Black Bullet in the Gun: Troubling Silence and Silencing in Antiracist Teacher Education

In this Voices: Reflective Accounts of Education essay, Esther O. Ohito considers with Sherry L. Deckman how silence and silencing are experienced corporeally in socioculturally situated spaces, foregrounding their affective contours and material effects in their exploration of emotionally charged dialogues about race and racism in educational settings. Building their narrative around a Black male teacher candidate’s experience in a social justice–oriented teacher preparation program, they reflect on the presence and effects of silence and silencing in that intimate white space. The essay concludes with implications for critical pedagogy relevant to the potentially transformative force of transgressive race talk that counteracts silence and silencing in white spaces.