These definitions we will use in our work are taken from scholars and activists engaged in racial justice.
To understand the Pledge, this is what we mean:
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- White privilege – advantages in all areas of life based on white skin.
- Racism – social, cultural and institutional power + race prejudice, and a system of advantage and oppression based on race.
- Systemic Racism – one group has the structural political, social and economic power to carry out SYSTEMIC discrimination.
o Note – > Anyone can be prejudiced, bigoted, and discriminate. But in our society, only white people can be racist, because only white people AS A GROUP have that power. Because of this, there is no such thing as ‘reverse racism.’
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- White supremacy – the belief, theory, or doctrine that the white race is superior to all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore retain control in all relationships. It establishes a racial hierarchy, with white people at the top and black people at the bottom with other people of color in between
