Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Predominantly White educator groups often struggle to talk about race, even when that is their explicit aim. This study examines conversational patterns in one district’s antiracist book study to explore how individual comments promote or obstruct racial dialogue. We find that contributions that blocked race talk (what we call red lights) dominated discussions, reinforcing norms of race avoidance, while those that opened and encouraged race talk (what we call green lights) were rare. We use these terms to structure our analysis and propose them as a framework to help educators identify and disrupt race-avoidant conversational patterns to encourage racial literacy development. This research underscores the critical role of facilitation in guiding race talk and highlights the potential for red lights to be reframed as opportunities for growth.
DOI
10.1080/10665684.2025.2490894
Recommended Citation
Carey, A. J., Lustick, H., Noonan, J., & Piazza, P. (2025). Red light! Green light! An analytic frame & learning device for race talk. Equity & Excellence in Education, 1–13. Doi: 10.1080/10665684.2025.2490894
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
