Ep 38 (14 Reprise): 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.

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about Joyous Justice where April is the founding and fabulous (!) director, and Tracie is a senior partner.: https://joyousjustice.com/
Read more of Tracie's thoughts at her blog, bmoreincremental.com

Resources:
Baratunde Thurston's TED Talk
Tracie's 18 Days Exploring Racial Justice
More about Critical Race Theory
Read more about bell hooks from the bell hooks institute
Explore the life and impact of Audre Lorde
Racial Equity Tools
Jane Elliot's famous question to white folks
Characteristics of white supremacy culture as defined by Jewish scholar Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones (again, in a more visual presentation).
Another clear explanation of white supremacy and its history of violence, by Betita Martinez.
Robin DiAngelo unpacks the good/bad binary in this article
Amadou Diallo was an unarmed 23-year-old Black man who was shot over 40 times (19 bullets struck him) by New York City police officers in February 1999.
Learn more about Leonard Peltier, the Native American activist who has spent 40 years in jail after a trial that supporters claim was shoddy at best and unconstitutional at worst.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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 corolla