If you run into someone who’s missed the memo on how the phrase “white supremacy” is increasingly used, and I don’t mean anyone on here of course, but if y’all have friends and fam who’s been out of the loop on this, this Wikipedia page is a good overview that you can send them.
It says:
a system of structural or societal racism which privileges white people over others, regardless of the presence or the absence of racial hatred
It mentions some pros and cons to this expanded usage; and there are both. Serious cons and serious pros. I was pretty surprised when I first saw this usage a couple of years ago but it overall makes sense to me. It cuts away a lot of the goalpost moving that defines racism so narrow that it applies to almost no-one. You’d have to be as willful and evil as Mumm-Ra or Ganon to admit to the old definition. These everyday racists’ thought process is like: “How dare you call me a thief! I only steal twenty wallets per day. Those damn thieves steal twenty-five, and they even like doing it!”
In a Swedish context, seeing SD reps clumsily flail around condemnation of terms like “racism” and “nazi” gets nauseatingly absurd pretty quickly for the semantic hoops they’re limboing through. Tongue-biters and lead-spitters like “It’s actually you who are racist, against white people” 🤦🏻♀️
It’s pretty great how this increased awareness makes it more easily be able to see through that.
The flipside of this expanded awareness obviously is that it makes it easier to be compassionate with people when they do mess up, instead of immediately putting stragglers and bougies up against the wall. Because of the “systemic” part of systemic racism; we’re part of this interlocking web of structures and behavior patterns, and are slowly, collectively learning to reconsider what to say and do to treat each other right.