Using an ethnographic approach the study describes the curricula that veteran urban high school special educators use in self-contained special education classrooms with majority Blacks and Latinos. The findings show that the teachers routinely exposed students to elementary level curricula and to material that was rife with racist images of Blacks and Latinos. The findings raise questions about the types of texts, supplementary resources, and professional development opportunities that special educators receive and bear implications for the ways in which special education teacher preparation programs account for widely- held societal viewpoints that shape teachers' beliefs and attitudes and drive their everyday practice. (Contains 3 footnotes.)