Abstract
ABSTRACTContemporary scholars of race contend that the long‐heralded “American Dream” rhetoric continues to thrive within the ideology of colorblindness, whereby race is deemed insignificant. Public schools are not insulated from this, and recent political assaults the teaching of “divisive” concepts have already had a chilling effect on classroom content, posing a threat to the affirmation of racially marginalized students. Using qualitative interviews, we examined the salience of ethnicity‐race and ethnic‐racial identity for students of varied ethnic‐racial groups (n = 22) in a middle school community that was ethno‐racially diverse, but where White students constituted a large segment of the population. Guided by critical race theory (CRT) and phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST), our analyses generated five thematic categories upon which ethnicity‐race were relevant to students: learning and appreciation for diversity, ethnic‐racial identity, teacher behaviors, student treatment, and same‐race peer connections and support. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for teachers and counselors to stand in solidarity with youth in challenging hegemonic whiteness in schools.
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