White Supremacy Culture: The Either/OR & The Binary and Individualism
We are continuing our series breaking down Tema Okun’s White Supremacy culture’s characteristics and how they appear in the outdoors community. If you haven’t read our previous content already, check out our breakdowns of “Fear” and “One Right Way”. Remember, this is not an all-inclusive guide- we encourage you to continue to do your own research and learn from a diverse group of resources! In this blog, we will break down “Either/OR & The Binary” and “Individualism”.
A Reminder: What is White Supremacy?
Simply put (by the Oxford Dictionary), white supremacy is “the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups.”
It’s important to note that White Supremacy goes beyond just skin color. It’s a systemic and cultural problem that hurts everyone.
Either/OR & The Binary
White Supremacy Culture would have us believe that things are either good or bad, right or wrong, or with us or against us. However, our world is not black and white- there is room to be a little bit of both. This way of thinking simplifies issues and it limits our ability to problem solve and connect intersectionally.
We see this often in our politics. We hear divisive people say “that community is suffering because of drugs”, “people don’t vote because they are lazy”, or “those people will remain in poverty because they are uneducated”. In actuality, these issues are all complex and there is no single solution. The world we live in is complicated; when we limit ourselves to binary ways of thinking, we lose touch with each other. Perhaps an aspect of poverty does lie in poor education, but it includes other aspects like financial insecurity, lack of access to basic services, systemic racism, corporate greed, and more. But if we limit our way of thinking, we miss these other factors, and that does not lend to creative and effective solutions, as much as it puts the burden on the individual instead of on a system that thrives on impoverishing people.
In the outdoors community, we also run into issues of binary thinking. For example, a common issue many outdoorists notice is that it is mostly white. Hand in hand with that comes this thought pattern: “There aren’t more BIPOC folks outside because they lack opportunity to go outside; let’s provide more programming”.
Seems like an easy solution right? Just provide more opportunities and advertise to a wider range of people. But let’s break down some other factors that contribute to this issue:
Historically, communities of Color have experienced trauma in the outdoors. Whether being displaced, their nature-based practices and traditions forbidden, or prosecuted through different landscapes, history has an effect on today’s cultures.
Many BIPOC folks do not feel safe outdoors based on their day to day experiences of harm and microaggressions in other spaces. Being in a predominantly white space can enhance pre-existing fears and discomfort.
It’s expensive. In addition to expensive gear, recreating outdoors means time off from work and need for reliable transportation. That’s a lot of time and money to commit and feels risky if you have never done it before. Communities of color make up the majority of people in high poverty neighborhoods around the US (National Equity Atlas) due historic and ongoing economic injustice.
Not all BIPOC folks will relate to or feel these issues, but some do. And that’s the big point: some do. Solutions that would be more intersectional could include a mix of creating affinity spaces, low fee or free program scholarships, include gear in programs, training program staff in cultural humility and anti-racism, offer transportation, hiring diverse program leaders, translating and interpreting programs into other languages, decolonizing programs, and creating culturally relevant marketing. In all honesty, there is not a perfect solution, and that’s okay. We as a people and our problems are not all the same, so it doesn’t make sense to formulate binary solutions. When we do away with this way of thinking, we come closer together as a community and find better ways to connect and bring each other together.
Individualism
To believe that I, one person, can achieve anything on my own, is to overlook the evident reality of our interconnectedness in this world. In White Supremacy culture we hear a lot of “individualistic” praises to “self-made millionaires,” and “self-taught entrepreneurs,” etc etc. Truth is, we are ever influencing, supporting, or helping each other, we stand on the soil our ancestors nurtured, and we, each of us, is a collection of forces from the communities we’ve been in contact with and a part of. It’s not our fault we are taught to “figure it out on our own” instead of being taught how to collaborate with others. This is detrimental to progress. We must work together. We are not above help from other people. We can all learn from each other; sharing our unique perspectives helps us grow. It’s helpful to identify Individualism as part of “culture,” because it’s something we cannot see or name so easily but we rather take it for granted because we learn it from an early age and systems around us reinforce it without questioning it.
Ask yourself this: Would you rather be seen/considered as an individual or as part of a group? A common phrase within White Supremacy culture that we hear when talking about race and privilege is “well, not all white people.” But, that’s a simplified approach that enforces individualism. In reality, all white people do experience privilege due to the color of their skin. Distancing the self from “other white people” is a failure to confront privilege and address the real systemic racist issues at play as part of a group which shares that identity. We must start by understanding how and why there are dominant racial, gender, class, sexual, etc identities that shape cultural norms and behaviors. We can combat unjust dominant norms by actively questioning them and working towards uplifting and honoring collective ways of being.
In the outdoors community, individualism is often seen as a pinnacle achievement, that somehow roughing it on your own is the ultimate test of your skills. However, to take sole credit for something is to overlook so much: mentors, cartographers, gear designers, blogs, magazines, books, and every other factor that actually supports an “individual’s” achievement. You might not be in the company of others, but you are still being supported by a community of people, even if indirectly. White Supremacy culture would rather hide our interconnectedness because this gives competition a higher value than collaboration. But, which do you think will support a more inclusive, healthier outdoors?
During our Oath workshops we talk briefly about Mycelial leadership and how we can learn from our fungi kin about collective actions and impacts. Like mushrooms, we are woven through networks of care and support. We might look like a single mushroom popping up on the soil, but underneath us and around us there’s an entire community we are connected to and which we are capable of supporting or harming depending on our actions. When everyone does their part to support, we can mushroom in collective joy.
Getting rid of the notion of individualism helps break down barriers in getting new people outside. A lot of new folks to outdoor activities are expected to self teach “the basics” or come in with a substantial amount of knowledge about the activity they want to do. If we allow beginners to, well, be beginners and provide community driven spaces for folks to learn together, we will have created a more inviting outdoors. Let’s normalize not knowing and being ready to support each other in all spaces with what each of us know.
What now?
If you are interested in learning more about White Supremacy culture’s characteristics, we urge you to continue reading about them on Tema Okun’s White Supremacy Culture Website. We also encourage you to watch our previous Stretch Sessions to “stretch” your allyship muscles and learn from our friends at amazing orgs doing incredible work for planet, inclusion and adventure.
