NYU offers 'Racial Literacy' and 'Anti-Racism' courses for 'educators and trainers'

This fall, New York University’s School of Professional Studies (NYU) will offer a series of courses on topics ranging from “intersectionality” to “Black voter suppression” geared towards “educators and trainers.”

According to the course descriptions, grouped together under “Racial Literacy and Anti-Racism Practices,” the individual classes are intended to help equip participants with the tools needed to “respond and fight effectively” when they recognize “signs of racism.”

Each course has a registration fee of $59 and will be taught online for a session lasting an hour and forty minutes.

One course called, “An Introduction to Intersectionality: Positioning and Situating Identities,” aims to teach people how their personal identity is affected by their social status and how social norms common with certain ethnic groups have become more valued than others. Participants will learn how their identity relates to the level of discrimination or privilege they supposedly receive. 

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Participants will learn how people can experience multiple forms of oppression due to their identities and how minorities might develop defense mechanisms to cope. 

Instead of learning to look past race, participants will learn to instead look at individuals through the prism of their identities. 

NYU will also offer a course called, “The Fight Against Black Voter Suppression.” The description claims that Black voters  lack equal access and opportunity to participate in the electoral process. It also asserts that rampant “coronavirus misinformation” was used as a method to reduce Black turnout for the 2020 election. 

Participants also have the option of taking a course titled, “Microaggressions and Racial Stress: Reducing Harmful Interactions.” This course will aim to reduce the discomfort of racial conversations through increasing “racial literacy.” The course will teach that questions such as “where do you come from” can cause mental distress and even depression in minorities. 

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Although minorities often face slights that can be belittling and hurtful, prominent social scientists are skeptical of the popular approach to handling microaggressions.