Camouflaging Resistance and Racial Literacy: Florida Educators Navigating Anti-CRT Legislation in the Ruins of Racial Capitalism

• In Event: Epistemic Disruptions and Justice-Oriented Dialogues in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper explores how eight public school teachers in Florida—primarily in Miami-Dade and Broward counties—navigate restrictive state legislation targeting race-conscious pedagogy. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, anti-Blackness scholarship, and Latinx racial hierarchy frameworks, we examine how educators’ racial identities, geopolitical locations, and professional commitments shape their understanding of and response to the “Stop WOKE Act” and related policies. Through critical race narrative methodology, this study offers insight into how educators resist, comply with, or camouflage their pedagogical commitments amidst surveillance and censorship—reimagining collective life through subversive care and radical honesty in the context of racial capitalism’s tightening grip on public education.

Authors

• Brittany A Aronson, Penn State University

• Jormailin Valdes Pareras, Penn State University