How White College Students Develop as Racial Justice Accomplices: Exploring an Emergent Framework

When white students get stuck in emotional turmoil, they often spend much energy trying to prove they are not racist, instead of learning, growing, or fighting racism. This article explores how white students in college develop as people committed to racial justice. A critical qualitative approach uses constructivist grounded theory methodology. With critical whiteness studies, the Development of Emerging White Accomplices model describes the growth process by unpacking four main categories: (1) Emerging Accomplice Mindset, (2) Impactful Experiences, (3) Coming to Terms with Myself, and (4) Finding my Place: Taking Action for Racial Justice. We highlight the five elements of the Emerging Accomplice Mindset—Curiosity; Agency, Empathy, Acceptance of Discomfort, and Persistence in the Journey—as critical to understanding the participants’ growth process. Recommendations and implications for practice are discussed to empower white students to move strategically through their guilt and insecurities to take action as racial justice accomplices.