Examining silences in an English teacher inquiry group focused on critical conversations: A facilitator's reflexive analysis

•Inquiry group members engaged in privileged and veiled silences that circulated, and indirect silences that disrupted, race-evasive discourses in a multiracial inquiry group discussion.•Silence can be used as a tool for discourse analysis into classroom conversations and teacher discussions to engage in critical self-reflection about practice.•Using silence as a tool of analysis can help teachers engage in reflexivity, specifically in relation to how they may inadvertently support white-centered discourse.