White Supremacy and White Privilege
System of White Supremacy and White Privilege
- (18) Concepts and Analysis
- (6) Historical Construction of Whiteness
- (5) Resources
- (26) Resources for White People
- (13) Tools and Practices
- (5) White Dominant Culture
The New York Times reports that the term “white supremacy” was used fewer than 75 times in 2010, but nearly 700 times in 2020 alone (as of the article’s printing on Oct 17, 2020). In the past, the term construed extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis. Now this term refers to a political and socio-economic system where white people enjoy structural advantages and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not. Many white people are unaware that this system exists, which is one of its successes.
Peggy McIntosh’s seminal article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” discusses the everydayness of unearned entitlements and advantages. White privilege includes powerful incentives for maintaining this privilege and its consequences, and powerful negative consequences for trying to interrupt or reduce its consequences.
To understand and accept white privilege is not an academic exercise. The responsibility is to internally and externally work to dismantle the system of white supremacy in all of its forms. The resources in this section discuss how to dismantle the system of white supremacy and decenter whiteness. Also, there are resources specifically for white people to identify white privilege, and “do the work” for racial justice in meaningful, accountable, and actionable ways.
Concepts and Analysis
History and Construction of Whiteness
Title | Author | Organization |
---|---|---|
What is White Supremacy? | Elizabeth ‘Betita’ Martinez | Catalyst Project |
White Identity in America Is Ideology, Not Biology. The History of “Whiteness” Proves It. | Nell Irvin Painter | NBC News |
How White People Got Made | Quinn Norton | The Message |
Seeing White podcast | John Biewen and Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika | Scene on Radio, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University |
Understanding Whiteness | Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre | |
Where White Privilege Came From | Allan G. Johnson |
Resources
Title | Author | Organization |
---|---|---|
From White Fragility Graphic | Russell Nadel with Robin DiAngelo | |
White Too Long: How Racism Lives in the DNA of White Christianity in America Podcast | Robert P. Jones with Rev. Jim Wallis | Sojourners |
A List of Privilege Lists | Ampersand | Alas! A Blog |
Confronting Racism is Not About the Needs and Feelings of White People | Ijeoma Oluo | The Guardian |
White Privilege: Let’s Talk – A Resource for Transformational Dialogue | United Church of Christ |
Resources for White People
Tools and Practices
White Dominant Culture
Title | Author | Organization |
---|---|---|
White Women Doing White Supremacy in Nonprofit Culture | Heather Laine Talley | Tzedek Social Justice Fund |
The Network Economic Effects of Whiteness | Brant T. Lee | American University Law Review |
When White People Are Uncomfortable, Black People Are Silenced | Rachel Elizabeth Cargle | Harpers Bazaar |
Decentering Whiteness | Jeff Hitchcock and Charley Flint | Center for the Study of White American Culture |
Pushing Back Against Habits of White Supremacy During a Crisis | Kad Smith | CompassPoint Nonprofit Services |