But, it really shouldn’t be that difficult to agree that white supremacy has been a winning ideology. It should be clear to us by now, which ideology really won the Civil War, despite the Union’s military triumph. Rather than live as two nations competing to establish White Supremacy without the Crown, the Union and Confederacy realized that one nation (under White Jesus) would be far more effective.
Here’s a people that have been able to “get away with” crimes against humanity: multiple genocides across the globe, the stealing of indigenous lands across the globe, and the stealing of people in order to work their stolen land. All of these atrocities are no longer discussed as being atrocities. They are simple happenings of history on the march of progress: things we might “remember,” even if they are never truly reconciled.
They say history is the account of the winners. So White power has either authored or authorized the history we teach in public space, across the globe. White power controls all the international institutions, with multiple angles by which to veto global decisions that threaten white rule. And modern civilization is shaped according to the image that white power has determined is best.
White supremacy has triumphed. Or at least it has created a world where white privilege is an established reality in the overwhelming majority of the world. They have created an entire world where white lives matter.
White supremacy has been effective…
Most of us can admit that. I mean: it’s hard to deny. But, we struggle to admit what must also be true.
If white supremacy has triumphed, then some accompanying realities must also be accepted. In order for white supremacy to have succeeded, it had to accomplish some things along the way. There would have been some benchmarks, right? Some goals…some sign posts to let them know they were on course to establishing and securing their dominance. Right?
If whiteness set out to prove the idea of white supremacy, it would have to have some measurables…some deliverables, right?
We just mentioned one of the deliverables: white privilege – a world where there exists no place where white people cannot have hope that the Rule of Law will work in their favor. Wherever white people go in the world, they can have confidence that someone will respect their personhood and listen to their grievances.
No…they might not always receive redress of those grievances. Yet, they can have confidence that the system will at least hear their petition for redress. Even in non-European nations, White people can have confidence that the system will take care in how it interacts with white life.
That’s a huge deliverable…it is the ultimate level of Risk Management for a people who are determined to exploit life and land.
That is a benchmark to prove your supremacy. When you can create a world where your people are able to take advantage of all people they encounter and never be held accountable, that is a mark of “victory” and “success” for the idea of supremacy.
There was the benchmark of carving up Africa and putting the rest of the world under white rule. If you are supreme, you should be able to conquer the world and make them submit to your authority, should you not? You should be able to exploit a people and then have those same people see you as the ones who will aid in their liberation. For only a Supreme Being can be regarded as the Source of All Blessing, even while being the source of all evil and tragedy.
White supremacy can check the box in that column as well. Having subdued Africa and the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world, those same colonialist and imperialist nations are seen by their former subjects as models for freedom and human rights. All of the former colonies are of the belief that the same system which once was used to oppress them, will now be the system that brings about their liberation.
That too is a huge deliverable for a people who want to ensure that even once they “free” you, they would remain able to “lord it over you” and bend you to their will.
And while you might not dare articulate these things that I’m saying now…while you might never speak them in public for fear of the consequences, you are ready to admit those statements are true…right?
But, there’s another reality created by white supremacy. And it matters more to us, as Black people, than any of the other realities. Matter of fact, it’s the reality that allows the other realities to remain.
And it’s the hardest narrative to name…