ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how race critical education researchers might wrestle with both demands by engaging different conceptual approaches to race, racism and colonialism. It offers a strategic rather than definitive distinction between three approaches to racial justice: equality; equity; and otherwise. Within the United States and Canadian context, a primary distinction made in race critical education research is between equality and equity. A significant portion of race critical research in education is premised on the pursuit of equity—that is, a commitment to enact 'a system where unequal goods are redistributed to create systems and schools that share a greater likelihood of becoming more equal'. The chapter argues that how one conceptualises race, racism and colonialism affects what one imagines as the means for addressing them. It is neither necessary nor possible to choose just one approach and apply it in all research and practice.
