If you look hard enough, you can find white supremacy in anything. This is the lesson of critical race theory, which was developed in order to root out white supremacy from all of American society and culture.
It appears to those of us who consider ourselves “ordinary” that sometimes, CRT proponents get a little too enthusiastic and perhaps look a little too hard to find white supremacy. Maybe sometimes, it’s not even there.
This might be the case in Oregon, where the Oregon Health Authority’s office for equity and inclusion delayed a meeting with a partner agency on the grounds that “urgency is a white supremacy value.”
Just in the health care field, some people might find that notion a little problematic. For example, suppose you were experiencing a heart attack and were in need of immediate care, but your doctor couldn’t tear herself away from a fascinating seminar on how to be a better woke doctor. Isn’t it better that you suffer a fatal heart attack than your doctor exhibit “urgency” in treating you?
Don’t laugh. This is what passes for debate in some circles.
In an email obtained by Reason, Regional Health Equity Coalition Program Manager Danielle Droppers informed the community that a scheduled conversation between OHA officials and relevant members of the public would not take place as planned.
“Thank you for your interest in attending the community conversation between Regional Health Equity Coalitions (RHECs) and Community Advisory Councils (CACs) to discuss the Community Investment Collaboratives (CICs),” wrote Droppers. “We recognize that urgency is a white supremacy value that can get in the way of more intentional and thoughtful work, and we want to attend to this dynamic. Therefore, we will reach out at a later date to reschedule.”
Droppers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Like the notion that showing excellence in academics contributes to white supremacist culture, “urgency” being a white supremacy value “makes it difficult to take time to be inclusive, encourage democratic and/or thoughtful decision-making, to think long-term, to consider consequences,” according to Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups. The book was written by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, two popularizers of the idea that several benign and widespread traits are actually characteristic of white supremacy.
Nailed it. pic.twitter.com/tMLjEbzaxv
— Anna Jane Joyner (@annajanejoyner) April 30, 2019
Okun’s work makes frequent appearances in educational equity workshops; similar work by Judith Katz, also an antiracism expert, was included on the website for the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
My new excuse whenever I show up late for work
— Decemberist (@CMartel732AD) July 2, 2022
I guess Uvalde Police was being as anti-racist as it could
— Decemberist (@CMartel732AD) July 2, 2022
The problem with shoveling crap like this is that carrying the theme to its logical conclusion shows just how silly and stupid it is.
So according to Okun, a Record of work done, trying your best, no reaction to the work products end result and no time table to get work done shouldn’t be an expectation because those are white Supremacist characteristics? Really?
— Suzanne Sabetta (@suzyOBE) July 2, 2022
Really. It was all laid out in that exhibit on “Whiteness” put up by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture. White people believe that hard work is the key to success and that you must always “do something” about a situation. It’s the same reason they’re trying to make math classes anti-racist by not requiring students to show their work or turn in homework on time.
Eventually, that world will collapse under its own weight of inefficiency, stupidity, and illogic. It’s not going to be pretty.
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