African (Black), Indigenous (Latino), and Asian "conscious communities" and activists swear to resist anything catering to white supremacy on every level that it could possibly manifest itself. "Conscious" White activists work overtime trying to convince everyone (including themselves) that they can detect, and destroy, white supremacy at the very moment it reveals its ugly head. Still, despite all these well intended efforts, the reality is we all function, everyday, in full cooperation with white supremacy. In fact, we are it's chief conduits. Examples? If we study at any institution, at any level, we are perpetuating white supremacy. If we work anywhere within the capitalist system, in whatever capacity, we are perpetuating white supremacy. If we participate in any of this society's institutions we are promoting white supremacy. All of this is true because this society was built on white supremacy. All of its values, structures, laws, and cultural manifestations are designed to uphold white supremacy at the base level. So, to be brutally honest, the only thing that we can do that doesn't perpetuate white supremacy is to struggle actively against it and that means (for example) struggling for Pan-Africanism as an objective e.g. one unified socialist Africa. And, even many of the ways we choose to believe we are struggling against white supremacy actually end up promoting more than attacking it. To provide another example, you can struggle for Pan-Africanism, or at least tell yourself that's what you are doing, but the way in which you deal with adversity in your work e.g. how you respond and act towards those you are working with and/or for, can easily represent approaches that are grounded in white supremacy. So, these five subtle components of everyday life are examples designed to get you thinking how insidious white supremacy is.
1.
You find it difficult to learn and/or remember names of people who don't have Anglo names. We are programmed from day one to believe Anglo culture is the dominant culture and the only culture that matters. So, our minds are trained to listen only in the context of Angloisms. So that's why 50% of the time that I introduce myself to someone, regardless of what their ethnic background, when I say (Ahjamu) Ah-jaa-moo, their response is "Pleased to meet you John!" to which I gladly correct them.
2.
You cannot name more than one or two books (if that) which you have read written by and about African, Indigenous, Arab, or Asian people's histories, culture, and ideologies and philosophies (you can't count class assigned reading that you wouldn't have read on your own). If this is true about you, no matter who you are, or what you think you know, you unwittingly believe that non-White people's existence is secondary because you have never even taken the time to study it on any level that can be mistaken for serious.
3.
You refer to non-White people's traditional/cultural dress as "garb." This seems like a small insignificant thing, but African clothes are no more "garb" than your western capitalist clothes are "garb." People from all walks of life wear clothes like you do. By identifying African, Middle East, Native, etc., clothes as "garb" reduces their cultural expression as inferior and comical.
4.
You don't own a passport. By this very act you are screaming that you have absolutely no intention of ever leaving the world bastion of white supremacy in search of cultures and lifestyles that reflect non-white philosophies and practices.
5.
You are not actively participating in an organization that opposes white supremacy. You only escape this one if you are involved in an organization that requires you to study, on a regular basis, non-white practices and philosophies and provides a method for you to put those concepts into practice so that you are working them and sharing them with others on a consistent basis.
1.
You find it difficult to learn and/or remember names of people who don't have Anglo names. We are programmed from day one to believe Anglo culture is the dominant culture and the only culture that matters. So, our minds are trained to listen only in the context of Angloisms. So that's why 50% of the time that I introduce myself to someone, regardless of what their ethnic background, when I say (Ahjamu) Ah-jaa-moo, their response is "Pleased to meet you John!" to which I gladly correct them.
2.
You cannot name more than one or two books (if that) which you have read written by and about African, Indigenous, Arab, or Asian people's histories, culture, and ideologies and philosophies (you can't count class assigned reading that you wouldn't have read on your own). If this is true about you, no matter who you are, or what you think you know, you unwittingly believe that non-White people's existence is secondary because you have never even taken the time to study it on any level that can be mistaken for serious.
3.
You refer to non-White people's traditional/cultural dress as "garb." This seems like a small insignificant thing, but African clothes are no more "garb" than your western capitalist clothes are "garb." People from all walks of life wear clothes like you do. By identifying African, Middle East, Native, etc., clothes as "garb" reduces their cultural expression as inferior and comical.
4.
You don't own a passport. By this very act you are screaming that you have absolutely no intention of ever leaving the world bastion of white supremacy in search of cultures and lifestyles that reflect non-white philosophies and practices.
5.
You are not actively participating in an organization that opposes white supremacy. You only escape this one if you are involved in an organization that requires you to study, on a regular basis, non-white practices and philosophies and provides a method for you to put those concepts into practice so that you are working them and sharing them with others on a consistent basis.
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