Disrupting White Supremacy Culture

Why White Supremacy Culture not Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)?

When we say white supremacy culture, people often squirm a little in their seats. They don’t know what to make of it.

No one thinks they have a confederate flag in their closet.

We frame our anti-racism work around the Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture in Organizations, as described by Tema Okun.

We use the term because it opens the door to talk about the culture we all learned that places white, straight, cisgender, rich, native-born men with no visible disabilities at the center. And displaces everyone else.

As a result, we think of our practices, policies and customs as the way things are done. When really, those practices, policies and customs are often legacies of white supremacy. And we don’t even know it.

An Organizing to Win program to disrupt white supremacy culture includes guidance to examine the practices, policies and customs that reinforce white supremacy culture, education to recognize them and assignments to disrupt it. We focus on building relationships in order to have hard conversations.

Are they easy conversations? No.

Can your team handle it? We think so. In fact, we think they will learn to enjoy it.

We’ve worked with organizations like Catalyst San Diego, Food and Water Watch and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).