Are cops on the front line of American racism?

[MrScorpio]

24. "White supremacy" has more than one definition...

http://www.sociologyinfocus.com/2013/04/08/white-supremacy-not-just-neo-nazis/

White Supremacy: Not us For Neo-Nazis

White supremacy is often mischaracterized as only a person or group of people (e.g. Neo Nazis & the KKK), but thinking of white supremacy in this way hides too many people who are affected by it. In this post Nathan Palmer will push us to think about white supremacy as an ideology and explore how each of us may personally believe it.

Every year we had a “multi-cultural day” at my elementary school. Usually in January (around Martin Luther King Day) or in February (to “celebrate” Black History Month). We’d eat foods from other cultures (there was always baklava), watch a movie about Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, and learn about how racism used to be a problem in the United States. The overall message was clear to all of us kids, “racism is something mean people used to do and if you do anything racist today, you’re a big meanie”.

I can still remember the befuddled look on my teacher’s face when I walked up to her and asked, “If today is multicultural day, then what are the rest of the days?” Her face scrunched together, she folded her arms, and told me, “Oh, just go back to your seat this instant!”

I was thinking about my multicultural day experience recently because last week was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martine Luther King. The message I learned at these multicultural days (that racism is only a problem at the individual level) I think is largely still present in our society. But in many ways the issue of racism is as much about acts of discrimination as it is about the ideas and ideologies that support prejudice.

The Ideology of White Supremacy
To fully understand white supremacy we have to separate it from the people who identify as white. White supremacy is not a person or group of people, it’s an ideology. Ideology is fancy-sociology-speak for a collection of ideas that work together to affect how we see and understand the world around us. As an ideology, white supremacy encourages us to value white people, white culture, and everything associated with whiteness above the people, culture, and everything associated with people of color. We can encapsulate all of that by using the common white supremacist tagline, “white is right.”


We also have to separate white supremacy from white supremacists. Too often when we hear the word white supremacy we immediately think of men in white pointy hats standing around a burning cross. There’s no argument that the Kl Klux Klan and Neo Nazis subscribe to the white supremacist ideology, but they’re not the only ones. Anyone and everyone can adopt the ideology and white supremacy is reinforced by a wide variety of actions both big/small and intentional/unintentional.

Everyday White Supremacy

Everyday people of color are the targets of discrimination and stereotypes in ways that are overt and intentional, but this is only half the story. Microaggressions, which we’ve discussed here at SIF a number of times, are subtle and unconscious affirmations of white supremacy. For example, a Hispanic American woman is told, “you’re daughter is so beautiful for a Mexican baby.” Or a woman clutches her purse when a Black man enters an elevator. Everyday there are countless examples of people who say and do things that reflect and reinforce white supremacy. The point here is that any of us can reaffirm white supremacy even if we are unaware that we are doing so.