Purpose: This paper aims to highlight a reconstructive lens on one white teacher's critical approach to teaching literacy. This work equally highlights the importance of anti-racist approach to critical pedagogies centered on a humanizing ethic of cariño. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on portraiture and qualitative methods, this paper uses the reconstructive analysis of one white teacher's efforts to disrupt white supremacy through critical pedagogies. Findings: The author posits that Mr Hope was able to take on critical approaches to teaching literacy and design anti-racist pedagogies by honoring his students' lived experiences. An ethic of cariño is embodied to design critical pedagogical choices and interactional moves that center the experience of immigrant-origin Latinx youth. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to a growing body of literature on reconstructive discourse analysis. The author suggests that taking a "reconstructive" approach to discourse analysis requires that researchers move beyond a narrow focus on transcripts of classroom interaction. The author suggests that a reconstructive lens requires that focus is not solely placed on the interactional level of the transcript, but rather that interactional data be put in conversation with other data sources. Practical implications: The author offers pedagogical implications for anti-racist teaching perspectives and offers key elements to critical pedagogies that engage Latinx students and center their experiential knowledge as a catalyst for curriculum design. Originality/value: To date, few studies have explored how teachers of immigrant-origin Latinx students are intentionally resisting white supremacy and crafting anti-racist approaches to critical pedagogies.