Our society’s desperation to keep whiteness and white people in power has not come without a grave cost to everyone who inhabits this society. That means you. And that means me. It is because of white supremacy that we have built a society that refuses more help to its citizens than any other developed nation in this world. It is because of white supremacy that we have withheld the human rights to safety, security, education, health care, public resources, child care, and more. It is white supremacy that wrote the very American narrative that even your most basic human rights must be deserved and earned.

Each of these characteristics can be traced back to the foundations and development of white supremacy to the society and culture we live in today. These traits have emerged from the development of white supremacy. They are the result of it.

America has defined itself as a country based on a race-based hierarchy that, through almost every structure, law, ordinance, and standard set by elite white men, is reinforced by class, education, land ownership, gender, and even beauty. Desperate to maintain the supremacy of whiteness, (specifically male-dominated whiteness), America provided handouts to white men, restricted access to everyone else, and told the lie that the success the white men experienced was solely based on meritocracy.

This obsession with production and perfection seeps into every facet of our lives — from our education to our careers to our parenting. It is inescapable. If you are not incessantly trying to outperform your counterparts and yourself every day, society will shout at you from every angle about how much of a failure you are. Sitting down is out of the question. Rest is for the lazy and weak. There is always more to do, more to be, and more to chase. You are never enough in our society, and society reminds us of that every single day.

It is not a coincidence that we are a society of humans walking around in a worthiness-chasing daze. Our society has destroyed our self-worth, convinced us that it’s our fault we don’t feel worthy, and has brainwashed us into normalizing toxic traits and behaviors in order to “earn that worthiness.”

In this article, Caroline J. Sumlin explains in a digestible way for the skeptic reader why we use the term ‘white supremacy.’ After reading this article, you will walk away with an understand about the foundational role white supremacy plays on our Western society and begin comprehending how that foundational role of white supremacy shows up in our daily lives.