White Supremacy Culture
Tema Okun
This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being proactively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. Because we all live in a white supremacy culture, these characteristics show up in the attitudes and behaviors of all of us – people of color and white people. Therefore, these attitudes and behaviors can show up in any group or organization, whether it is white-led or predominantly white or people of color-led or predominantly people of color.
SEEK Commentary
This document (and the associated website) really spoke to me as a white settler. For me, it is so important in reconciliation to acknowledge that, not only did colonization seek to eliminate Indigenous cultures, but that the culture that they viewed as "supreme" was, in fact, far inferior and abusive. Being able to recognize how this abusive culture has infiltrated so many aspects of my life has been liberating and has provided me with guidance on ways to decolonize the ways in which I work and live.