'You can say that they were being racist': confronting white comfort in anti-racist teacher education.

This article explores the role of whiteness in shaping teacher education and the need to confront racism and promote racial justice in the field. The author, a white woman teacher educator, reflects on her own unintentional prioritization of white comfort and safety, which undermined her anti-racist goals. The article discusses the construction of white comfort zones in educational spaces and the role of white women in maintaining these zones. The author analyzes a specific incident in her teacher education instruction and identifies implications for promoting racial justice. The text emphasizes the importance of deconstructing white comfort, addressing the emotionalities of whiteness, and being aware of one's own whiteness as a teacher educator. It also highlights the need to recognize the built-in inequity in the educational system and support teacher candidates emotionally. [Extracted from the article]