In the wake of multiple pandemics (including COVID-19 and racial injustice), community college leaders have increasingly sought to be forward-leaning on issues of equity, reflecting a significant step forward in advancing social justice. However, prominent and frequently used frames and approaches, like anti-racist frameworks, may ultimately fall short of producing the type of leadership necessary for producing big systemic change, including the substantive changes necessary to create equitable pathways for adult students of color. Efforts should instead focus on dismantling, decolonizing, and reconstructing systems that are rooted in institutional racism and white supremacy. I argue that the goal of educational leaders is to become liberators who challenge institutional practices and work to break the Eurocentric cultural hegemony that dominates the ontology of our institutions.
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