Addressing white Dominant Culture in Creating a Racially Just Organizational Culture
excerpt from Transforming Organizations by Operationalizing Racial Justice
In the publication, Transforming Organizations by Operationalizing Racial Justice, I use the terms white dominant culture and white dominant behaviors using the definition that Gita Gulati-Partee and I shared in an article we co-wrote in 2014. White dominant culture “refers to the dominant, unquestioned standards of behavior and ways of functioning embodied by the vast majority of institutions in the United States. These standards may be seen as mainstream, dominant cultural practices; they have evolved from the United States’ history of white supremacy. Because it is so normalized it can be hard to see, which only adds to its powerful hold. In many ways, it is indistinguishable from what we might call U.S. culture or norms … white culture values some ways of thinking, behaving, deciding, and knowing — ways that are more familiar and come more naturally to those from a white, western tradition — while devaluing or rendering invisible other ways. And it does this without ever having to explicitly say so…”[1]
Over the years, I have used the terms white dominant culture and white supremacy culture interchangeably and also sometimes decided to use one term over the other.[2] When I started working specifically with organizations and communities on dismantling racism in the late-90s, the first version of Tema Okun’s[3] article, “white Supremacy Culture,”[4] became influential in my thinking and informed my institutional organizing strategy (though I didn’t use that term back then). How I introduce the white Supremacy Culture framework to organizations has changed over the years and reflects my own journey and learning. In the early years, when I was in my righteous stage, I pointed fingers at behaviors; later, I worked to meet people where they were and supported people and organizations to learn and understand. Now, I ask people to imagine what a racially just organization would look like and how we can work collectively toward that transformation. Throughout the years, I began to deepen my own understanding of Okun’s framework through writing and creating different tools[5] to help me and hopefully, others effectively identify and analyze how these default behaviors, policies, and practices have been normalized in organizations’ cultures. In creating a racially just organization, I believe there is a twofold approach to changing culture — collectively imagining and working toward a racially just organization, and identifying white dominant practices, narratives, and ethos that create or reinforce racially inequitable consequences, marginalize and even control individuals, and cause harm and then intervening, modifying, and/or eliminating these practices.
Early on in my consulting practice, when I introduced Okun’s white Supremacy Culture framework to an organization, there was pushback, resistance, and often struggle as the organization tried to make sense of it. Now Okun’s framework is increasingly well-known, especially since 2020. Many of the characteristics in her framework are recognizable and easily discussed by staff. In some cases, staff are also filled with righteousness and point fingers, often at leadership. I believe Okun’s white Supremacy Culture (WSC) framework is A useful framework/concept, not THE only framework or concept to explain what dominant practices manifest in organizations. It continues for me to be a resource for organizational transformation. I also use other frameworks to analyze how structural racism, power, and privilege are operating within an organization and to understand how all of this, along with the system of white supremacy, is present in an organization’s culture. (See Curated Resources on Operationalizing Racial Justice, p. 5).
It is important to note there have been discussions about and some strong critiques of how the white Supremacy Culture framework gets used in organizations. Some have been suggesting that this particular framework should no longer be used.[6] I agree with some of the primary critiques about how it is being used and discussed in organizations, including:
that it has been used against both individuals and organizations, and specifically has been used to harm Women of Color leaders, especially those who are the “firsts,” in predominately white organizations (amid other examples of how it has stalled progress).[7]
that it has led some to assume that the characteristics Okun describes are tied to particular identities and therefore insinuate that there is a binary, with framework characteristics only associated with whiteness (e.g., good writing). The characteristics in the framework are also often seen as only individual behaviors rather than as policies, practices, and narratives within an organization’s culture that are reinforcing, supporting, and in some cases labeling (and even punishing) what is good or bad.
that it is being introduced and used by capacity builders and consultants and staff members (and others) as a diagnostic checklist focused on individual behaviors rather than as a systemic analysis of the characteristics of organizational culture.
How to Use Frameworks to Address white Dominant Culture
Since Okun’s framework is so popular, I want to share a few thoughts about how to use it and to address some of issues that have been raised about it. It is important to be thoughtful about how this framework is introduced and used, as we need to be for any framework being implemented in a racial justice organizational change process. We each have a responsibility, when we share a concept or framework, to understand it, and to use it with integrity and due diligence. This is especially true since systemic racism and white dominant behaviors show up differently in each organization’s culture. Most of us, including myself, have gotten excited by a “shiny new tool” and have not always thought about how best to use it within a larger change process.
If your organization is using Okun’s white supremacy culture framework, identifying characteristics should always be accompanied by individual and collective responsibility to address and ensure that there is work to change the organizational culture. Without a practice of accountability for making changes, the framework can be misused.
Two ways I’ve seen the white Supremacy Culture framework misused have been by individualizing the characteristics and not using an organizational cultural analysis or just doing the opposite of a specific white supremacy characteristic (e.g., changing a practice to one that says that deadlines should never exist because urgency is one of the white Supremacy Culture characteristics). I consider the intent of Okun’s framework is to identify the root of the practice and to work collectively to be accountable in addressing dominant behaviors that are manifesting. The use of the framework can be helpful in moving organizations forward. However, as been discussed, experienced, and observed, the impact of using it incorrectly can also be significant and can include racialized consequences. Here are two examples of how to move it from individualizing to using an organizational culture analysis of how white dominant behaviors are manifesting:
Every organization wants to be doing high quality work, yet Okun’s framework includes a characteristic she calls “perfectionism.” When I use the WSC framework, I interpret and discuss perfectionism by seeing if an organization’s culture reinforces a narrative that failures and mistakes are only unacceptable individual actions and not opportunities for organizational learning. I also look to see whether there are consequences for mistakes, and if People of Color in the organization receive more severe consequences and backlash than their white colleagues. Then the focus is to work with the organization to create a culture in which experimentation happens, risk-taking is encouraged and people loudly share successes, failures and mistakes and work to learn from them. It is also critical to ensure that there are not racially disparate consequences when accountability for actions is needed.
Some interpret Okun’s characteristic “urgency” as asking organizations to throw out deadlines or continually extend deadlines. Racial justice is urgent work. Yet, it is important to interrogate how deadlines are set up, who is driving them, and to consider Staff’s capacity and bandwidth to meet them. Deadlines can be set up as a way to ensure accountability to the community or to be used to exert power over and thereby minimize the engagement of the people most impacted by a campaign or policy. Reviewing a few past decisions regarding creating deadlines, and identifying the input and pressures involved will assist in being more thoughtful on ensuring racially equitable practices are included, and ensuring there is not racialized consequences or narrative for not meeting deadlines.
Finally, using Okun’s framework or another framework or tool to look at organizational culture provides an opportunity for organizations to identify how dominant practices manifest, assess whether there is a racialized impact, and then determine a strategy to create a more racially just culture. Here are some questions to use to interrogate practices to work toward organizational transformation:
• Are practices being used as “power over?”
• What is at the root of their use?
• What are the internal and external pressures that are reinforcing the practice, and possibly affirming it as well?
• What is the narrative within your organization about these practices? Does it define what is “good” and what is “bad” practices?
• Are there racialized consequences of using different practices?
We need to discuss and continue to question the white Supremacy Culture Framework, as we do other concepts and frameworks used to operationalize racial justice. The system of white supremacy is present in each and every organization. Each of us is accountable to develop our knowledge, skill, and intent in using any framework or concept. We also need to ensure that individuals, especially Leaders of Color are not harmed or pushed out of organizations by using these specific characteristics against people. Without this interrogation, we end up reinforcing the very practice we are trying to dismantle. Racism is not static. It is present and shapeshifts to keep the racial hierarchy and practices and narratives of dehumanization and marginalization concretely in place. Therefore, our racial justice work needs to be reactive, creative, emergent, and bold. We need to imagine what a racially just organization looks like, and then tenaciously co-create an organizational culture that will support it.
To read the full document, Transforming Organizations by Operationalizing Racial Justice is located on MP Associates — includes the following sections:
· Reflections from My Practice — Why Update This Document Now?
· Grounding in Key Concepts
· Clarification on How Racial Equity and Racial Justice are Being Used
· A Few Words about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
· Addressing white Dominant Culture in Creating a Racially Just Culture
GETTING READY
· Organizational and Individual Reflection
· About the Stories
· Building Internal Will
· Internal Teams Who Guide the Change Process
· The Teams
o Staff Racial Justice Leadership Team (RJLT)
o Senior Leadership Team
o Board Racial Justice Team
o Working Across Teams
o A Word about RFPs
o Working with External Consultants to Support your Racial Justice Change Process
o Being in Right Relationship with External Consultants
RACIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS
FOUNDATIONAL COMPONENTS
· Centering Relationships
· Generative Conflict
· Addressing Trauma in Organizations and Being Responsive for Healing
· Accountability Practices
BUILDING KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE
· Collective Learning: Developing Shared Language & Analysis
· Conducting a Racial Equity Organizational Assessment
· Before the Assessment
· During the Assessment
· After the Assessment
DEVELOPING AN ORGANIZATIONAL ACTION PLAN
· Improving Organizational Muscle to Give and Receive Feedback
· Developing a Community of Practice and Action
· Developing a Racially Just Decision-Making Process
· Creating Racially Just Policies
· Developing Racially Just Programs, Grantmaking Initiatives, and Strategies
· Implementing Racial Identity-Based Caucuses
· Ensuring that the Evaluation Process Reflects Racial Justice Practices
CONCLUSION
CURATED RESOURCES ON OPERATIONALIZING RACIAL JUSTICE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
[1] Gulati-Partee, Gita, and Maggie Potapchuk. “Paying Attention to White Culture and Privilege: A Missing Link to Advancing Racial Equity.” The Foundation Review 6, no. 1 (2014): 25–38.
[2] At some point, though not in this document, it will be helpful to discuss and explore the nuances and approaches.
[3] In earlier versions of Tema Okun’s work she included Kenneth Jones as a co-author. In her recent interview in The Intercept, she discusses that Kenneth Jones wished not to be listed as a co-writer. We are honoring his wishes. She shared the history of writing the article and who influenced her writing.
[4] Okun, Tema. “white Supremacy Culture.” Updated June 2023, 2021.
[5] Potapchuk, Maggie. Transforming Organizational Culture Assessment Tool (TOCA). MP Associates (2021).
[6] Diaminah, Sendolo, Scot Nakagawa, Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Rinku Sen, and Lori Villarosa. “How (Not) to Dismantle White Supremacy.” The Forge: Organizing Strategy and Practice. (April 20, 2023).
[7] Hosang, Daniel Martinez, LeAnn Hall, and Libero Della Piana. “To Tackle Racial Justice, Organizing Must Change.” The Forge: Organizing Strategy and Practice. (January 4, 2022).
