Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 14: White Supremacy and the Power of Culture
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
April and Tracie take the time to unpack a phrase that often comes up when Jews Talk Racial Justice: "white supremacy." The phrase has entered the lexicon of individual antiracists and movements alike, but what exactly does it mean? April and Tracie define the term, investigate the discomfort it can generate, and riff on the ways in which discussing "white supremacy culture" may be a way to reclaim agency and power.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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April notes that different folks have different relationships to the term “white supremacy.” What’s your relationship to it? When did you first hear or learn about this term?
Tracie notes that for many white folks in particular, the use of the phrase seems fairly recent when referring to anything other than the KKK. Why do you think that is? Has this been your experience?
As April says when referencing broader scholarship and critical race theory, naming white supremacy is “scary because it's naming the elephant in the room, it's naming the wallpaper, it's naming the infrastructure of the building that you're in.” But doing so is also a “powerful contradiction” to racism. How does naming it make a difference and advance racial justice? Why is it, in general, important to name larger patterns, and where else might you have noticed this in your experiences?
April explains the relationship between white supremacy and patriarchy, saying that “white supremacy is a corollary to patriarchy.” How so? How are they dependent on one another? And, can you think of examples of how this relationship has affected your life?
Tracie says that she uses the phrase “white supremacy culture” because “it gives me back agency.” Unpack this. What does she mean by this? Why would it be valuable to use this phrase? And, thinking about the last question, what connections can you make between white supremacy culture and its role in upholding the patriarchy?
Speaking about the term “white supremacy,” April recounts how she gradually started using terminology she learned from critical race theory to deepen and add sophistication to her analysis. Thinking back on your racial justice and social justice more broadly, can you think of a time or circumstance where you’ve done this with a concept or term that is new to you? How has it helped you move forward? And, are there any concepts or terminologies you are struggling to grasp in the present moment?
April says that “discomfort can be a sign of growth.” Can you think of any personal examples of this? Is there anything right now around which you have discomfort? Like April encourages us to do, let’s explore, interrogate, and get curious about it.
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“As someone who studied critical race theory in college and has a degree in sociology with a concentration in social inequity, the concept of white supremacy is one that I am deeply steeped in. It gave me language, and ways of analyzing, and understanding, and articulating all the things that I saw happening to my Black, and honestly Jewish family in this country, and helped me understand as a Woman of Color what was happening to me and why.”
“Your discomfort with a concept or term is not a sufficient litmus test of its validity. That right to comfort - that feeling of, “This makes me uncomfortable, and therefore it must be wrong” - that concept itself, we really need to investigate. It’s not true. It’s just not true.”
“Discomfort is a prerequisite to growth.”
“I would invite you to consider the possibility that when we adequately address racism and there’s more justice, that a lot of these things are interconnected, and that many more opportunities will open up for everyone when our society isn’t set up to chronically suppress people of color so intensely. When we collectively decide that no one should be impoverished, that Black people shouldn’t be disproportionately impoverished, because when that’s taken care of - that will have a powerful ripple effect for everyone.”
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
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