Guest Post: White Supremacy Is All Around — by Dr. Akilah Cadet
Dr. Akilah Cadet is a national voice on racial justice and today I'm proud to publish an excerpt from her new book published by Hachette Books
Today’s post is an excerpt of Dr. Akilah Cadet’s new book, “White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes from a Black Disabled Woman in a White World.” Dr. Cadet is the Founder and CEO of Change Cadet, a Forbes Next 1000 Entrepreneur, and a national thought leader on racial and gender justice in America. She lives in and loves Oakland, CA, celebrates her disability, is a proud Beyoncé advocate, and has an incredible shoe game.
You can order her book here: Order Dr. Cadet’s Book.
You can subscribe to her on Substack here: Subscribe to Dr. Cadet’s Substack.
You can listen to my recent SiriusXM interview with her here: Listen to the interview.
I encourage everyone to pick up her book, support her work, and share her content! Now, please enjoy this excerpt of her new book.
Will White Women White Women Again?
Dr. Akilah Cadet
The excitement is palpable. The vibes are immaculate. When Kamala Harris announced her candidacy for President it seemed as if there was a huge exhale reflected in the 1 billion dollars her campaign raised in just three months. It felt like a universal sigh of relief that maybe we could have a chance against former President and aspiring dictator Donald Trump. But immediately I thought “will white women decide the vote?” White women tend to forget that they are white and that they're comfort lies in choosing their whiteness over their gender. The best way to explain this emotion is from an excerpt of my new book White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes From a Black Disabled Woman In a White World.
‘Cause Them Karen’s Just Turned Into Terrorists
Remember how white women voted in the 2016 and 2020 elections? I’ll remind you. White women voted for Donald “Racist Grab ’em by the Pussy” Trump 42 percent and 55 percent, respectively. More white women voted for Trump after immigrant children were put in cages, women’s rights were attacked, Charlottesville, and the list goes on. More white women voted for Trump in 2020 than 2016 because white women choose whiteness over gender. White women vote for white men who uphold patriarchy (and racism and homophobia and transphobia and xenophobia . . .). White women make up 40 percent of voters, while white men comprise 36 percent of voters. White women use their privilege to uphold this status quo. You know, white supremacy.
The way white supremacy works is by maintaining power for the dominant culture, aka white people (priority for cisgender non-disabled heterosexual men) at the expense of women, BIPOC, disabled people, BIPOC immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ communities. This also is the same for access. Middle- and upper-class white people will always have access to opportunities BIPOC and other systemically ignored (marginalized) groups will not to maintain their superiority, power, and control. Think poverty. Think voter suppression. Think women’s rights. Think police brutality. Think anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. White women care more about being a white ethnicity than being women. How do I know?
Some vote Republican to keep white heteropatriarchy intact. Some let their racist partners, parents, guardians, and relatives spew hateful things at the dining room table regularly. They think of the power of the white male figures in their lives and want to keep “those same type of men” in power. You know, because he “doesn’t really mean that,” has a “Black friend,” and “loves Jay-Z.” White women celebrate their second-class gender as long as it keeps their whiteness first and the prized men in their life happy.
Everyone talks about January 6, 2021, but no one talks about the day before. January 5, 2021, the day Black women saved the country. They flipped the Senate! Black women vote Democrat because our lives depend on it. Yes, our lives! It is the only way we can dismantle the oppressive structures of white supremacy within our country attributed to current-day Trump-era Republicans. White women get more value by voting Republican because there is more power in being a white person in America than being a white woman in America.
The benefit of white supremacy is endless for them! Maybe even more than for white men. I know what you are thinking: um, no. Let’s talk about white women. Do you know who Jennifer Schulte is? Or Alison Ettel? Carolyn Bryant Donham? Maybe you know them better as BBQ Becky, Permit Patty, and the white woman whose accusation led to the lynching of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till (by the way, she was found in 2022 and a grand jury declined to indict her; she died at the ripe old age of eighty-eight with no accountability). Even in their harm and murder, white women still have the privilege to be unnamed. To literally live their lives.
Some white women want to ride the coattails, or should I say, the curves, of Black women doing the work and then take all the credit. White women are “progressive,” when Black women are “challenging.” White women are celebrated for the very things that Black women are discredited for. Instead of stealing from Black women, white women should take action by having conversations with the men in their lives about how they can do better. White women can remember their intersectionality is more than just being a white person.
*****
White women have the power to drastically shift the election so that whiteness is not paramount. So that women can keep and regain rights (remember the Equal Rights Act has not been codified, IVF is on the line, we no longer have Affirmative Action, nor the federal right to abortion). But more importantly, to use their intersectionality for good. White women can vote for themselves, not for their husbands, fathers, and uncles. Just last week Betty Cartledge voted for the very first time at 81 years of age because her husband, who died the year before, didn’t see the point in voting. Cartledge said “...I was standing up for my rights.”
White women can use their intersectionality to support the first women, women of color, Black, Jamaican, Caribbean, AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander), Indian, President. They can support a Black woman instead of this unhealthy pattern in American history where Black women have to fix all the problems. White women can use their power and privilege for good. But until then, we will have to wait and see if white women will white women again.
A reminder that you can order Dr. Akilah Cadet’s book here: Order Dr. Cadet’s Book.
Anyone who feels the need to justify or create a space of understanding for either themselves or White women upon reading this needs to take a deep look within themselves and the society in which they live. Dr. Cadet's words must be deeply listened to and honored. If hearing what she has to say causes you to bristle, even just a little bit, that's a sign you need to read this again and again and find more such literature until it sinks in.
I & all my white girlfriends are voting for Kamala but I get your point. There are WAY too many white women afraid of losing their white privilege. Now address all those Black & Brown men voting for the worlds biggest racist!