Is my work racist? Critical thinking and critical discourse in social work research

•Human cognition contains biases by design; biases necessarily influence research.•To advance race equity, researchers must re-examine our own past, current, and future work through a race equity lens and hold ourselves responsible to the shared mission of social justice.•Critical Discourse Analysis and Reflexivity are tools we can use to analysis our work through a race equity lens.•Knowledge of human cognition, specifically, the critical thinking pathways that Dual Process Theory articulates, is essential for understanding why there is sometimes a disconnect between our stated values and the impact of our work.