‘They Not Like Us’: a kitchen-table talk on Black queer thriving in early childhood teacher education

In Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’, the central refrain is one of naming the gap between performed identity and actual impact. As Black queer teacher educators, this dynamic resonated immediately with our experiences navigating critical early childhood spaces, where peers openly communicate their allyship while their actions tell a different story. Grounded in a Queer of Color Critique lens, we utilised bi-weekly kitchen-table talks to transparently and vulnerably share our experiences navigating higher education. The objective of this inquiry was to centre Black queer women and nonbinary early-career educators and scholars in early childhood teacher education and to clarify who ‘us’ is and what makes our standpoint unique. Our reflections illuminated three themes: advancing criticality, disrupting respectability politics, and reflecting on becoming new. We imagine a future where Black queer scholarship and intersectional knowledge empower educators and children, promoting true safety, belonging, and thriving across teacher education.