Why White Supremacy is Called White Supremacy

A lot of people don’t like the phrase, “white supremacy.”

Some feel threatened by it. Some get defensive about it. Some are triggered by it due to the harm it has caused them and their culture or community. And some like to pretend it doesn’t exist because it forces them to confront the fact that they directly benefit from it as a result of the marginalization and oppression of others.

And a lot of people do not like the fact that white supremacy is called white supremacy — primarily if you identify as a white person. For many white people, the phrase ‘white supremacy’ feels like an attack on them as a person. As if, by using the phrase, we are calling all white people white supremacists.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

White supremacy is the foundation of our society.

Okay, let’s identify what I mean by society. In my research and education, when I refer to society I am referring to Western Society. And since my lived experience is that of a Black American woman, the focal point of my research is the United States of America. However, Western society as a whole has been the most heavily impacted by white supremacy, and my analysis of society and culture can also be applied to Canada, Central America, South America, and Europe, as these are nations that were heavily impacted by both European imperialism and the transatlantic slave trade. And while each of these nations has its own distinct history from colonization and enslavement to today, the foundation of colonization and chattel slavery, and their roots in anti-Blackness and European superiority, continue to impact modern-day society in numerous ways. Colorism is a prime example of this.

That said, from this point forward, my reference points to society, culture, and historical context will be centered on the United States of America.

So, why is it called white supremacy?

Let’s start by defining white supremacy. I’ll use the exact definition here that I use in my book to keep things consistent.

White supremacy is

[A] political, economic, and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.

Source: Vann R. Newkirk, “The Language of White Supremacy,” Atlantic, October 6, 2017

This is what our society was founded upon and strategically built its entire structure on. We cannot deny this. From European colonization that brutally demolished almost all of the Indigenous population to the vicious kidnapping of Africans as chattel to enslave, dehumanize, and use for capital gain, there is no denying the fact that the earliest days of modern society are rooted in the belief that white is superior and should remain superior by any violent means necessary.

The problem is, we are in denial about a few things, even regarding these obvious facts. We are in denial about the depths of the impact that colonization and chattel slavery had/have on the communities it terrorized and our society and culture as a whole. We are in denial about how and why colonization and enslavement began because white supremacy will always defend white supremacy while denying white supremacy’s existence. We are in denial about just how terrorizing and traumatic colonization and chattel slavery were, and the generational impacts of that terror and trauma. And we are certainly in denial that our society was built on this foundation and continues to operate from its original beliefs that white is superior and everything/everyone else is inferior.

It is okay to reckon with the realities of our society’s original sins. It does not mean you are taking the blame for them. It means that you are confronting the truth about how our society was built and how we have all been impacted by those sins individually and collectively.

It is okay to confront the truth that we live in a society that was built on ensuring the supremacy of whiteness and white people by violently marginalizing and oppressing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Our society and culture are one that we have normalized and justified for centuries, so it’s normal to feel like this is a punch in the gut. It’s normal to even feel angry, hurt, sad, or even embarrassed, depending on the perspective you are reading this from. (i.e. BIPOC, white, able-bodied, disabled, queer, not queer, etc.)

I have felt all of those things. I have felt pissed that I’ve been forced to live in a society that sees me, my people, and my culture as so inferior, every move we make appears as a threat. I have shed tears of agony and grief for both my ancestors and my present-day struggle as a Black woman in America.

You may be feeling different emotions. Sit with that. But don’t allow emotions of guilt, shame, or blame to enter that chat. That’s not what this is. We are simply here to understand that white supremacy is a system that was built to benefit one group of people, marginalize and oppress other groups of people in order to benefit the other group, but in turn, harms us all no matter what intersection of society we sit in. My job is to help you understand exactly how white supremacy is harming us all so that we can all break free from it and create generational freedom.

Right now, all I want you to take from this article is why white supremacy is called white supremacy. It is not called white supremacy to label all white people white supremacists. Though we certainly have white supremacists among us, and all of us perpetuate white supremacy in some way (more on that in future articles and my book), the purpose of the term white supremacy is for us to understand that we live in a society that was built on the ideology and framework that white people and whiteness are, indeed, superior. And anytime we believe one version of a human is superior to another version of a human and build an entire society around that? Well, let’s just say, that causes nothing but trouble.