Since the rise of the transcendent Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, there has been a lot of reference to the term “White Supremacy.” Perhaps you’ve heard the term before. I may have in passing, but didn’t it pay it much mind until the events of the summer burst through and gave me access to the intricacies of White Supremacy and how it plays into nearly every aspect of our modern lives.
I haven’t tested the theory, but I feel that when asked what White Supremacy means, most people would say something like the idea that the white race is the superior race. Even Merriam-Webster defines it as both 1) the belief that the white race is inherently superior to other races and that white people should have control over people of other races and 2) the social, economic, and political systems that collectively enable white people to maintain power over people of other races. While this certainly makes up much of its core meaning, this fails to go more deeply into how its cultural model shows up in organizations and interpersonal relations.
I googled white supremacy description and came across this website https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html
I feel I’m guilty of nearly every aspect they describe. As someone who has struggled with anorexia and its psychological manifestations, this rings so true. I now consider anorexia to be a product of white supremacy, its long-term damaging, but immediate protection response to the cultural reality. The sense that we can’t seek help from others, (individualism), the defense of one’s “perfectionism” in the form of food-denial, even joy and self denial, “power hoarding,” “avoidance of conflict…” These are all characteristics of the anorexic drive. Listening to the many brilliant black voices that were finally placed at the forefront of cultural discourse during BLM brought me to my knees with a deep confrontation of my role in and deep influence from white supremacy. Thin is better, austere and cool is to be rewarded, admitting weakness or letting go of power for the dismantlement of my own belief system, (or even more narrowly: the system that rewards my thin appearance)is failure. It’s a challenge in this time of individual success and wealth-seeking to be open to facing the unconscious power model that nearly all of us have absorbed as a result of being part of a white supremacy power model. Like anorexia, white supremacy is a death model aimed to perpetuate trauma and individual success by failing to contend with the reality of harm that has gone on for centuries, and the harm that we inflict upon ourselves daily as an implicit result of this model.
I believe we will see more discussion surrounding the nature of white supremacy and its myriad effects in the coming years. Or perhaps the discussion will faze out in the name of continued progress. But I do have hope that a normalized discussion using the term White Supremacy will emerge as we enter a new age of national and global survivability and healing.
