The Terrible Sticky Truths of Aligning with Whiteness: A Story of Anti-Blackness and Self-Erasure

• In Event: “Asian and Latinx Anti-Blackness in Schools and Communities: Complicity and Resistance” Book Discussion Symposium 2

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes:
Referring to the AERA 2026 Annual Meeting Theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures,” this paper examines a critical incident in an online special education teacher preparation course to analyze how anti-Blackness and whiteness operated in real time when a bi/multiracial (Mexicana) student, identifying as White in class, interpreted a validating comment (“Oh wow, yeah”) from a Black disabled female instructor as disrespectful and weaponized the moment to undermine the instructor’s authority. The purpose is to illuminate how whiteness, White supremacy, and anti-Blackness operate in subversive and overt ways in teacher education and to offer “subverted truths” (Author 2, 2019), narratives for minoritized peoples that challenge dominant, harmful beliefs and foster healing.

Framework:
The authors use the concept of terrible sticky truths (TSTs) (Author, 2019) to analyze how whiteness and White supremacy shape interpretations of people of Color’s actions. The authors, a biracial/bicultural Mexicana scholar/practitioner and a Black disabled scholar, interpret a student’s self-erasure, particularly her omission of Latiné identity, within the context of an online class. TSTs are unconscious, pathological socializations rooted in whiteness that marginalize and dehumanize people of Color, especially those with disabilities (Author 2 et al., 2025). TSTs operate within an “ontological architecture of Western modernity” (Scheurich, 2023, p. 124) and function to normalize whiteness and exclude those at intersections of race, language, and ability.

Methods:
This paper employed critical storytelling as a methodology not merely to recount events but to interrogate and disrupt dominant narratives - especially those rooted in whiteness and ableism - by centering lived experiences of those historically marginalized (Hartlep & Hensley, 2019). A co-constructed narrative by the authors, based on data sources (below), exposed how whiteness operated in subtle and overt ways in a teacher education course and revealed the psychological and emotional toll of anti-Blackness and self-erasure.

Data Sources:
Primary data sources included contemporaneous course notes taken after the incident, instructor reflections composed throughout the semester in response to escalating tensions, anonymized student correspondence, and professional debriefings and communication between the co-instructors. These data are interpreted through the theoretical lens of TSTs to uncover possible understandings for the student’s actions.

Results:
Using TSTs to analyze the data, two key findings emerged: the distortion of truth and self-erasure. The student misread Author 2’s comment through a white gaze (Yancy, 2017), framing her Black disabled identity as threatening (Rabelo et al., 2020). She held onto her narrative despite learning additional context about Author 2, reflecting how whiteness can be dehumanizing (Matias & Zembylas, 2014). Her alignment with whiteness appeared to the authors as racial self-erasure (Daniel, 2022; Ming Liu et al., 2013), limiting potential solidarity with Author 2 and others (Ortega, 2021).

Scholarly Significance:
In alignment with the AERA 2026 theme, this paper offers possibilities for “unforgetting” and unlearning damaging narratives by introducing an emerging framework (TSTs) to help educators uncover how whiteness and White supremacy shape interpretations of people of Color’s actions. Author 2’s (2019) “subverted truths” as praxis also support future educators in replacing harmful narratives by confronting internalized oppression.

Authors

• Cristina C. Santamaria Graff, Indiana University - Indianapolis

• Mercedes Adell Cannon, Indiana University - Indianapolis