New Jersey school district course teaches students concepts such as critical race theory, whiteness, white fragility, and microaggressions

A Hillsborough Township School District course features concepts such as critical race theory, whiteness, implicit bias, and microaggressions. The high school class titled “Race in the United States” is an elective high school course that “will deepen students’ understanding of the history of race and ethnicity in the United States.”

The unit titled “Race and Ethnicity in America Today” posits the question:

Outside of overt oppression, how does the dominant culture serve to reinforce itself on people of color?

The guide also states that “assimilation is sometimes favored over acculturation or appreciation for diversity.” Unit content and key terms include “Whiteness,” “privilege,” “police brutality,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Critical Race Theory,” “microaggressions,” and “internalized racism.”

Another unit titled “Active Citizenship” asks students how they can “make a difference in promoting social justice.” Content and key terms include “focus on the individual vs institutional,” “white fragility,” “defunding the police movement,” and “collective action.”

Course books and articles include Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege, Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” The 1619 Project, and Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible.