Challenging White Supremacist Beliefs in Workplaces - part 2
This month on the blog, I will explore specific ways White supremacy is practiced in workplaces and what/how organizations can interrupt these harmful practices. In last week’s blog post, I examined how perfectionism, worship of the written word, and only one right way are embedded in organizations and how workplaces can challenge these.
My goal in this blog series is not to blame all White people for these harmful beliefs, or to victimize all Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour; instead, my aim is to highlight the beliefs and practices that do not serve us as individuals, organizations, and societies. I truly believe these 14 practices contribute to toxicity in workplaces, which makes all of us tired, stressed, and sick, so we must stop believing and acting in these ways.
Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun in their article “Dismantling White Supremacy Culture” written in 2001 listed 14 ways White supremacist beliefs are practiced by organizations. Today I will discuss binary or either or thinking, paternalism, and power hoarding.
Binary thinking is the belief that there are only two options, for example, good or bad, up and down, and Black and White. This belief is closely related to perfectionism and urgency because people are often forced to choose between only two options and to decide quickly. Jones and Okun explained that this belief restricts our options and thinking and tries to reduce complex, systemic issues to personal faults. For example, a common belief reduces poverty to laziness, that is, you either work hard and are wealthy or you are lazy and poor. No consideration is given to systemic factors such as lack of affordable housing, low wages, and insufficient employment benefits.
Organizations can disrupt this belief by encouraging persons to consider more than two options and by providing people with enough time to reflect on the choices before them. Also, give people the power to make informed decisions and to do further research to find answers with which they are most comfortable.
Power hoarding occurs when people with power do not share it with others. Power is understood to be limited with not enough for everyone. Power is also hierarchical and protected at all cost by those at the top of organizations who hold power because they do not want to lose their power and positions. Colonization concentrated power in systems and institutions that benefitted the colonizer. This understanding and approach to power continue today.
Jones and Okun stated that the opposite of power hoarding is power sharing, and workplaces can encourage people to reconsider who holds power and experiences privilege at work. Power sharing can also be practiced by including a commitment to sharing power in your organization’s values statement, explaining leadership through a perspective of shared power, and ensuring everyone knows that great leaders share power and invest in deepening the skills and talents of others. Organizations can also redefine power to show that power is infinite, so there is more than enough power to share with others. Power is not absolute.
Paternalism is experienced when persons at the top of the workplace hierarchy feel they have the only and best answer to organizational and other issues so they feel comfortable speaking on behalf of others. Persons who are in positions of power may not feel they need to consult with or understand the viewpoints others may have. Persons who do not have power do not know how decisions are made although they often feel the impact of decisions most directly.
Ways to counter paternalism, as suggested by Jones and Okun, include increasing transparency and accountability and including people who are most impacted by decisions in the decision-making process. Top-down approaches to making important decisions are not usually effective because persons for whom decisions are made often resent the lack of consultation and inclusion.
Increasing your awareness of these harmful beliefs and how these play out in workplaces will allow your organization to take action to create anti-racist and equitable workplaces where persons are respected, healthy, and safe.
Thanks so much for reading my blog! Please let me know how your workplace interrupts harmful beliefs and practices.
Michelle
CEO