Hundreds of San Diego teachers 'voluntarily' attend 'white privilege' training where they are told to accept the US is built on stolen land and asked to commit to becoming 'anti-racist'

Hundreds of teachers in San Diego have attended a 'white privilege' training in which they were asked to commit to becoming 'antiracist' and acknowledge that they meet on stolen land taken from Indigenous peoples.

An article written by journalist Christopher F. Rufo, claimed the training is 'mandatory' for all teachers within the San Diego Unified School District.

Initially it was reported that the documents were leaked, but a spokesperson from the San Diego Unified School District told DailyMail.com that the book the session is based on is available on Amazon.

'Following the murder of George Floyd, we provided teachers with voluntary trainings from the Racial Healing Handbook. The contents were not secret,' a spokesperson for the district said. 

According to the district, 'the training was not mandatory' and 'hundreds of teachers participated voluntarily'. 

As part of the training, the teachers are to discuss how they would feel if they were told: 'You are racist.'

Teachers were also asked to discuss how they'd feel if they were told: 'You are upholding racist ideas, structures, and policies.'

Hundreds of teachers in San Diego have attended a 'white privilege' training in which they were asked to commit to becoming 'antiracist' and acknowledge that they meet on stolen land taken from Indigenous peoples

As part of the training, the teachers discussed how they would feel if they were told: 'You are racist' 

The documents show the outline of the discussion and the talking points, including 'how to become antiracist' and defining 'white fragility' 

'We are a majority minority district with a majority white teacher workforce. The ability to hold honest conversations about race with grace is important, which is why we offered the training and why so many teachers elected to enroll,' the spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

'Our students benefit from being able to talk about race and other difficult issues, regardless of their background. Most of all, we believe every open and sincere conversation about race -- no matter how it begins -- provides an opportunity to learn from one another, for hearts to open, and for minds to grow,' the statement continued. 

According to the spokesperson, the district also created a tool 'to help families talk about race and to help students who have been hurt by racism'

The documents show the outline of the discussion and the talking points, including 'how to become antiracist' and defining 'white fragility'.

In addition to the aforementioned, the seminar also included a section on 'land acknowledgement'.

'We acknowledge that we meet on stolen land, taken from Indigenous peoples. I am speaking to you from Kumeyaay land. We must acknowledge the hidden history of violence against Indigenous peoples in an effort to move towards justice,' one slide reads. 

The acknowledgement was referring to the Kumeyaay tribe of Indigenous peoples who were forced off their ancestral lands. They lived at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the US. 

According to Rufo's article, he believes that teaching 'white fragility' will do nothing to help students improve their academic abilities.

He says 'it will only serve activist teachers who want to shift the blame to “systemic racism".'

Such trainings stem from the reckoning that the nation faced this summer over racial injustice in policing and other spheres of American life following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, who died under the knee of a white police officer.  

According to the spokesperson, the district also created a tool 'to help families talk about race and to help students who have been hurt by racism' 

In addition to the aforementioned, the seminar also included a section on 'land acknowledgement'. 'We acknowledge that we meet on stolen land, taken from Indigenous peoples,' one slide reads 

President Donald Trump condemned such trainings in September and moved to end racial sensitivity training for federal government employees, claiming it is 'divisive, anti-American propaganda'. 

The Commander-in-chief said at the time that he wanted to cancel taxpayer funded seminars on 'critical race theory', describing them as 'a sickness that cannot be allowed to continue'. 

Systemic racism in America took center stage for discussions held on the local and national levels of government, including at the presidential and vice presidential debates.

At the first presidential debate, Trump said such training is 'teaching people to hate our country'.

Ultimately, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election, partly because they had 90 per cent of the black vote.

Last month, three civil rights groups filed a lawsuit, challenging Trump's executive order that prohibits federal agencies, contractors and grant recipients from offering certain diversity training.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed the complaint in federal court in Washington, DC, along with the National Urban League and the National Fair Housing Alliance. 

The lawsuit argued that Trump’s order violates free speech rights and strangles workplace attempts to address systemic race and sex discrimination.

The executive order 'unconstitutionally forces Plaintiffs to choose between censoring speech on these important issues or forfeiting any opportunity to enter into a federal contract,' the groups argued in the complaint. 

Donald Trump condemned such trainings in September and moved to end racial sensitivity training for federal government employees, claiming it is 'divisive, anti-American propaganda'. At the first presidential debate, he said these trainings teach people 'to hate our country'

Trump’s executive order, signed in October, called out workplace trainings that explore deep-seated racism and privilege that the administration says could make white workers feel 'discomfort' or guilt. 

The president then ordered the Labor Department to set up a hotline to investigate complaints about training sessions.

The directive uses a 55-year-old presidential order spurred by the Civil Rights Movement that sought to ban discriminatory practices at companies that contract with the federal government. 

Critics say Trump’s order twists President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 initiative into a vehicle for white grievances. 

The Labor Department is also using the 1965 presidential order to target companies, including Microsoft and Wells Fargo, over public commitments to expand or bolster black and Hispanic representation in leadership roles. 

The government opened inquiries into both companies, warning them against using 'discriminatory practices' to meet their goals.