When the pedagogy or scholarship involves challenging the status quo, the author argues, especially on behalf of students of color, there tends to an extreme backlash to silence it in recent years. She recalls her experience and provides examples of other academic challenges. However in this commentary, she argues that mathematics was late to the backlash party because academics have not been making institutional or structural changes that would impact society. Agendas have been aligned too closely with the status quo, with a system of education that is not meant to support students who are Black, Indigenous, or Latinx (especially women and people who identify as queer). She proposes some considerations for future work in the field of mathematics education including: (1) reframing of scholar; (2) decolonizing readings lists and resources; (3) rethinking programming and professional development; (4) networking among mathematicians and mathematics education researchers; and (5) developing a set of principles to guide the field.