Minneapolis government schools just got caught doing something that should outrage every American.
Several high schools in the district created a two-tiered system that treats students differently based on the color of their skin.
And Minneapolis Schools were caught in one racist scheme against white and Asian students that left parents outraged.
Minneapolis government schools ban white and Asian students from two courses
South High School, Minneapolis’s oldest and largest government high school, lists two courses in its 2025-2026 curriculum guide that are explicitly restricted by race and gender.¹
"BLACK Culture – Building Lives Acquiring Cultural Knowledge" is open only to black men. "BLACK Culture – Building Lives Acquiring Cultural Knowledge (Queens)" is open only to black women.²
Roosevelt High School, Edison High School, and North High School all offer these racially segregated courses as well, according to their course catalogs.³ The courses count toward Minneapolis Public Schools’ electives requirement, meaning white and Asian students have fewer options to choose from when trying to meet their graduation requirements.
One course examines "the complexity of the black male experience by exploring the lived reality of black men in the United States."⁴ The women’s course explores "the experiences of Black girls in public schools" and is designed for black girls who "will explore different topics relevant to their lives as Black students" and "build a sisterhood" while learning about "creating healthy, positive relationships."⁵
Civil rights attorneys say the segregated classes violate federal law
Dan Morenoff, executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, told the Washington Free Beacon this practice is almost certainly illegal.
"It is extremely hard to imagine how this could possibly be legal under either Title VI or Title IX to literally have programming explicitly open only to one race," Morenoff explained.⁶
The courses are offered in collaboration with MPS’s Office of Black Student Achievement. Director Dena Luna previously told the Wall Street Journal that "a lot of times within our education system, black students are expected to conform to a white standard."⁷
"In our spaces, you don’t have to shed one ounce of yourself because everything about our space is rooted in Blackness," Luna added.⁸
Some education advocates have tried to argue that optional elective courses can comply with civil rights law. Morenoff destroyed that argument.
"I am sure that there are those who would tell you that they could draw a distinction based on whether or not this was compulsory given the language of Title VI," Morenoff said. "I strongly doubt that those arguments are good."⁹
He laid out exactly why the elective designation doesn’t matter legally.
"Is there a federal funding recipient? Yes. Does the federal funding recipient have a program that we’re talking about? Yes. Is that program and its benefits being afforded to individuals or denied to individuals based on their race? The answer is very clearly yes. We’re kind of done. It doesn’t actually matter whether it’s mandatory," Morenoff explained.¹⁰
Minneapolis government schools give white and Asian students fewer graduation options
Attorney Jason Torchinsky, who is representing a Harvard Business School student in a civil rights case against Harvard University, called the racially segregated courses a legal "problem" for Minneapolis Public Schools.
"Clearly allowing a governmental program that is only open to individuals of a particular race is a problem under the U.S. Constitution and U.S. civil rights laws, and frankly, probably also under state civil rights laws," Torchinsky stated.¹¹
He noted the gender restrictions make the situation even more egregious.
"The fact that they further restrict the courses based on gender as well is even more stunning," Torchinsky added.¹²
Torchinsky posed a simple test that exposes the absurdity of Minneapolis’s position.
"Substitute any other minority in for ‘African American male’ or ‘African American female,’ and tell me if anybody would say it would be okay to restrict a course only to particular races or genders. And the answer is no," Torchinsky said.¹³
Minneapolis Public Schools requires students to receive five elective credits to graduate high school. By barring white students from certain courses that fulfill this graduation requirement, these students objectively have fewer options to complete the coursework needed for a diploma.
The Office of Black Student Achievement was established in 2014 as the Office of Black Male Student Achievement to "address the needs of the largest demographic group within MPS."¹⁴ It began offering resources to girls in 2019.
The office’s website claims "the educational system was designed for the educational success of White students, which had and continues to have a direct and negative impact on the opportunities and experiences of Black students."¹⁵
"We are not here to ‘fix’ Black students. In fact, we are here to change the beliefs and mindsets of educators as well as awaken the greatness within Black students," the website states.¹⁶
Look, Brown v. Board of Education settled this issue 70 years ago. The landmark Supreme Court case explicitly bars any racial discrimination in government schools — period. Whether it’s mandatory or elective doesn’t change the constitutional violation.
But here’s the question Minneapolis school officials don’t want to answer: why are taxpayer-funded government schools offering these woke courses in the first place?
Minneapolis Public Schools received roughly $250 million in federal pandemic relief funds.¹⁷ Some of that money went to the Office of Black Student Achievement, which had an operating budget of $2.2 million in 2024.¹⁸
The district’s academic results expose where the real priorities lie. Just 36 percent of Minneapolis Public Schools students are proficient in math.¹⁹ Test scores plummeted during the pandemic and still haven’t recovered.
So instead of teaching kids basic math and reading, the district is spending millions on racially segregated courses that divide students by skin color. They’re running courses teaching about "building sisterhood" and exploring "Black male experiences" while two-thirds of students can’t do grade-level math.
These aren’t education courses — they’re ideological indoctrination sessions funded by taxpayers and designed to teach kids to see everything through the lens of race. The school district would rather push this woke nonsense than actually educate children.
That’s the real scandal here. Minneapolis isn’t just violating federal civil rights law with racial discrimination. They’re actively choosing to spend time and money on radical leftist programming instead of fixing their catastrophic academic failure.
Minneapolis Public Schools, South High School, Edison High School, Roosevelt High School, and North High School all declined to comment. The Office of Black Student Achievement also did not respond to requests for comment.²⁰
¹ Jessica Schwalb, "Minneapolis Public Schools Prohibit White and Asian Students From Taking Classes on ‘BLACK Culture’ and ‘BLACK Queens,’" Washington Free Beacon, October 16, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Ibid.
¹⁸ Ibid.
¹⁹ Ibid.
²⁰ Ibid.
