California school district’s curriculum cites Osama bin Laden’s manifesto

California school district’s curriculum cites Osama bin Laden’s manifesto as proof US ‘targeted Muslim communities’

EXCLUSIVE — Required curriculum at a California high school is teaching critical race theory, its tenets, and recurring themes of power, privilege, and oppression threaded throughout retellings of American history.

The North Monterey County Unified School District’s newly introduced ethnic studies course teaches high school students that America is an “imperial colonizer” and that “9/11 served as a catalyst to bring about more blatant discrimination” against Muslims, according to instructional documents obtained by Defending Education and shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner.



The one-semester course in ethnic studies is a graduation requirement for students graduating in 2029 and beyond. In order to obtain a high school diploma, students must complete the mandatory course between grades 9 and 12, the school board policy manual says.

NMCUSD recently approved the “district-developed” ethnic studies course at a July 23 school board meeting. North Monterey County High School began teaching the class this school year, which started on Aug. 11.

The California school district mandating CRT curriculum comes as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on politicized lesson plans in public education. In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at stopping “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools, specifically targeting teachings that advance “anti-American, subversive” ideologies and “undermine national unity.”



The course description states that “students will understand the intersectional themes of Indigeneity, coloniality and hegemony to explore issues of self and communal identities, examine intergenerational trauma and foster collective hope and healing.”


According to the class syllabus, students enrolled in the ethnic studies course are supposed to “gain the knowledge, skills, and disposition necessary for transformational change through a positive image of self, community, and critical hope for a more just and equitable world.”

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