An American Tradition

"The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less."
-Eldridge Cleaver

White supremacy is not an indictment against a particular individual, rather it is a function of an unjust government. The American revolution spawned a race-based class system. White people*  occupied the highest class. The remaining other humans of America with darker skin were sequestered into the lower-classes. African slaves were treated as less than human, and the newly United States government waged war on Native peoples. The new Americans justified their insidious behavior and unjust legislation through dehumanizing the Africans and native Americans. The dehumanization process is particularly damaging to the oppressor because they exalt themselves while disregarding the intrinsic value of different cultures. This is how white supremacy functions, it is a belief which exalts the values, beliefs, and practices of white people as the appropriate, or right, way of life. This ideology is unable to legitimize different cultures, only villianize them. White supremacy can only be believed if one simultaneously believes every other race is deficient. 

The belief in white superiority was both sub-conscious and explicit throughout the course of white civilization. These values framed the perspective of most of the British defectors. When they created the Constitution of the United States, they neglected to consider including Native peoples and kidnapped Africans. It would have been ludicrous for them to do so, because they believed in the supremacy of the white race. Non-white peoples were too stupid to understand, or to uncivilized to participate. This is the narrative of white supremacy. The legal structure of the United States favors white people because the creators believed in the superiority of white people. Every created system in this country is imbued with the belief of a superior white race, and as a result our systems maintain ineqality and inequity. 

In the southern United States, white supremacy is associated with white hoods and swastikas, however all of us are white supremacists to a degree, even people of color. Since the founders of the United States deliberately created a race based legal and political system, giving and denying certain liberties based upon skin color, the non-white Americans often do not even think of themselves as true Americans. This belief is a product of white supremacy. We do not feel we are true Americans because we are not white. We are keenly aware that we are a tolerated minority rather than a desirable part of the population. As a response to our lifetime of social ostracization, we try to fit in. We try to adopt different speech patterns in hopes of being accepted. We attend White Universities because a historically black college or university is not as academically rigorous. The tide of white supremacy has eroded our self-confidence and love for ourselves and each other. I see black men shave their faces clean, even though it gives them terrible razor bumps as a way to adopt a white standard. Black women constantly battle their hair because coming into work with a headscarf is unprofessional. It is not unprofessional for us, just for white people. Minorities in this country seek to adopt white standards with the hope that we will be fully accepted. Regrettably, that day never comes, unless you can lighten your skin enough to no longer be recognized as a hyphenated American.*

White supermacy is in all of us. The system we live in, intended to perpetuate white supremacy. As a result we live in a society filled with hate. We hate each other and we hate ourselves. White supremacy is limiting to white people as well. Any action, belief, or idea that departs from the longstanding tradition of white culture is viewed as foreign and ought to be removed. I hear white men tell me all the time how they cannot dance or jump, and use the phrase, "because I'm white" as an epithet to justify their lack of ability. I feel a surge of anger because dancing or jumping is a human activitiy! But since jumping and dancing is relegated to ethnic peoples in their conscious, they cannot participate in those basic actions. White supremacy truncates the personality of white people, it is an act of violence. In the deification of white conduct, harm is done to millions of white children who are told how they can and cannot behave due to their exalted status.

While non-profit organizations, governments, and businesses are investing a plethora of resources to alleviate poverty, this will not bring about equity. Our systems function to preserve the dominance of the white race. As long as these institutions continue to exist, so will the disparities between the races. The only solution is a restructuring of the system. White supremacy will die when we kill it. Our belief in an unfounded hope of things getting better is worthless. We cannot continue to make excuses in justifying an unfair system. Our delayed action continues to send a clear message to all people of color that their lives do not matter as much as their white counterparts. This is one tradition that is long due for replacement.


*The white upper class initially was initially reserved for anglo-saxons.  As new waves of immigrants entered the country, whiteness expanded to include: Irish, Italians, Germans, French, Spanish, and other light skinned Europeans.

*African-American, Chinese-American, Indian-American, Native-American, etc.