Tema Okun on Her Mythical Paper on White Supremacy

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

“White Supremacy Culture,” an article by Tema Okun, was first written to outline and analyze how white supremacy operates in organizations. But in the past few years, with renewed attention on the racial justice movement, the short article has been used as a weapon within progressive organizations and by the right. As organizational infighting continues, many have used the article as a way to claim that basic elements of organizational life — editing, performance reviews, deadlines, urgency, the written word, perfectionism, etc. — are actually all characteristics of white supremacy culture. This week on Deconstructed, Tema Okun joins host Ryan Grim to discuss her article, its evolution, and its misuse, speaking out for the first time against its weaponization. Okun breaks down the history of her article, how it has been used in ways she did not intend, and what the true intention of the piece is. join.theintercept.com/donate/now

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In the late 1990s, a consultant in the burgeoning diversity and equity training industry,
0:08.6	named Temma Okan, put together a short paper titled White Supremacy Culture, although
0:13.2	calling it a paper is a bit of a stretch.
0:15.6	It's eight pages long and it consists of a series of bullet points listing out what
0:19.3	Okan describes as characteristics of White Supremacy culture, followed by antidotes to
0:23.6	them.
0:24.6	If you work in an office that has an even slightly progressive leaning workforce, you're
0:28.0	probably familiar with the bullet points, even if you've never seen the paper.
0:31.4	Or if you watch Fox News, which loves to lampoon it, then you know what I'm talking about.
0:36.0	The bullet points list some of the characteristics of White Supremacy culture, including things
0:40.1	like perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness, worship of the written word, individualism,
0:46.7	and objectivity.
0:47.7	So starting in the late 2000s, the paper began to be circulated widely in progressive spaces.
0:53.6	After George Floyd's murder, it was everywhere and it started to morph into something different,
0:57.3	often wielded by employees during performance reviews, or when pressed about a deadline,
1:01.9	or it was otherwise weaponized in the internal battles that continued to engulf institutions,
1:06.6	organizations, or even corporations around the country.
1:09.3	It took me a while to fully comprehend the impact of the paper, but trust me, it's been
1:13.6	profound.
1:14.9	Along the way, I heard from people who had reached out to Tema Oak, completing with
1:18.5	her to clarify the document.
1:20.8	In 2021, she did update and clarify it on a new website, though as far as I can tell
	...

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