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During this last week of 2020, I’ve seen several social media posts declaring, “If 2020 didn’t bring the hustle out of you, it ain’t in you!!!” The post seems to say if you weren’t stacking money, starting new businesses, and generally making big moves during 2020– despite being in the midst of a triple pandemic (Covid-19, racial unrest, and political upheaval)– then you ain’t a boss and won’t ever be one. It was a call to focus on our rugged individualism no matter the chaos going on around us or the traumas impacting us– just keep climbing to the top! It challenged us to strive for perfection— even when traumatic events are happening around or to us. It demanded we control our emotions and focus on quantity— even though we may feel like our world is spinning off its axis. It shouted a sense of urgency— if you don’t hustle right now, in 2020, then clearly it ain’t in you.
But what if we did not have to engage in such either/or thinking? What if we were able to focus on our needs, our family’s, and those of our community? What if we were able to take time to process our emotions and grieve the loss of family and friends, our daily routine and interactions with others? What if we were able to spend time coming to terms with the resentment of not being able to visit loved ones who are sick in the hospital, attend a family member’s wedding, or grieve at a funeral? What if we could pause to celebrate how far we’ve come despite all of the challenges of 2020? What if we created space and recognized there is not only one right way to “conquer” this unprecedented year? For some of us, we hustled and glowed up during 2020 and if you did, congratulations!!!! For others we survived. We battled depression. We fought anxiety. We got up every day. We kept showing up. We lost our job but made a dollar out of fifteen cents. We managed our children’s online learning, worked full-time, and maintained the household. We lost our house but kept our family together. We were unwavering in our faith. We put food on the table. We lost a loved one and found a way to carry on despite the gaping hole in our heart. We fought Covid and won. Surviving 2020 is a victory in and of itself. And if you survived 2020, congratulations!!! I see you!!!
Individualism, perfectionism, quantity versus quality, sense of urgency, either/or thinking, and identifying only one right way to do something are all characteristics of white supremacy culture. White supremacy culture, as defined in Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, is “an artificial, historically constructed culture which expresses, justifies and binds together the United States’ white supremacy system. It is the glue that binds together white-controlled institutions into systems and white-controlled systems into the global white supremacy system.” It perpetuates the ideology that whiteness is the default and is normal, smarter, or better than BIPOC and communities of color. Individualism is better than collectivism, quantity is better than quality, perfectionism is better than opportunities for learning, urgent decision-making is preferred to intentional decision-making and there is only one right answer instead of infinite possibilities. It shows up in the United States’ “mainstream” society as the default for acceptable behavior and rewarded personal attributes. While it is not expressly written or communicated, it is perpetuated and reinforced by the media, education, science and healthcare, law and law enforcement, government and politics, and every other social system. White supremacy culture is the culture we’ve grown up in or been forced to assimilate into and are the norms and standards we have not defined or expressly agreed upon yet… just are. They can be damaging because they promote a narrow path for success and to acceptability. They are harmful to both people of color and white people, which brings us back to that social media post. We were only successful in 2020 if we hustled while discounting those who held on by every fiber of their being to survive the year. Then to add insult to injury, determined those who survived must not have the drive to hustle.
It is my hope as we close the door on 2020 and walk into 2021, that we move away from using white supremacy culture and its characteristics as the default for what is considered normal, good, and successful and instead intentionally create space for multiple truths and infinite possibilities. This work is a marathon and not a sprint… and I invite you on this journey.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
~Stefani
