This article addresses antiracist arts education by examining key aspects of the critical response protocol (CRP) to disrupt notions of neutrality when responding to works of art. Building on a large urban district's professional development work to support arts educators' awareness of their racial identity, we examine how the CRP perpetuates whiteness in K-12 arts classrooms, ultimately maintaining racial inequality. Our research addresses the following question: How do markers of identity, like race, intersect with CRP in K-12 arts classrooms? Our findings contribute to literature on antiracist arts education.