Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America

by Ijeoma Oluo

refuse to let our shock and outrage distract us into thinking that these incidents do not all stem from the same root source, which must be dismantled. That source is white male supremacy.

Ours is a society where white culture is normalized and universalized, while cultures of color are demonized, exotified, or erased.

“Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man.”

When I talk about mediocrity, I am talking about how aggression equals leadership and arrogance equals strength—

But the election of Barack Obama to the presidency caused an explosion in popularity of white nationalist and antigovernment groups in the region. People could mask their racist discomfort with a Black president behind a general distrust of the government and a “patriotic” desire to take America “back to its roots.”

Even for those who will never don a cowboy hat, the idea of a white man going it alone against the world has stuck.