often felt that way. JC related, asked questions, and guided that moment. She provided something that he could only have received in that room at this point in his life. Not only did she listen, she empowered. Freedom School is not just about forming a community; it’s about teaching children that they can transform a community. They can make a difference.
My son is incredible. He is going to change the world, and Freedom School is changing him, me, and our whole family into exactly who we need to be to do that. Thank you, whoever is reading this, for supporting this program in whatever way you support it. As members of St. Luke's, as parents, we might not have the resources or the personal experiences to give this generation everything they need. But we have the resources to support people and programs who do. There’s no school like Freedom School.”
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Submitted by Kylee Larson