Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

by Layla F. Saad

Greater inclusivity and representation in all spaces is something that we all want to strive for.

This idea that BIPOC countries and people are inferior in worth, capability, intelligence, and self-determination as compared to white-dominated countries and people with white privilege is a foundational aspect of white supremacy. This sentiment is what leads to white saviorism—the belief that people with white privilege, who see themselves as superior in capability and intelligence, have an obligation to “save” BIPOC from their supposed inferiority and helplessness.

the “White Savior Industrial Complex.”38 This term describes the phenomenon of well-intentioned white missionaries and volunteers (through the business of voluntourism) traveling to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help “rescue” BIPOC from their country’s poverty and lack of development.

Much emphasis is placed on such volunteers having the right solutions to the country’s issues without listening to and partnering with the people they intend to help.

People with white privilege believe that just through their presence and their privilege, they have what it takes to rescue BIPOC from the very nuanced and complex issues they are faced with.

The narrative that BIPOC are inferior and helpless without white intervention is present in white supremacist consciousness

•Missionary and voluntourism trips to BIPOC countries with the intention to do good but little preparation on how to serve instead of lead.

•White savior hero narratives in movies, television, and fictional stories.

•Feeling the urge to step in and speak on behalf of BIPOC’s needs rather than leaving them with the agency to speak for themselves.

•The centering of white narratives on BIPOC liberation,

•People with white privilege treating BIPOC and the issues of discrimination they are facing as pet projects to assuage white guilt and center themselves as the hero.

White saviorism puts BIPOC in the patronizing position of helpless children who need people with white privilege to save them. It implies that without white intervention, instruction, and guidance, BIPOC will be left helpless.

White saviorism is a form of colonialism. It is also a narrative contortion—

Maybe you have heard of the terms performative allyship or ally theater before. Optical allyship is another term for this behavior and can be used interchangeably with those terms.

optical allyship as “allyship that only serves at the surface level to platform the ‘ally,’ it makes a statement but doesn’t go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that oppress.”

•The intention behind the act of allyship is to avoid being called racist and/or to receive a reward through social recognition, praise, and acknowledgment.

•The act of allyship creates the look of diversity and inclusion but does not come with any change at a deeper level through policy change, commitment to antiracism education, transfer of benefits or privilege, etc. The act of allyship is symbolic but not substantive.

•The act of allyship is one that is led by a person with white privilege who is not listening to, partnering with, or following the lead...

ultimately about positioning themselves as the benevolent and conscientious hero.

•The act of allyship involves no real risk. It is one that is performed from the safety of one’s comfort zone of privilege.

•Reposting antiracism posts and virtue signaling so that everyone knows you’re an ally but not doing much more work beyond that.

•Positioning yourself as an ally or activist leader while continuing to step over, talk over, speak for, and take over the spaces of BIPOC.

•Bringing activism words and BIPOC images into your brand to make your business look more “woke.”

•Going out of your way to be extra nice to BIPOC with the hopes you will be seen as a “good white person.” •Only sharing the work of BIPOC who you’ve deemed to be palatable to the white gaze.

optical allyship is all about the person with white privilege and not the BIPOC it is intended to support. It is about how it makes you look and feel.

the site defines allyship as: •Taking on the struggle as your own

•Standing up, even when you feel scared •Transferring the benefits of your privilege to those who lack it •Acknowledging that while you, too, feel pain, the conversation is not about you

actual allyship centers those who are marginalized.

Call outs and calls in are both methods of calling attention to problematic, harmful, and oppressive behaviors with the ultimate aim being changed behavior and the making of amends.

“Call-out culture refers to the tendency among progressives, radicals, activists, and community organizers to publicly name instances or patterns of oppressive behavior and language use by others…calling in means speaking privately with an individual who has done some wrong, in order to address the behavior without making a spectacle of the address itself.”

None of us are born fully conscious of systems of oppression or our own privileges and unconscious biases.

people with white privilege often cause more harm when being called out/in because their white fragility causes them not to receive the feedback necessary to listen, apologize, and do better going forward.

It is normal for any person who has been informed (whether through being called out or called in) that they have caused harm to become defensive, especially when causing harm was not intended.

It was not our intention to hurt them, but it is understood that the impact is still that harm was caused. Instead of refusing to apologize because we did not mean it, we rush to apologize because we understand we have caused pain.

So when we talk about being called out or called in, a common reaction by people with white privilege is to focus on their intention rather than their impact on BIPOC. This is a form of white centering,

•Becoming defensive, derailing, crying, falling silent,

•Focusing on intent

•Tokenizing BIPOC to prove you are not racist or talking about all the good things you have done for BIPOC

•Talking more than listening to the people calling you out/in.

To be called out or called in feels like a dangerous attack against the individual and the collective identity of whiteness. It threatens you as a person with white privilege and the concept of white supremacy as a whole.

The fear of being called out/in is a dangerous deterrent to genuine antiracism practice.

•White silence, because of the fear of saying the wrong thing.

You will be called out/in as you do antiracism work. Making mistakes is how you learn and do better going forward. Being called out/in is not a deterrent to the work. It is part of the work. And there is no safety in this work.

When (not if) you are called out/in, are you well-equipped enough to respond to it in a way that will help you learn and do better, or will you simply give in to white fragility and fall apart?

White apathy, like white silence, is a passive way of continuing to be complicit in white supremacy through nonaction. White apathy says BIPOC are not important enough for you to show up, use your voice, and do the work.

White centering upholds white supremacy by maintaining the dominance of whiteness as the norm and by focusing energy on prioritizing the needs and desires of people with white privilege above everyone else.

it is possible to intend to do the right thing while continuing to perpetuate white centering and white superiority.

In our final week together, we look at your relationships with other people with white privilege as well as your personal values and commitments to antiracism.

Feminism is broadly defined as “a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the genders.”44 White feminism is broadly defined as “an epithet used to describe feminist theories that focus on the struggles of white women without addressing distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges.” 45

White feminism focuses on the struggles of white women (usually cisgendered) over BIPOC.