Let’s Keep It Real(ism): Preservice Teachers of Color and the Permanence of Racism in Teacher Education

Grounded in Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism and a Critical Race Feminista methodology, this paper examines how a teacher education program (TEP) perpetuated whiteness and racism, and how these structures shape the experiences of preservice teachers of Color. Drawing on group pláticas with two Future Teacher of Color cohorts across two academic years, the findings reveal that the TEP bolstered whiteness and racism through retrenchment on critical and cultural pedagogies; performative diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; and anti-Blackness. Preservice teachers of Color experienced significant isolation, dismissal, and extra labor. Yet, they resisted, finding community and collective healing. This contributes to the literature supporting preservice teachers of Color and keeps it real by grappling with the permanence of racism to better support future teachers of Color.