--- title: 15 Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture description: The 15 Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, as defined by Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones --- [Skip to content](https://disabilit4t.org/15-characteristics-of-white-supremacy-culture#main-content) [![Disabili-T4T in bubbly, yellow and pink lettering](https://disabilit4t.org/hs-fs/hubfs/2-3.png?width=1500&height=300&name=2-3.png)](https://disabilit4t.org?hsLang=en) - [Community Blueprints](https://disabilit4t.org/blueprints) - [FAQ](https://disabilit4t.org/en/frequently-asked-questions) - [Apply](https://disabilit4t.org/apply) - [Contact Us](https://disabilit4t.org/contact-us) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Community Blueprints](https://disabilit4t.org/blueprints) - [FAQ](https://disabilit4t.org/en/frequently-asked-questions) - [Apply](https://disabilit4t.org/apply) - [Contact Us](https://disabilit4t.org/contact-us) - [Subscribe](https://disabilit4t.org/subscribe) [Subscribe](https://disabilit4t.org/subscribe?hsLang=en) # The 15 Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture ### Originally by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun adapted from *Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups* (2001) and [*White Supremacy Culture: Still Here*](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XR_7M_9qa64zZ00_JyFVTAjmjVU-uSz8/view) (2021) - Fear #### Characteristic - All of the characteristics listed here are driven by fear - When we are afraid, whatever the reason, especially when we don't have the skills to hold that fear, we are easily manipulated by any false yet powerful sense of safety - The promised safety is false because it is always based on the abuse and misuse of power - White supremacy, white supremacy culture, and racism use fear to divide and conquer, always in the service of profit and power for a few at the expense of the many. #### Antidote - First and foremost, naming it when it arises, whether in a group or in us individually - Collectively and individually develop skills to meet our fear, sit with our fear, name our fear, and work to avoid letting fear drive our beliefs, actions, and decisions - Perfectionism #### Characteristic - Focus on what is wrong - Mistakes seen as personal, shameful - Little reflection when things go wrong, hard to learn from ‘mistakes’ #### Antidote - Develop culture of appreciation - Develop learning organization, “mistakes” seen as opportunities - When giving feedback, always speak to the things that went well first - Sense of Urgency #### Characteristic - There is no “time” to be inclusive, be thoughtful, consider the long-term consequences - Default is to the current (white) norm #### Antidote - Be realistic about how long things take - Understand that there are no shortcuts to building a diverse community - Adhere to agreed-upon decision-making processes; no “shortcuts” - Defensiveness #### Characteristic - Criticism of those in power seen as threatening, rude, or inappropriate (due to either/or thinking) - New/different ideas seen as threatening #### Antidote - Name defensiveness as an issue and explore how it impedes the mission - Understand the link between defensiveness and fear and build community as an antidote to fear - Quantity over Quality #### Characteristic - Focus on content rather than on process - Emphasis on what can be easily and “objectively” measured - Discomfort with emotions and tension - End up making decisions that don’t stick #### Antidote - Adhere to organizational values that value inclusion and process - Develop protocols for knowing when to move off content and into process, and build skills in having difficult conversations - Worship of the Written Word #### Characteristic - If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist - Those with strong documentation and writing skills are more highly valued, whether this is related to the organizational mission or note - There is one right way to do things #### Antidote - Acknowledge that there are many ways of reaching the same goal - Accepting and implementing decisions made in different ways - Understand that there are many skillful ways of being in the world and it is desirable for all to flourish - Paternalism #### Characteristic - Decision-making is clear to those with power and unclear to those without it - Those with power think they are capable of making decisions for and in the interests of those without power - Those without power understand they do not have it and understand who does #### Antidote - Develop clear and transparent decisionmaking processes - Clearly defining roles and responsibilities - Emphasize transparency and discussion - Either-Or Thinking #### Characteristic - Unable to see ‘both/and’ - Hard to learn from experience or accommodate diverse views - Fosters conflict, urgency, oversimplification of complex issues #### Antidote - Notice when either/or thinking arises and note this out loud as a group - When there is pressure to make a decision “right away,” take time to lower the emotional temperature and consider alternatives - Power Hoarding #### Characteristic - Little value around sharing power - Those with power believe that they have the whole organization’s interests at heart and see those advocating for change as ill-informed or… - Those in power don’t see themselves as hoarding power #### Antidote - Actively share power, i.e. by rotating leadership positions - Clearly define and abide by organizational roles and responsibilities - Emphasize leaders’ responsibility to develop others’ leadership skills - Stay focused on the mission - Fear of Open Conflict #### Characteristic - Emphasis on being “polite” - Those who bring up difficult issues are seen as rude, blamed for ‘causing problems’ #### Antidote - Build distress tolerance and conflict management skills - Use discomfort as a signal for investigation - Individualism #### Characteristic - Emphasize (supposed) individual achievement/competition over cooperation - Fosters isolation - Leads to focus on individual v. collective/organizational goals #### Antidote - Support teamwork and develop related skills - Emphasize collective goals - Actively give credit to everyone contributing to a process/activity/goal - Progress is Bigger/More #### Characteristic - Assume that increasing in size is necessarily a good thing #### Antidote - Carefully evaluate plans and proposals for their impact on the mission/community - Objectivity #### Characteristic - Belief that there is such a thing as “objective” - Devalues emotion (and people expressing emotion), hypervalues “logic” (and people arguing “logically”) #### Antidote - Accept that there are many ways to experience a given situation - Assume that everyone has a valid point and it is your job to understand it fully - Right to Comfort #### Characteristic - Those with power have a right to be comfortable - Scapegoating those who “cause” discomfort #### Antidote - Hold the systemic view that allows you to not take things personally - Accept that change and inclusion brings discomfort - Qualifications #### Characteristic - This particular characteristic is internalized primarily by middle and owning class white people, formally educated, who are taught by the culture that they are qualified and even duty bound to fix, save, and set straight the world - While the intention to fix, save, and set straight is often overt, the deviousness of this characteristic is how strongly white middle and owning class educated people can internalize and assume their own inherent qualifications to "improve" whatever is in front of them that is "broken" without acknowledging or seeing their role in breaking it #### Antidote - Knowing ourselves so that we become skilled at catching our internalized assumptions about our own qualified-ness - Learn to prioritize relationships over being right - We must learn to let go of the need to fix, save, and set straight in the acknowledgement that we are at our best when we are "with" others (and ourselves). 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