“I’m really just scared of the White parents”: a teacher navigates perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injustice

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the perceived barriers that a secondary English teacher faced when attempting to discuss racial injustice through young adult literature in Mississippi.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors rely on Critical Whiteness Studies and qualitative methods to explore the following research question: What are the barriers that a White ELA teacher perceives when teaching about racial injustice through The Hate U Give?

Findings

The authors found that there were several perceived barriers to discussing modern racial injustice in the Mississippi ELA classroom. The participating teacher indicated the following barriers: a lack of racial literacy, fears of discomfort and an urge to avoid politics.

Originality/value

Much has been written about the urgent need for antiracist teaching practices in secondary English classes. This article explores the barriers a white ELA teacher perceived when attempting to discuss modern racial injustice through literature instruction in a white context of the “four pandemics” (Ladson-Billings, 2021).

Citation

Ellis, S.E. and Goering, C.Z. (2023), "“I’m really just scared of the White parents”: a teacher navigates perceptions of barriers to discussing racial injustice", English Teaching: Practice & Critique, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 531-545. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-05-2022-0067