The Sickness of White Supremacy

(and why White business leaders need to talk about it)

Wednesday evening, January 6, 2021, I gathered with a group of women that I have been meeting with every 2 weeks since July 2020 to discuss racism, study books together and to do the self-work necessary to work towards change. While many of our discussions follow intensive book readings, this one didn’t require as much preparation. Our discussion was supposed to be around this article: The Cost of Racism to White People and Why They Should Care About Racial Justice. As we gathered, the announcement of no charges for the Kenosha Officer in the Jacob Blake shooting and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol dominated our conversation. The article turned out to be quite appropriate as we talked through the many events of this week.

As I reflect on what I have been learning and what this means for me as a CEO and business leader, here is what I believe:

White supremacy is a sickness that is killing our country right now. [1] People are dying. Lies are distracting us from working key problems - COVID, affordable health care, equitable educational opportunities, criminal justice reform – the list is long. The impacts of these issues hit our businesses, our communities and our families.

This will not end on January 20th. A new presidential administration will not root out the sickness of White supremacy that infects our nation. Racism has been a part of our country since it’s very beginning. If we commit ourselves to study history[2], we can see clearly that being “white” is a social construct that has been used for power, control, and exploitation. Throughout history, there have been people working for equality. As progress has been made, racism doesn’t disappear. It adapts to new ways of working that seem more acceptable to White people. We need to recognize the ways White supremacy is hurting all of us (White people, too) and not be lured into being OK with the way things work when things seem more orderly.

Speaking to White people here - if we point to someone else as the problem without identifying how we are a part of the problem, we are missing the truth of the matter. My actions have enabled racist systems to stay in place. The lies of White supremacy have infected all our systems – economic, political, religious – all of them. If we cannot see how we are a part of it, we need to look closer. The only chance we have at a healthier future is to commit ourselves to do the work on ourselves to get better.

The work to root out White supremacy in ourselves and our systems is tricky and hard. It will feel crappy. We will make mistakes. The list of things we could do wrong is long. It requires us to develop new eyes and new skills. As White people we should take careful steps, doing our best to educate ourselves first, developing self-awareness, and interacting with humility that recognizes we have a lot to learn here.

The work is worth it and necessary. When we start to see the sickness of White supremacy for what it is, we get a glimpse of the beauty that we are otherwise missing out on - our own beauty and that of others. By valuing and celebrating the humanity of others, we can live more fully into our own humanity.

The idea that talking about race and White supremacy is not appropriate for our workplaces is a lie that keeps the system in place. Talking about White supremacy is hard but rooting it out is consistent with us living out our corporate values. Talking about this makes me uncomfortable. It makes me worried I will mess it up. It makes me worried I will lose business or lose friends. If we don’t talk about it and wrestle with it, the sickness continues. It may morph to look different, but it won’t go away. It is intertwined with business (as with every other system). 

This quote that was in the article we were discussing on Wednesday night and it speaks such truth:

“I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I cannot be free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.” - Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 1994

[1] See Chapter 18 of How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi for the parallels he sees between cancer and racism and what it means for how we need to get rid of racism.

[2] I recommend Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today by Dr. Jacequeline Battalora and Stamped from the Beginning by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi