In this essay, the authors provide a rationale for the need to break the silence of privilege and oppression in mathematics education. They begin by providing a brief rationale from their personal and professional perspectives, which includes background about planning and executing the Privilege and Oppression in the Mathematics Preparation of Mathematics Teachers Educators (PrOMPTE) conference, which motivated this special issue of the "Journal of Urban Mathematics Education." The authors then move into a (more typical) literature-based rationale for a focus on exploring and engaging with systems of privilege and oppression in relationship to themselves as mathematics teacher educators and in the preparation of new mathematics teacher educators.