The Critical Literacy of Race

Abstract

This chapter discusses the critical need for racial literacy in urban teacher education. It argues that urban teacher education programs must cultivate their students to become interrupters of inequality. Particularly in urban public schools across the country, the majority Black and Brown youth are undergoing what can be deemed as “educational genocide” – the killing off of any chances for an equitable education. The United States (US) Department of Education (USDOE) reported that nearly 50% of public school students are racially marginalized students or students of color. The perennial struggle to diversify the nation’s teaching force is a phenomenon that has been studied for decades. Teachers of color are the minority in the workforce, and this reality is one of the main challenges facing how children of color are taught and treated in urban schools. Racial literacy has grown in popularity as a framework for ending racism.