Week 4:
Accepting Your Complicity
We understand that our complicity — as white people — in white supremacy is a fraught subject. We want to open this week by acknowledging that, in our society, it is not socially acceptable to admit to racism (or complicity in racism). Doing so is likely to be frightening, painful, and may come only after a great deal of mental and emotional resistance. But admitting our own complicity in white supremacy — in perpetuating systemic racism — is not only potentially terrifying and painful, it can also be liberating. And it is a vital step in becoming fearlessly anti-racist.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Understand how inaction is a choice.
Identify specific ways in which you are or have been complicit in white supremacy.
Connect individual acts of complicity to systemic racism.
Explain the connection between privilege and complicity.
Accept your complicity, authentically.
Glossary
Passive Racism: The act of doing nothing to interrupt the functioning of a racist society.
Meritocracy: A system in which your position in society is determined by merit alone (e.g., intelligence, hard work, creativity, etc.)
Tone Policing: Critiquing the method of delivery (as opposed to the content) of a statement made by a BIPOC speaker, through a white cultural lens.
Reflecting on Our Journey Thus Far
One of the goals of this course is to move white folks from the belief that “Systemic racism does not exist” to the belief that “I am responsible for systemic racism.” The progression looks like this:
Move you from this belief… to this belief
Systemic racism does not exist Systemic racism does exist
I don’t benefit from systemic racism I do benefit from systemic racism
I am not responsible for systemic racism I am responsible for systemic racism
We hope that, after last week, you can recognize how you, directly, benefit from systemic racism in the form of white privilege, separately from your improved life chances. In other words, we hope you are, at a minimum, able to state with confidence, “I do benefit from systemic racism.”
This week we’ll be diving into the what makes us — and more to the point, what makes you — responsible for (i.e., complicit in) perpetuating systemic racism, aka white supremacy.
Reflection: Which of these statements do you agree with right now?
Systemic racism (aka white supremacy) exists
I benefit from white supremacy (I have white privilege)
I am responsible for (complicit in) white supremacy
Are there any that you agree with intellectually but not emotionally? Why do you think that may be?
Passive Racism as Complicity
Last week we briefly covered the concept of passive racism. We’ve included it again in this week’s Glossary because it plays such an important role in understanding our complicity in white supremacy. This is because passive racism explains how we — as white folks — are always making a choice to help or hinder white supremacy, even when we choose to do nothing. Galen is making the choice to uphold white supremacy when he chooses to do nothing. Chelsie is making the choice to uphold white supremacy when she chooses to do nothing. And YOU are making the choice to uphold white supremacy when YOU choose to do nothing.
We’ll explain this concept in detail below, but before we do, please check out this short, animated video explaining Dr. Beverly Tatum’s metaphor of passive racism as a moving walkway.
Video: Passive Racism as a Moving Walkway
If you Google the word “complicity,” here’s what you’ll find:
We could choose a different definition of complicity that would be easier to argue for, in terms of white folks’ complicity in white supremacy. For example, Merriam Webster’s definition that requires only “association or participation” in a wrongful act. We think it’s important to acknowledge, however, that complicity requires that one be involved in the wrongdoing, not just associated with it. And make no mistake — all of us white folks are involved in the perpetuation of the system of white supremacy.
Returning to passive racism — we don’t usually think of inaction as being involved, but inaction in the face of systemic racism is a CHOICE. When we choose NOT to disrupt the system of white supremacy, we are complicit in that system. Complicity is not about being actively racist, it’s about just going along for the ride in an unjust system that directly benefits you as a white person.
White folks make somewhat more obvious choices to uphold white supremacy every day when they say or do things that clearly uphold the status quo, and do not challenge white supremacy.
“I believe that All Lives Matter.”
“I don’t see color.”
“Everyone has equal opportunities.”
“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”
“America is a meritocracy.”
These types of statements support the system as it exists currently and do not acknowledge (let alone attempt to address) the real, systemic racism that BIPOC face in our society. Yet none of these statements are actively racist, and few folks living their life in accordance with these well-intentioned statements are likely to be living an actively racist life. Folks making these statements are, however, very likely to be living a life in which they blissfully benefit from systemic racism, while choosing to do nothing to disrupt that system — likely because they truly believe that the system is working for everyone, and that there is no such thing as systemic racism. This is because most Americans believe in the myth of meritocracy — that America is an equal playing field, where the best and the brightest rise to the top, on the basis of their merits alone (and consequently, those at the bottom also ‘deserve’ to be there). Galen briefly explains this myth below.
Galen explains the myth of meritocracy.
Bonus Homework Challenge: Define meritocracy to a friend or family member, then challenge the myth that the U.S. is a strict meritocracy..
But there are also more subtle forms of complicity in white supremacy. For those of us who accept that systemic racism does exist, and that we benefit from it, we’re unlikely to make such broad and inaccurate statements, or to live our lives by those credos. But that doesn’t mean we’re exempt from participating in wrongdoing. We still find ways to support the system, through our ignorance, stubbornness, or sometimes just plain laziness (i.e., exhaustion). And our ability to opt out of challenging white supremacy is absolutely a white privilege.
In the audio clips below, we share a few examples of the ways in which we have opted out, and remained complicit in white supremacy.
Seeing Your Own Complicity
As you may have anticipated, now that we’ve shared a few of the ways that we have been and continue to be complicit in white supremacy, we’d like you to do the same. Again, we’re going to encourage you to push to the end of your comfort zone. If that means just writing down examples of your own complicity, great. If it means sharing them with your accountability partner, our Facebook group, or even another human being, in person, that’s great too! But whatever you choose, take some time to reflect on your own passive racism.
Reflection: When have you just ‘rode the moving walkway’ of systemic racism, rather than walking against it? What caused you to do this (e.g., fear, exhaustion, ignorance, stubbornness, defensiveness)? How long did it take for you to recognize what you were doing? How could you be better about noticing and interrupting your passive racism?
How Individual Complicity Translates into Systemic Racism: An Example
It may not be completely clear yet how our own, individual complicity in white supremacy (i.e., passive racism) contributes to something as overwhelmingly pervasive as systemic racism. In the activity below, Vi Hart and Nicky Case illustrate the cumulative effect of our individual complicity. As an added benefit, the Parable of the Polygons also nicely illustrates how destructive our implicit biases can be, not just on an individual level, but on a societal level, when deployed in aggregate. Work through the entire page, then come back here for a couple more words on segregation.
Activity: The Parable of the Polygons
Note that segregation in America is both real, and not entirely the result of individual biases. Yes, biases matter. Sure, a few preferences about who one wants to live near can certainly be attributed to overt racism. But many others can be attributed to well-intentioned white people who really believe they want to live near people of color, even if, subliminally, their implicit biases kick in once their subconscious threshold of BIPOC neighbors has been exceeded. That said, as we discussed in Week 1, segregation is also the result of governmental policies, combined with racism in lending and unwritten customs around who is shown homes in which neighborhoods. As for the reality of segregation, racial dot maps like this one, hosted on CNN, starkly illustrate how segregated the U.S. is, based on actual census data. We highly recommend taking some time to explore one of these maps, if you’re still questioning whether — or how intensely — the U.S. is racially segregated.
Revisiting Privilege
Just as it may have been uncomfortable for many of us to recognize our own white privilege, it may be even more uncomfortable to recognize that those privileges make us complicit in the system of white supremacy. Yes, we may not be contributing to it directly, but we are still benefiting from it. And this benefiting means we are complicit in the system of white supremacy.
Benefiting from white privilege (which is unavoidable) is, in itself, complicity in white supremacy. There’s no getting around it.
To return to our dictionary definition of complicity, complicity requires that you be involved in the wrongdoing. Benefiting from the system of white supremacy — benefiting from white privilege — means that you are invested (involved) in that system.
Here’s a metaphor to explain what we mean: If you have stock in a company, and derive dividends (profit) from that stock, because the company is doing well, then you are invested in that company. This is true even if someone gave you the stock as a gift (it was unearned and unasked for). So long as you hold stock in the company, you will continue to benefit from the company doing well, even if it does so at the expense of others (e.g., paying workers less than a livable wage, maintaining unsafe working conditions, or violating environmental regulations). You are complicit in the company’s wrongdoings, because you are invested in the company.
Privilege works the same way. Even though we don’t earn or ask for it, privilege invests us in the system of white supremacy (which is the definition of wrongdoing). By benefiting from white privilege, we are complicit in white supremacy. This is a crucial point, because even if we could somehow get rid of all of our implicit biases, and even if we could somehow identify, interrupt, and take action to correct every instance of inaction (i.e., passive racism) on our part, we still could not get rid of our privilege. We don’t think it’s actually possible to accomplish those first two tasks, while living in a white supremacist society — though we hope you’ll always try — but we know that it’s impossible to get rid of our privilege. So if you weren’t convinced — at least intellectually — by our arguments about passive racism and the cumulative effects of implicit biases, privilege is our “silver bullet” for getting you to agree that you (yes YOU) are complicit in white supremacy.
Why go to all this effort to ‘convince’ you? Well, as we mentioned, this step (accepting your complicity) is vital to becoming fearlessly anti-racist. That’s both because you can’t be fearless without admitting to and accepting your own racism, and because you can’t be effectively anti-racist without accepting your complicity in the system you’re trying to disrupt. That’s because being anti-racist has as much to do with confronting our own racism as it does with confronting the racism of others.
If we don’t believe we’re complicit in white supremacy, then we don’t believe we have individual behaviors that need to change, nor a responsibility to change the system.
Fear of Admitting Our Complicity
Fear of admitting our complicity in a racist system is a huge obstacle to becoming fearlessly anti-racist. But accepting our complicity is also the key to unlocking our fearless anti-racism.
So much of our fear around admitting our complicity in white supremacy comes from our resistance to being seen as racist. For the most part, our cultural taboo against openly declaring oneself to be racist is a good thing. But it also has a terrible price. Because we equate being racist with being a bad person, admitting to our own racism is tantamount to declaring that we are bad people. The reality is that good people (and we include ourselves in this group!) can engage in racist thoughts and behaviors while still being fundamentally decent human beings. But, again, our fear of being perceived as morally corrupt holds us back from doing the one thing that will allow us to step fully into being fearlessly anti-racist.
“Whites who position themselves as liberal often opt to protect what they perceive as their moral reputations, rather than recognize or change their participation in systems of inequity and domination. In so responding, whites invoke the power to choose when, how, and how much to address or challenge racism.”
If you can’t accept your complicity, you can never be fearlessly anti-racist. No matter how well-intentioned you are, you can never be a true accomplice until you understand that your privilege and complicity will ALWAYS be there, so long as white supremacy persists. You have to own your complicity, authentically. There is no study guide for this, no test you have to pass, and no one you have to convince, except yourself. But you do have to accept your complicity to move forward.
The wonderful flip side to all this difficult mental and emotional labor is that you will come out the other side ready to be a true accomplice. Not just an ally, but a person who is as invested in the struggle against white supremacy as any person of color.* Because you will recognize that the fight against systemic racism is not a BIPOC fight, but rather a human fight. Allies help those in the struggle. Accomplices are in the struggle, together. And once you are actually in there, on the inside, you are finally set up to be the most effective possible anti-racist you can be, and to do so fearlessly.
*Just to be clear, we are not suggesting that white folks have as much to lose as people of color, should white supremacy persist, simply that when you accept your complicity in an unjust system, you are (or rather, morally should be) as invested in its dissolution as those who it unjustly oppresses.
“This widespread phenomenon of white people wanting to guard themselves against appearing stupid, racist, or radical has resulted in an epidemic of silence from people who care deeply about justice and love for their fellow human beings. I believe most white people would take a stand against racism if only they knew how, or even imagined they had a role.”
The Color of Fear
As a bridge between this week and next, we wanted to offer you some serious support (and a bit of challenge) in the form of one of the most powerful documentary films on race relations we have ever viewed, The Color of Fear. The film follows the conversations of a mixed-race group of men talking about race and racism. We considered showing you a clip or two, but ultimately decided that we’d like you to watch the film in its entirety, because we believe it is that valuable. In particular — and in preparation for next week — the emotional struggles of David (a white man), as he attempts to come to terms with his own complicity in white supremacy, are incredibly enlightening and relatable (you can almost watch him moving through the stages of white identity development in real time, over the course of the 90-minute film). In addition, Gordon (the other white man) offers an incredible example of the power of accepting one’s own racism and admitting to it. Even — perhaps especially — in a room full of men of color. We hope that Gordon’s example, and David’s struggle, will be both relatable and challenge you to keep moving forward in your own fearlessly anti-racist journey.
We recognize that there is a LOT to unpack from this film. We’ll spend a little time engaging in dialogue on the film at our cohort meeting next week, but if you’d like to start processing a little sooner, we encourage you to make use of your accountability partner and/or our Facebook group. We’re also providing some reflection questions for you to consider while you watch — or after you have finished the film.
Document: Reflection Questions for The Color of Fear
As you watch the film, remember to be aware of our tendency as white folks to engage in tone policing. The men in the film make some excellent points, but not always in a way that we would find culturally acceptable as white folks. Try to hear what they are saying, and not to fixate on how they are saying it.
Film: The Color of Fear
Note that the film is protected by a paywall (we have paid for a 1-week rental for our entire cohort, which will end Friday at 8pm PDT), so please do not share the above link with anyone outside the cohort.
HOMEWORK CHALLENGE
This week, we’re going to end with a challenge, with the promise of LOTS of support next week, as we work on absorbing the emotional impact of everything we have been learning up until this point (and especially this week). You’ve already accepted your own complicity in white supremacy (we hope), so let’s take it one step further, and hopefully push you right up to the end of your comfort zone.
This week, call out your own racism. The most clear (and challenging) way to do this is to simply state to another person you know, “I am racist.” Don’t add any qualifications, just leave it at that. “I am racist.”
See how long you can hold out before you launch into your explanation of what you mean by that statement. Really try to sit in the discomfort of making that statement aloud to another human being. Before too long, they will likely let you off the hook by asking you what you mean, or offering a supportive “No you’re not,” giving you an opportunity to explain your racism is not of the Neo-Nazi variety, but a mix of implicit bias, passive racism, and privilege.
Reflection: On a scale of 1-10, how difficult was it for you to call out your own racism to another person? What phrase did you choose? Why do you think you chose that phrase? If you were nervous, what were you afraid would happen? Did any of those things actually happen?