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This article focuses on the need identified by African Canadian students for a "racial oasis" -- a physical space designed to increase their exposure to positive racial identities -- which can support them in developing a community of support among peers who understand the effects of anti-Black racism, and to identify strategies for coping with racism. Research participants were drawn from a program developed to support African Canadian students navigate post-secondary schooling in Ontario, Canada. Participants indicated that safe spaces were central to developing a positive racial identity, and that these spaces provided opportunities for them to critically reframe their racialized identity. Participants also suggested that the development of a positive racial identity supports degree perseverance and educational pursuits. This research indicates that institutions must be intentional in providing the resources necessary to foster positive racial identity socailization amongst Black students and underscores the benefits of providing "racial oases" in schools, community organizations, and workplaces.

For racialized academics, life in the academy can be marred by racial violence that leaves them caught between their commitment to their craft, desire for educational attainment and development, and the mental anguish that can dominate their existence. Drawing from experiences of the author and other Black faculty members in Canadian tertiary academic institutions, I provide a theoretical exposition recognizing the role of narratives as an act of counter-storytelling. I draw upon Black feminist epistemology, critical race theory, and critical theory to examine how the experiences of Black academics remain under-theorized, marginalized, and often erased within 'strong/angry Black woman/man' caricatures. I highlight how racial evaluation filters reinforce racism and affects the careers of Black academics. I also discuss the role that White women, who are charged with decision-making power, have come to play in carrying the 'racism torch' in the academy while adhering to the tropes of innocence.

This article makes the argument for a reframing and a reconceptualization of the urban-suburban divide which can inform the options and possibilities for transformative practices in urban schools. Drawing primarily from a Canadian, and more specifically a southern Ontario context, the article explores the changing realities of urban within this region; examines the extent to which the suburban and the urban realties have become enmeshed; and explores the educational opportunities that can emerge through that reframing. Reconceptualizing the "urban" is a vital aspect of contemporary and future schooling given the shifting context of actual urban spaces and the people who inhabit them in many of the major city centers of the world. The article also addresses the need for the development of leadership in these urban/suburban school settings that is collaborative, transformative, and moves beyond hierarchical conceptions.

This paper explores the efficacy of employing the cohort model of teacher education for preparing pre-service teachers to address issues of race within an urban university setting. The results of the research indicate that the cohort facilitates a degree of familiarity and support amongst the teacher candidates, provides exposure to diverse experiences and requires staff who are knowledgeable about discourses of difference to provide a foundation for addressing and challenging notions of race. Additionally, ensuring that members of the cohort engage in a comprehensive analysis of the systemic and institutional aspects of oppression is central to effectively understanding social inequities.

This qualitative study focuses on a representative sample from 200 teacher candidates' responses to Peggy McIntosh's article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." The notion and understanding of whiteness and white privilege were explored revealing several strategies that teacher candidates employed to avoid addressing whiteness and its attendant privileges in Canadian society. We analyse three primary strategies that the teacher candidates employed: ideological incongruence, liberalist notions of individualism and meritocracy, and the negation of white capital. Some implications of this study are that teacher education must help candidates understand their own racial identity formation and provide the learning space to work with the range of emotions and feelings of indignation that evolve from an exposure to white privilege and the "myth of meritocracy."