THE CULTURE OF WHITE SUPREMACY I. WHAT IS
CULTURE? A. A DEFINITION
Culture is a way of life.
(Definition by People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond in New Orleans.)
Culture is passed on from generation to generation through institutions, groups,
interpersonal and individual behavior.
B. FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
For institutions: Culture provides the
matrix out of which institutions grow, and the “glue” which binds institutions
together in systems. Culture also provides the legitimacy and justification for
the perpetuation of institutions from one generation to the next. (Material
provided by Diana Dunn of People’s Institute.) For example, a local public
school can survive as an individual institution because some parents choose to
send their children to the school. The school exists within the system of public
schools in a particular city because tax payers are willing to continue paying
taxes to support that school. And the entire public school system in a country
can exist from generation to generation only so long as sufficient adults in the
population believe that sending their children to public school will be
beneficial. For groups and individuals: Culture provides a sense of identity
— who you are—— and a sense of belonging——who you are with. It provides a sense
of purpose——your reason for being in the world——and an orientation——your sense
of where you are going in your life (broadly speaking).
C. CULTURE AS A PROCESS
Culture is a set of rules for behavior.
You cannot ‘see’ culture because you cannot see the rules; you can only see..
.the behaviors the rules produce. ..Cultural rules influence people to behave
similarly, in ways which help them to understand each other... For example,
cultural rules shape food preferences. ..The essence of culture is not these
behaviors themselves, but the rules that produce the behaviors. Culture is
characteristic of groups. The rules of a culture are shared by the group, not
invented by the individual; the rules of the group which are passed on from one
generation to the form the core of the culture... Culture is learned... What
each person learns depends upon the cultural rules of the people who raise
them.. .Because culture is learned, it is a mistake to assume a person’s culture
by the way s/he looks...Culture can be well learned by some people in the group
and less well learned by others... “Cultures borrow and share rules..
.Cultural rules change over time, and sometimes when two groups have extensive
contact with one another, they influence each other in some areas... (Excerpts
taken from CULTURE AS A PROCESS by Carol Brunson Phillips; February 27, 1991.
Thanks to lntisar Shareef for calling my attention to this material.)
II. WHAT IS WHITE CULTURE? A. AN HISTORICAL
DEFINITION OF “WHITE”
The term white as applied to people was first used
by slave—owning colonialists in 17th century Maryland and Virginia to describe
poor indentured servants who came from Europe. Originally, these servants had
been called “Englishmen,” “Irishmen” or “Christians,” but the colonial ruling
class began to use the term “white” to distinguish European servants from
African ones, who were often called “Negro,” which means “black” in
Spanish. The Virginia legislature made the term “white” a legal distinction
in 1791, after a series of joint rebellions by European and African servants,
culminating in Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, nearly brought down the colonial
ruling powers. (Information provided by People’s Institute.) In the slave codes
of 1705, especially in the “Act concerning servants and slaves,”colonial rulers
gave poor ‘whites’ certain legislated privileges, such as a small plot of land
or “freedom dues” (wages) after completion of their term of servitude; the right
to sue their masters in court; and exemption from public whipping for
punishment! At the same time, the legislature wrote the laws which provided the
institutionalized foundations for chattel slavery for Africans. From that
time on, throughout U.S. history, to be “white” has meant to have access to
certain forms of preferential treatment, and exemption from racial oppression,
solely on the basis of European ancestry and (allegedly) “white” skin. Thus, the
concepts of “white people” and “white privilege” share the same historical and
institutional roots. And both terms are artificial, historical constructions to
serve political purposes: creating separations among oppressed peoples on the
basis of skin color and ancestral origin so that they would not unite against a
common oppressor. (For more on the historical origins of the terms ‘white’
and ‘white privilege:’ (1) Theodore William Allen, Class Struggle and the Origin
of Racial Slavery: The Invention of the White Race. 1975 pamphlet. (2) Theodore
Allen, “Introduction,” The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and
Social Control. Vol. 1. London: Verso Books, 1994. (3) A. Leon Higginbotham,
Jr., In The Matter of Color: Race & the American Legal Process: The Colonial
Period. Oxford University Press, 1980, especially pages 53—57.. (4) Lerone
Bennett, Jr. “The Road Not Taken,” in The Shaping of Black America. Chicago,
1975.)
B. A DEFINITION OF WHITE SUPREMACY
White supremacy is an
historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and
oppression of continents, nations and peoples of color by white peoples and
nations of the European continent; for the purpose of establishing, maintaining
and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege. (Definition by Mickey
Ellinger and Sharon Martinas)
C. A DEFINITION OF WHITE CULTURE
White culture is an artificial,
historically constructed culture which expresses, justifies and binds together
the United States white supremacy system. It is the cultural matrix and glue
which binds together white—controlled institutions into systems; and
white—controlled systems into the global white supremacy system. Since World War
II, the white culture of the United States has been the center of the global
white culture.
D. WHITE CULTURE IS A DOMINANT CULTURE
White culture is not the
only culture in the current territory of the United States. There are numerous
others: many kinds of indigenous, African— American and African— Caribbean,
Chicano and Latino with regional variations, a multiplicity of Asian cultures,
indigenous Hawaiian, many Arabic cultures, and expressions of many European
peoples. But white culture is the dominant culture. What are some of the
characteristics of this dominant culture? In thinking about these
characteristics, please recall Dr. Wade Nobles’ definition of power: “Power is
the ability to define reality and to convince other people that it is their
definition.” (See “Definitions,” Political Perspectives. Exer. Manual.) 1. It
defines who you are, and who “others” are in relation to you. For example, a
white culture term for ‘people of color’ is ‘non—white,’ i.e., non—people. 2.
It shapes your attitudes, thinking, behavior and values. For example, a white
woman shrinks in fear when passing an African American man on the street; yet
the great’ danger to white women comes from white men in the home. 3. It
consciously and unconsciously suppresses and oppresses other cultures. For
example, slave owners consciously suppressed African spirituality and taught
Africans Christianity to make them ‘docile.’ Or, employers fire workers for
speaking Spanish in a restaurant, but promote workers who speak French. 4. It
consciously and unconsciously appropriates aspects of oppressed cultures. For
example: every form of African American music: gospel, blues, Iazz, rhythm and
blues, and rap, has been copied by white musicians with no credit given to the
creative sources of the music. Or, white New Agers become instant healers,
charging hefty fees, by appropriating ancient indigenous healing
practices. 5. It is normative: the standard for judging values and
behavior. 6. It is assumed, unquestioned, not on the agenda: the ways things
are. 7. It is hidden -- not at all obvious to the dominating or oppressing
practitioners, but often painfully, obvious to peoples whose cultures have been
suppressed, oppressed or appropriated.
E. WHITE CULTURE IS A DEADLY BREW
White culture in the United
States is complex. Because white supremacy is fundamental to the existence of
this country, white supremacist culture is intertwined with other major cultural
manifestations that make up the fabric of the U.S: the greed, competition and
individualism of capitalism; male supremacist fear and hatred of the power of
women; historical Christianity’S hatred and fear of sexuality, and its
compulsion to divide humankind into the “saved” and the “damned;” and
militarism’s glorification of war and conquest as proofs of manhood and
nationhood that has roots an European culture going back thousands of years.
White culture is a melting pot of greed, guys, guns and god. It is a deadly
brew. (For a comprehensive critique of European culture, see Marimba Ani,
Yurugu: An African—Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.
New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1994.)
III. SHININ’ THE LITE ON WHITE
In this
section, I will try to highlight some of the ways in which white culture
manifests itself in our daily lives. As you read this, please remember that this
is a very tentative beginning of a new effort by many white activists in the
U.S. to explore the meanings of white culture. Most analysis on white culture
has been done by activists and scholars of color. Their work has inspired me to
begin to do my own homework.
A. THE CULTURE OF RACIAL OPPRESSION: (CULTURAL RACISM)
1. White
culture perpetuates the ideology that people of color are morally and mentally
inferior to white people. Throughout the history of the United States, white
culture has characterized people of color as ‘‘savage, ‘‘ignorant,’’
‘‘depraved,’’ ‘‘bestial,’’ “lazy,” “dirty,” “illegal” and “criminal.” This
ideology continues unabated today. For example, white students and white workers
assume that the only reason a person of color gets into college or into a good
job is because of affirmative action: that is, the people of color could not
have competed with the white person were the playing field “level.” In these
examples, the white people cannot imagine that the people of color might be
equally or more qualified than the whites for the positions they achieved. 2.
White culture stereotypes figures and behaviors of peoples of color. A common
method is to take some cultural attribute forced on people of color by conquest
and continuing racial oppression, and making that attribute into a symbol of the
whole people. For example, the film Ethnic Notions by Marvin Riggs delineates a
history of white stereotypes of African Americans in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. Stereotypes such as the “minstrel,” the “mammy,” “coon’ illustrate
forms of assumed behavior that is carried into contemporary stereotypes of
African Americans embodied in terms like “criminal,” “gang member” and “welfare
mother.” Forms change; meanings stay on. 3. By defining reality as white, and
convincing peoples of color that white reality is their reality, white culture
actively promotes internalized racism and inter—racial tensions among peoples of
color. Internalized racism disempowers a person and a people. Inter-racial
hostility prevents different peoples of color from uniting for their common
purposes and against their common oppressors. In this way, white culture
expresses a successful white ruling class strategy of “divide and conquer.”
Imprisoning a person’s mind is more thorough and long—lasting than imprisoning
her body. 4. White culture labels the cultures of the Americas, Africa, Asia
and the Arab world as inferior to cultures that have evolved in Europe.
Furthermore, white culture actively promotes the historical lie that the culture
that evolved in ancient Greece was the “fountainhead of western
civilization.” In fact, most of the great Greek scholars and poets went to
Kemet (the name for ancient Egypt), which was an African culture and
civilization, to study for years before they returned to create their own forms
of wisdom. And the “renaissance” of Europe did not begin in Italy, as our
textbooks say, but in Spain and Portugal which, under the African and Arabic
Moorish Empire of the 8th through the 15th centuries, preserved and recreated
the wisdom of the ancient world, and developed the technology which allowed the
Spanish and Portuguese to embark on their voyages of exploration and conquest of
lands outside Europe. Today, there is a white cultural war against
African—centred research and scholarship. White academics call this scholarship
‘self serving.’ Yet few white culturalists would call traditional historical and
anthropological research, “White Studies.” 5. White culture suppresses and
oppresses the cultures of peoples of color as part of an ongoing system of
conquest, colonialism and racial/national oppression. For example, the
movement, now a law in many states, of “English Only” is a specific form of
cultural conquest of peoples from Mexico, Central and South America and Puerto
Rico, which has its historical origin in the U.S.’s 1848 war against Mexico; and
the 1898 invasion of Puerto Rico. “English Only” is cultural colonialism: the
peoples of colonized nations are forced to speak the language of the
conqueror. 6. White culture appropriates elements of the cultures of people
of color in order to mask the underlying power relationships of dominant to
dominated cultures. For example: Rhythm and Blues is an African American
musical creation, but one of its most famous exponents was Elvis Presley, a
white working class man from the south. Many rhythm and blues artists die
impoverished. Elvis is worshipped like a god.
B. THE CULTURE OF WHITE PRIVILEGE
White privilege is the other
side of the coin of racial oppression. Therefore, it should not be surprising to
see that the culture of white privilege is a mirror image of the culture of
racial oppression. 1. White culture perpetuates the ideology that white
people are morally and intellectually superior to people of color. For example,
many suburban white women and men think they get into college because they are
“more intelligent” than Chicanos, Native Americans or African Americans; when,
in fact, they get into college because their high schools prepare them more
effectively for college boards than do most high schools in urban areas. 2.
White culture stereotypes figures and behavior of white people. A common method
is to take some cultural attribute which is the result of hundreds of years of
institutionalized white privilege in the United States, and projecting this
attribute as solely the result of the person’s individual, heroic
efforts. For example, the son or daughter of a European immigrant is
portrayed as having risen to wealth and power from initial poverty solely as a
result of moral fortitude and hard work. But, in fact, European immigrants
historically have both worked hard and received privileges from the U.S.
government that people of color (whether they were immigrants, indigenous or
kidnaped) have been historically denied at different times. European
immigrants (differentially for men and women) had the right to become citizens,
the right to own land, the right to bring and to live with a family, the right
to travel in search of work, the right to vote, the right to practice their own
language and religion without interference, the right to organize mutual
self—help societies and small businesses without being broken up by white mobs,
the right to a public school education, the right to bring suit and testify in
court, and the right to hold public office. 3. By defining reality as white,
and convincing white people that it is their reality, the culture of white
supremacy is portrayed as universal, applying to all humankind. For example,
a “History of Western Civilization” begins with Greece, then moves to Rome, then
Europe, ending with the United States. But this is a course on Europe, (which is
fine provided the course begins with the contributions of Kemet to Greece), but
it is not a course on “western civilization.” Another example: ABC network tells
its reporter covering the elections in South Africa to put an “Americans in
South Africa” spin on the story, otherwise U.S. readers will not be interested
in the story! Or, white feminists create brilliant analyses of patriarchy
coming from their European cultural experience, and then try to generalize this
analysis to the relationships between men and women whose ancestral cultures
originate in Africa, the Americas, Asia or Arabic world. And, we call the white
women's movement, “the women’s movement.” 4. White culture provides a
normative standard of behavior for one living in a system of white
privilege. These norms are usually manifested in the arrogance of white
entitlement —— an assumption of how a white person expects to be treated in the
world. Some examples: Getting angry when we have to wait in a line too long;
speaking with authority, as if we are sure of correctness; talking as long as we
wish, often interrupting others; getting outraged when our First Amendment
rights to peacefully gather and protest are violated by police (when police
violate similar rights by people of color every night, just for gathering in
a group). Note: white feminists often call these forms of behavior ‘white male
arrogance,’ but I believe it’s a feature of white culture which white women, now
that we have more ‘equality’ with white men, practice often. 5. White culture
creates white bonding, that is, the cross class allegiance and sense of
commonality that non—ruling class oppressed white men and women have with the
white ruling class, on the basis of “white skin” and European ancestry. White
bonding covers up the class exploitation of poor, working and middle class
whites by the ruling class, by deflecting the problems of oppressed whites from
the ruling class to people of color. White bonding prevents white women from
using the potential power of their vote as women because they usually support
the interests of middle class and rich white men more than the interests of men
and women of color. White bonding is at the core of the Christian right’s
‘family values’ ideology. It evokes an image of a white nuclear family in a
1950’s suburb: a suburb that practiced legal residential apartheid. White
bonding is the cultural basis of racist jokes and language; it assumes of the
white listener, “You know who I mean.” White bonding is at the core of the
attacks on multi—culturalism. It assumes that the only culture that should be
taught in schools is white culture. White bonding calls the U.S. “America,” a
term which properly applies to all the nation—states on this continent. White
bonding is one of the bases of the current anti—immigrant racism sweeping
California. The bonding is a reaction to the terror that most white people feel
at the prospect that the majority of California residents will soon be people of
color. I doubt that anti—immigrant ideologists would be using the phrase,
“drowning in a sea of immigrants” if the immigrants were coming from
Canada. In my opinion, white bonding is the most significant cultural barrier
preventing oppressed whites from challenging the interrelated systems of
oppression in the U.S.
C. THE CULTURE OF WHITE NATIONALISM
The culture of white
nationalism is the expression of the historical fact that the “founding fathers”
intended this nation to be one of, for and by white people; and that the
struggle to make it a nation “of, for and the people” goes on to this day. 1.
The culture of white nationalism provides an identity, purpose, orientation and
sense of belonging for people who immigrate to the United States from Europe.
The term for this process is usually called assimilation. What it means is that
a person of European descent agrees, consciously or unconsciously, to give up
parts of her/his European ethnic heritage in exchange for becoming white, that
is, accepting and expecting white privileges, and a sense of superiority over
peoples of color, especially African Americans. This assimilation process
began in the 17th century, when the European colonial elite in Virginia began to
call European indentured servants “white,” instead of “Christian” or
“Englishmen” or “Irishmen,” in order to give them a sense of distinction and
separation from servants of African ancestry. Each subsequent generation of
European immigrants has gained acceptance into the white mainstream when they
have begun to act in accordance with white bonding, and the majority of their
organized ethnic sector have consented, by silence or action, to the oppression
of peoples of color. (For example, see David R. Roediger, The Wages of
Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. Verso Press,
London, 1991., Chap. 7 “Irish American Workers and White Racial Formation in the
Antebellum United States.”) 2. White culture appropriates elements of
European ethnic cultures in order to increase the ethnic grouping’s sense of
assimilation. For example, pasta became “spaghetti” and is now available in your
local super market. 3. The culture of white nationalism has transformed pride
and love of country (patriotism) into a glorification of the military conquest
of nations of color. Historically, this military conquest has always been
justified by religion: Pilgrims took the land from the “heathens.” It was
“manifest destiny” for the U.S. to conquer Mexico in 1848. It was “God’s will”
to make the world “safe” for democracy. God was on the side of the “smart bombs”
that obliterated a hundred thousand Iraqis. 4. Under the guise of the
imperial we, white nationalism assumes that the United States can interfere in
every nation of color in t,he world, and that somehow that intervention will be
beneficial to the residents of that nation. The current justification for this
national arrogance is “bringing democracy” or the “free enterprise system” (i.e.
capitalism) to the invaded nation. (* The term “white nationalism” is used by
the noted African American historian John Henrik Clarke. I first heard it in an
interview by Dr. Kwaku Person—Lynn taped in 1991, and aired during KPFA’s
African Mental Liberation Weekend of May 17, 1992.)
D. THE CULTURE OF WHITE HISTORY
U.S. “history” is based on a
lie. Neither children’s nor adult textbooks tell us that the United States was
created by invasion, conquest, land theft, genocide and slavery: that, in its
foundations, it is a white supremacy state. Instead, history writers fabricate
an “America” as a land embodying the Declaration of Independence: a nation based
on freedom, justice and equality for all its peoples. The historians also
ignore, or trivilialize, the continuous history of resistance by peoples of
color against this unjust foundation. Young people learning about the African
American freedom struggle of the 1960’s are taught that it all rested on Martin
Luther King having a dream, and not the massive organization of millions of
African American people and their allies. Without a thorough understanding of
the U.S. past, there is no way we can adequately understand how white supremacy
works today, or to plan strategies to challenge it. Our political vision gets
framed in a thirty second sound bite.
E. DENIAL OF RESPONSIBILITY
Absence and falsification of a
nation’s historical memory fosters a personal and collective denial of
responsibility for racial injustice and oppression, past and present. White
people say, “I didn't own any slaves,” as if living in a system whose wealth was
created by enslaved African labor did not directly benefit their ancestors.
Liberal whites assert, “I don't see color; I just see people;” a statement of
unwillingness to look at reality. Whites of conscience justify their
unwillingness to protest racial injustice by complaining that, “I have no
power,” when any accurate reading of history indicates that organized protest
creates the power to effectively challenge racial injustice. Denial of
responsibility for racial injustice takes many forms. Among the most common are:
+ Blaming people of color, the targets of racial injustice, for the effects of
that injustice; + Promoting “equal responsibility” theories for addressing the
effects of racial oppression; + Hiding the centrality of institutional promotion
and perpetuation of racial injustice (the ‘one bad apple’ mythology); + Focusing
“blame” on one individual’s behavior, rather than looking at the institutional
and cultural context for that behavior; + Tokenism: the effort to overturn
racism in a white institution by hiring one person of color in a leadership
position, while leaving the racist politics, practice and power intact; +
Judging racial oppression by the intent of the oppressor rather than effect on
the oppressed; + Speaking and writing with racially color—coded terms, such as
“criminal,” “illegal alien,” “welfare mother,” “drug dealer,” “gang,” etc.,
instead of the racial epithets that were common before the end of legal
apartheid in the 1960’s. How can you tell when a white person is denying
personal responsibility for racial injustice? Listen for the “but.” “I'm not a
racist, but...” How can you tell when a white person is denying collective
responsibility of white people and white institutions for racial injustice? Look
for the passive or inactive voice in the verbs. Such as, “The indigenous people
died of many diseases.” or “The young man was made homeless...”
F. EUROCENTRISM
Eurocentrism is a term used to describe a world
view which puts European thinking, values, civilization, history, geography, art
and people at the center of its perspective. The lives and cultures of peoples
from Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Arab world are put on the margins, or
else ignored entirely. “Eurocentric culture,” which in the United States is a
core part of white culture, needs to be distinguished from “European cultures,”
that is, the particular cultural expressions of different peoples and nations
which reside on the European continent. Defensive white culturalists often call
criticisms of Eurocentrism, “Europe bashing.” That is nonsense. Critics are not
saying, “Don’t listen to Mozart.” What they are saying is, “Mozart is to
European classical music what John Coltrane is to African/American classical
music: both are giants in their fields, and should be studied and valued as
such. Most aspects of Eurocentrism were brought to this continent by the
European invaders and their biographers. It has been reinforced through the
centuries and still dominates educational, scientific and media institutions
today. In my opinion, some aspects of what is criticized as Eurocentric are
wholly destructive; other aspects are destructive only when they are used to
marginalize or ignore other forms of thinking and values. I will try to
distinguish between the two: Examples of wholly destructive ways of
thinking; + Power as domination over others, rather than power as creative
capacity to act; + Either/or logic; as distinguished from a both/and way of
thinking; + Destruction, rather than stewardship, of the earth, air and water; +
Ownership, rather than stewardship of the land; i.e., land as “private
property;” + Ownership of people as private property; + “Despiritualization” of
the universe; + Separation of human from connectedness and responsibility in the
world; + Violence toward other beings as an expression of manhood; + Belief that
one’s religion must be brought to others; “it’s god’s will;” + View of time as
linear, including belief in inevitable “progress;” + Belief that there is only
one truth, and if you don't see it, you’re damned. + The continent of Europe, or
North America, is at the center of the world. Examples of views that are
destructive only when they marginalize other views: + Knowledge can be gained
from reasoning, analysis, measurement and counting; + The knower and known are
separable; + Sex is an expression of love; + A purpose of families is to create
and nurture the next generation of human beings; + European and European
American men have created beautiful literature and art. * *( For a
comprehensive critique of Eurocentrism, see Marimba Ani, Yurugu: An African—
Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior. N.J: Africa World
Press, 1994)
G. HOMOGENEITY: ‘WHITE BREAD’ CULTURE*
Eurocentrism, especially
when it gets mixed with the rest of white culture, and sold as a capitalist
commodity, promotes a mix of culture that is homogenous, lacking and fearful of
diversity. It stifles people’s minds, puts them in a box. It is extremely
boring. And, like ‘white bread,’ it comes in a pretty package but has no
nutritional value. (* Inspired by "The Wonder—breading of our Country,” a
chapter in the pamphlet, The Subjective Side of Politics by Margo Adair and
Sharon Howell. Available from Tools for Change; P.O. Box 14141; San Francisco,
Ca. 94114. Phone 415—861—6838.)
H. SOCIALLY SANCTIONED VIOLENCE
Some African centered scholars say that European cultures developed a belief in the value of violence thousands
of years ago, when the earliest peoples on the European continent were
struggling to survive in a hostile climate, with few sources of food and
shelter. Men in these early tribes had to kill to survive and feed their
families. If there were no immediate sources of food available in the forest,
they would raid another tribe’s food, often killing tribal members in the
process. Norse and Viking mythology which glorifies the bloody warrior,
testifies to the accuracy of this analysis. (See especially the theory of the
Two Cradles of Civilization as articulated by Cheikh Anta Diop in The Cultural
Unity of Black Africa. Chicago: Third World Press, 1978.) Europe at the
time of the invasion of the Americas and Africa was rife with violence. The
English tortured, starved and killed thousands of Irish. Feudal landlords threw
hapless peasants off their lands, sending them to the cities to beg and starve.
The Catholic Church ordered the burning of thousands of women at the stake as
witches in Northern Europe; and expelled the Jews and Moors from Spain during
the Inquisition. Virtually every method of brutality that the Europeans would
practice on the indigenous and African peoples had already been tried out and
perfected on other Europeans. See Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the
White Race. Volume One: Racial Oppression and Social Control. New York: Verso
Press, 1994; Karl Marx, excerpts from “The Transition from Feudalism to
Capitalism,” in Edwards, Reich and Weisskopf, eds., The Capitalist System.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972; the film “The Burning Times;” and Jan
Carew, “The end of the Moorish enlightenment and the beginning of the Columbian
Era,” in Race and Class: The Curse of Columbus. Vol. 33, January—March 1992,
#3.). In the United States, white rulers never hesitated to inflict violence
on oppressed whites. The Pilgrim fathers burnt young women at the stake in
Salem. Mine owners hired armies to gun down working class families during bitter
strikes in mining towns. Landlords regularly evict tenants who fall behind in
their rent. And today’s multi—national capitalists cheerfully throw millions of
workers out of work while they rake in billions in profits. But the most
sustained, wide spread, and socially acceptable forms of violence have been, and
still are, waged against peoples of color. The United States as a nation state
was founded with violence: mass murder of millions of indigenous people, the
nefarious Middle Passage during which millions of Africans died; the system of
chattel slavery which lasted 300 years; and the brutal war against Mexico in
which thousands of Mexican people were slaughtered by U.S. troops. The United
States still invades nations of color, murdering and starving
thousands. “Socially sanctioned violence” means just that —— violence that is
accepted, tacitly or actively, by the majority of a society. In the U.S., only
the forms of violence against people of color have changed over the centuries,
not the content or result. For example, lynching was an acceptable form of
white violence against African Americans and Chicanos until a few decades ago.
Now that same role is provided by police in communities of color each night. The
form is now hidden from white view; the content and result are the same. Another
example: in the 19th century, white squatters stole Indian land with the consent
of Congress. Today, corporations buy and pollute that land, still with the
consent of Congress. Both forms of violence kill people; they just employ
different forms of laws.
I. THE CULTURE OF RACIALIZED EMOTIONS
White culture creates and
recreates carefully manipulated racialized emotions in peoples of color and in
white people. For people of color, internalized racism may produce feelings of
low self-esteem and a distrust of other peoples of color. The effects of
pervasive, systemic racism produce emotions of suppressed and explosive rage.
Most often the rage is taken out on other peoples of color. Periodically it
emerges in a communal explosion, such as in the Los Angeles uprising. On a daily
basis, suppressed rage can be deadly to one’s mental and physical health,
producing symptoms similar to those called post traumatic stress syndrome which
is common to those who have lived their lives in a war zone. For white
people, the most common emotions are a complex of guilt and sense of
powerlessness; a combination of fear, hatred, contempt and fascination
especially for African Americans; and an obsession with racialized sex. (The
following comments make no attempt to explain these emotional phenomena from a
psychological view, but merely to comment on them.) As a political
organizer, I believe that guilt is closely related to a sense of powerlessness.
On the positive side, emotions of guilt demonstrate that a human being has not
lost all his/her humanity: she still feels vaguely responsible for social
injustice. But when she chooses not to act, maintaining that she is powerless,
her guilt then emotionally paralyzes her, to the point that she cannot or will
not act. (For a satirical expression of this, see Jan Adams and Rebecca Cordon’s
“The Wackos at the Anti—Racism Conference” in the Exercise Manual.) I do not
believe that feelings of guilt and powerlessness can be resolved by talking. You
have to break the cycle and act. In an individual, “Power is the creative
capacity to act.” I believe that fear of Black men is the most important
racially manipulated emotion that has held white people captive to the white
supremacy system since the colonial era. Some of this fear has its historical
origins in white ruling class terror of slave revolts. This fear is in some
senses justified, since organized rebellions of African Americans have, since
the colonial period, have been the most significant threats to the white
supremacy system. Other whites fear that African Americans would treat them
as they have treated African Americans, if African Americans had the
opportunity. They fear any organized action of Black people, whether a small
group of men walking down the street, or an independent African American
organization. There is no historical justification for this fear. It is racially
manipulated. Some of this fear is sexually based, again with its origins in
the period of slavery. White males routinely raped women of African descent.
After the defeat of Reconstruction, white men and women joined in lynching and
castrating African American men, justifying their barbarity with the myth that
Black men were raping white women. Anti—racist analysts like Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
(“The Mind that Burns in Each Body,” in Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology,
edited by Margaret Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins; Belmont: Wadsworth Press,
1992, pp. 397—412) see this sexual barbarism as linked to projections of white
male actions onto Black males. This sexual obsession continues unabated
today. Many whites fear that Blacks will wipe out the “white race.” Dr.
Frances Cress Welsing asserts in her “Cress Theory of Color Confrontation and
Racism/White Supremacy,” (The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors. Chicago:
Third World Press, 1991) that whites fear the genetic annihilation of the white
race. The majority of whites fear losing any form of political, economic or
cultural power or privileges. The expression of these fears has been
historically lethal for people of color. Enraged whites time and again have
acted violently toward peoples of color. In fact, white mob violence has been a
staple of white culture throughout U.S. history.
J. EXPRESSIONS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE IN PROGRESSIVE CULTURE
White
progressive activists are not immune to any of the cultural expressions of white
supremacy predominant in the rest of white society. But there are two forms
which seem to be particularly deep—rooted in our history: false universals and
false analogies. False universals: A false universal is a statement which
purports to speak for all people, but in reality, speaks only for some (those
who are white). The classic example is: “All men are created equal,” the famous
statement from the Declaration of Independence. While the statement: has
inspired generations of peoples’ struggles for equality, justice and democracy;
it is also an expression of the fundamental contradiction of U.S. democratic
‘ideals. The writers of the Declaration of Independence did not intend “all men”
to include men of African or Native American descent. The term may not have even
included all white men, but only those who owned some property. And it certainly
was not meant to include any women, regardless of national origins or class
background. The use of the false universal plagues white progressive
discourse to this day. We talk of the women’s movement, the environmental
movement, the anti—war movement. But what we mean is the white women’s, the
white environmental, and the white anti—war movement. Our false universalism
allows us to ignore or trivialize the leadership role that activists of color
play in the movements for women’s liberation, environmental justice, and peace
and justice, at home and abroad. False analogies: A false analogy is a
comparison between two sets of experiences which emphasizes their similarities
and blots out their differences. The use of false analogies, like the use of
false universals, originated in the period when white colonists were fighting
for independence from Britain. Protesting Britain’s Sugar Act of 1764, John
Dickinson of Pennsylvania said, “Those who are taxed without their own
consent expressed by themselves or their representatives.. .are slaves. We are
taxed without our consent expressed by ourselves or our representatives. We are
therefore...slaves" (quoted in A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. In the Matter of
Color: Race and the American Legal Process: The Colonial Period. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1980. p. 375) Ironically, the tax against which the
indignant colonists were protesting was a tax on the profits from their slave
trade. Thus, it is not surprising that these same rebellious colonists did not
think of freeing their enslaved Africans when they freed themselves from the
“slavery” of English domination. Throughout U.S. history, white progressive
activists have compared our oppression to that of slavery, or to racism against
African Americans, in order to win support for our own struggles. White male
workers, brutally exploited by 19th century capitalists, called themselves wage
slaves. White women’s rights activists of the same period analogized their
oppression to slavery. The contemporary white womens movement, born out of
the African American freedom struggles of the 1960’s, compared the oppression
they experienced from sexism to the experience of being oppressed by racism. And
in 1993, white gays and lesbians, struggling to end the homophobic ban on their
open participation in the military, have often compared their struggle to that
of African Americans who demanded an end to segregation in the same
institution. When we use these analogies, we wipe out the distinct history of
white supremacy’s impact on peoples of color, especially African Americans. We
do not need to use false analogies to demonstrate that non—ruling class white
people suffer oppression. Our history is our legacy. Understanding our own
oppressions requires us to respect the differences between our histories and the
histories of the diverse peoples of color in the United States.
This lengthy piece on THE CULTURE OF WHITE SUPREMACY was
written in September, 1994 by Sharon Martinas and the Challenging White
Supremacy Workshop. Please consider this a draft. Your comments, criticisms and
suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Contact the CWS Workshop.