California school district spends $170K on diversity courses for teachers, such as 'Thriving as a Racially Conscious Person'

A California school district spent more than $170,000 for training from a consulting firm to teach educators how to be a thriving "racially conscious person" and how to understand "marginalization" and "privilege."

Documents obtained by the Daily Wire showed that the Riverside Unified School District in California had a contract with Epoch Education worth $171,000.

The district paid for an "Equity Series" for $133,000, an "Equity Learning Series" for $24,000, and "Site Lead Coaching" valued at $14,000.

A document for the Equity Learning Series revealed several of the critical race theory-inspired learning sessions and outcomes.

In a course called "Thriving as a Racially Conscious Person," participants "explore the meaning of race, ethnicity, culture, identity, and intersectionality evolving parts of the human experience."

The session "Let’s Talk About Race" informs participants that they will "deepen their understanding of historical and systemic racial inequity in order to identify how this important context impacts current organizational beliefs, practices and policies."

As well, "Understanding Marginalization, Privilege, and Belonging" teaches how to "recognize and interrupt examples of marginalization and privilege in order to actively create communities of belonging in their organizations through inclusive environments," and more.

Another document from Epoch Education offered programs for those who wish to go above and beyond in their racial discrimination learnings.

The "Creating Sustaining Equity Series" is recommended for "organizations ready to go beyond allyship to anti oppression." This program warns participants to be ready for some "deep transformative work" across five separate two-hour sessions.

The organization boasted other registered and trademarked activities such as "Compassionate Dialogue® and the RIR Protocol™," which is short for "Recognize, Interrupt and Repair."

In 2022, the Federalist reported on a since-deleted portion of the Riverside School District website that promoted an essay titled "Decentering Whiteness."

"Whiteness needs to be taken out of the center to join other racial/cultural groups on the margins. Simply attacking whiteness is not enough to accomplish this goal," the essay read. "Assaults on whiteness, depending on their nature, may have the effect of confirming and solidifying the central position of whiteness in American society. Like a prize fighter who by defeating all contenders expands their reputation and retinue, whiteness may find its position reinforced while those who attack it are relegated further to the margins."

The essay is a work from 2015 by Jeff Hitchcock and Charley Flint.

Epoch Education also has an unlisted presentation series on YouTube titled "What is Critical Race Theory?"

The presentation included slides that said, for example, "White male supremacy is a universal concept ... it is a pillar upon which the nation was founded, the government was established, and the constitution was created."

Other videos on the channel included "How To Support The LGBTQIA+ Youth In Your Life" and a podcast titled "A Story On Access and Higher Education for a Non binary Student."

Riverside Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment.

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