Chapter 16, Summer 2021
Examining Cultural Norms to Foster Multicultural Relationships Jennifer Lord “In the end, racial diversity will not be ushered in by pledges, slogans, or wellcompensated czars. ...racial diversity will only be achieved once White America is weaned off a prevailing narrative of racial preeminence—a belief system as intoxicating and addictive, and ultimately destructive, as any opiate." - Pamela Newkirk, Diversity, Inc White supremacy is a heavy term. White supremacy is not just the overt racism of cross burnings and white sheets. It manifests in ways that may be hard to identify, in ways we may not realize, and in ways we may find difficult to acknowledge as white supremacy. Vu Le in the blog Nonprofit AF writes, “These things add up. They make whiteness the default. They keep power concentrated in white leaders and institutions. It makes it easier for injustice against racialized people and communities to take place.” White supremacy culture has been likened to the air we breath, invisible, but something that fully envelopes us. Tema Okun wrote an article outlining The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, which are listed here: Perfectionism, Sense of Urgency, Defensiveness, Quantity Over Quality, Worship of the Written Word, Only One Right Way, Paternalism, Either/Or Thinking, Power Hoarding, Fear of Open Conflict, Individualism, Progress is Bigger + More, I’m the Only One,
Objectivity, Right to Comfort. (See chart on page 23.) Initially reading this list, we might not think of these characteristics as part of white supremacy culture. Inherently something that is considered normal or universal is difficult to see. According to Wikipedia, “Norms are shared expectations of acceptable behavior [held] by groups.” Norms are larger than ideas, which are held privately; rather norms are shared social beliefs and behaviors. Because these acceptable behaviors are considered to be the standards of behavior, they often go unexamined and deviance from these norms often becomes suspect. Examining norms then becomes a way to identify power and privilege and to question cultural assumptions. Rather than summarize Okun’s article. I’d like to discuss one of the characteristics of white supremacy culture, and reflect on how it appears in our library and work culture. Perfectionism appears in the workplace when there is little appreciation expressed among colleagues for the work others are doing; where mistakes are personal and considered wrong; where there is more of a tendency to identify what’s wrong, and little ability to identify and appreciate what’s right. While we might lean toward perfectionism when developing a project, I can think of many examples of how our BPL culture aligns with the antidotes to perfectionism. Shout Outs help to create a culture of appreciation. I love that the Teams Shout Out channel goes beyond work-groups, and allows us to celebrate and acknowledge the work of our all incredible staff. The introduction and continued practice of mini-experiments help us to develop a culture of learning, where mistakes are invited and learned from. Miniexperiments support the understanding that 21
