Andrea Smith “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy”- Alexia Bacon

            Andrea Smith’s chapter Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy discusses the importance of understanding ones own oppressions in order to more effectively organize.  Smith delves into how white supremacy in the United States impacts women of color and their communities.  The chapter also discusses how the knowledge of the oppressions that one faces can also be beneficial to progression. 

            For me this was one of the first articles that I was able to conceptualize within the work with young people that I do.  In my opinion public schools in Chicago is an excellent place to see what Smith describes as the three pillars of white supremacy demonstrated.  You can also see examples of the conflict she describes in the beginning of the article as the push for young people of color from US-born communities to join the military and young people whose families moved to the US to provide them with a better a life. 

            The first pillar of white supremacy that is discussed in this chapter is slavery/capitalism.  Within the public school system this is not only demonstrated in many black students attitudes about themselves and their peers, but also in the in the school to prison pipeline.  The second pillar that is mentioned is genocide/colonialism.  This is represented in the school system not only in the curriculum that is being taught, but also what narratives teach students to value.  In schools students are taught that the white cultural perspective is the right way and that their own stories, cultures, and narratives are not smart nor are they valuable.  The third pillar Smith introduces is Orientalism/War.  An example of this is public schools is school ratings and schools receiving less resources because of their geographic location. 

           

Discussion Questions

Could the scope in which we educate students in elementary and high school help to build stronger US-based people of color organizers?

How do you begin to organize change of social constructs such as family that are already so deeply embedded within mainstream culture?