ABSTRACT
This chapter documents the increased focus of a teacher education program (TEP) in Washington state towards racial and linguistic justice. Within the context of a superdiverse state with a neoliberal, color-blind approach to multilingual education this TEP endeavored to recruit and serve increasing numbers of multilingual teacher candidates (TCs) of color through a bilingual endorsement program, Project BECA (Bilingual Educator CApacity). Through an examination of TCs’ experiences and stances both prior to and following the implementation of project BECA, the chapter illustrates how this contextual shift towards preparing bilingual educators served to increase attention to multilingualism, power, race, and racism/linguicism within the TEP as a whole. It also highlights successes, complications, and ongoing tensions experienced in these efforts. Finally, it suggests that such a shift is part of the larger project of decentering Whiteness in teacher education.
