A biracial high school student in a Nevada charter school was challenged to label himself as “privileged” or “oppressed” in a racial-identity test — but his Christian faith settled the matter.
He’s an oppressor, according to the classroom instruction.
The student, William Clark, who is now a senior applying to colleges, sued his school in federal court for subjecting him to the social justice curriculum that he says violated his belief that all people are equal in the eyes of God.
The assignment that offended William, whose mother is Black and late father was White, is increasingly common in classrooms. More K-12 schools are adopting that type of curriculum based on critical race theory, which teaches America’s youth that the nation’s legal and governance systems are inherently racist and retain economic and political power for White people by oppressing people of color.
William’s school, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Clark County, replaced a civics education course that taught about democracy with critical race theory under a course titled “Sociology of Change,” which is based on teachings from Kimberl Crenshaw.
Ms. Crenshaw is a Black feminist and political activist who teaches critical race theory at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles, with a focus on oppression and discrimination against minority women.
Some of William’s class assignments told students that “reverse racism is not real” and that “Racism = prejudice + power … Therefore, people of color CANNOT be racist.”
His teacher would greet the class by calling the students her “wonderful social justice warriors.”
William refused to do the course work and received a D- in the class, well below the grade needed to improve his chances of getting into college.
“William Clark has suffered severe mental and emotional distress as a result of defendants’ actions and the hostile environment created by their official actions, all of which has negatively impacted his academic performance, personal relationships and future professional and academic prospects. He is in therapy addressing these harms,” his lawsuit states.
His lawyers said the school acted with “coercive and intrusive behavior,” which violated William’s free speech and constitutional rights.
The charter school defended its course work in court documents as part of its mission “to educate responsible citizen-scholars for success in the college of their choice and a life of active citizenship.”
The “Sociology of Change” course has students apply social theory to social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter.
“This coursework leads to students’ capstone Change the World project — an opportunity to put lessons about activism and community engagement into practice,” the charter school said.
The school argued that the class work was part of a reasonable pedagogical or teaching method and therefore could not be deemed a violation of First Amendment rights.
“Under Supreme Court precedent, the First Amendment affords educators broad discretion to set curriculum, and those decisions do not violate the First Amendment so long as the curriculum is ’reasonably related to [a] legitimate pedagogical concern,’” the school said in court papers.
The two sides agreed to several settlement conferences, but no resolution has been reached. The case appears to be heading toward a jury trial.
Ms. Crenshaw and Nevada state charter school officials did not respond to a request for comment about the litigation.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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