Editing White supremacy (section)

==Academic use of the term==
The term ''white supremacy'' is used in some academic studies of racial power to denote a system of structural or [[societal racism]] which privileges white people over others, regardless of the presence or the absence of racial hatred. According to this definition, white racial advantages occur at both a collective and an individual level (''[[ceteris paribus]]'', {{Nowrap|i. e.}}, when individuals are compared that do not differ relevantly except in ethnicity). Legal scholar Frances Lee Ansley explains this definition as follows:

{{Blockquote|By "white supremacy" I do not mean to allude only to the self-conscious racism of white supremacist [[hate group]]s. I refer instead to a political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.<ref name="ansley1"/><ref name="ansley2"/>}}

This and similar definitions have been adopted or proposed by [[Charles W. Mills]],<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Mills |first=C.W. |author-link=Charles W. Mills |year=2003 |title=White supremacy as sociopolitical system: A philosophical perspective |journal=White Out: The Continuing Significance of Racism |pages=35–48}}</ref> [[bell hooks]],<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Hooks |first=Bell |author-link=bell hooks |title=Feminist theory: From margin to center |date=2000 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-1663-5}}</ref> [[David Gillborn]],<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Gillborn |first=David |author-link=David Gillborn |date=September 1, 2006 |title=Rethinking White Supremacy Who Counts in 'WhiteWorld' |url=http://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/23036 |journal=Ethnicities |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=318–40 |doi=10.1177/1468796806068323 |issn=1468-7968 |s2cid=8984059 |access-date=March 27, 2020 |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922010421/https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/23036 |url-status=live }}</ref> Jessie Daniels,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniels |first=Jessie |title=White Lies: race, class, gender and sexuality in white supremacist discourse |date=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-91289-1}}</ref> and Neely Fuller Jr,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuller |first=Neely |title=The united-independent compensatory code/system/concept: A textbook/workbook for thought, speech, and/or action, for victims of racism (white supremacy) |publisher=SAGE |year=1984 |page=334 |asin=B0007BLCWC}}</ref> and they are widely used in [[critical race theory]] and [[Intersectionality|intersectional feminism]]. Some [[anti-racism|anti-racist]] educators, such as Betita Martinez and the Challenging White Supremacy workshop, also use the term in this way. The term expresses historic continuities between a pre–[[civil rights movement]] era of open white supremacy and the current racial power structure of the United States. It also expresses the visceral impact of structural racism through "provocative and brutal" language that characterizes racism as "nefarious, global, systemic, and constant".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Tim |title=Critical perspectives on bell hooks |date=February 23, 2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis US |isbn=978-0-415-98980-0 |editor1=Jeanette Davidson |page=68 |chapter=bell hooks, white supremacy, and the academy |editor2=George Yancy}}</ref> Academic users of the term sometimes prefer it to ''racism'' because it allows for a distinction to be drawn between racist feelings and white racial advantage or [[white privilege|privilege]].<ref>"Why is it so difficult for many white folks to understand that racism is oppressive not because white folks have prejudicial feelings about blacks (they could have such feelings and leave us alone) but because it is a system that promotes domination and subjugation?" {{Cite book |last=hooks |first=bell |title=Black Looks: Race and Representation |date=February 4, 2009 |publisher=Turnaround Publisher Services Limited |isbn=978-1-873262-02-3 |page=12}}</ref><ref>Grillo and Wildman cite hooks to argue for the term ''racism/white supremacy'': "hooks writes that liberal whites do not see themselves as either prejudiced or interested in domination through coercion, and they do not acknowledge the ways in which they contribute to and benefit from the system of white privilege." {{Cite book |last1=Grillo |first1=Trina |title=Critical white studies: Looking behind the mirror |author2=Stephanie M. Wildman |date=June 29, 1997 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-56639-532-8 |editor1=Richard Delgado |page=620 |chapter=The implications of making comparisons between racism and sexism (or other isms) |editor2=Jean Stefancic}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Nicolas |last2=Myszkowski |first2=Sophia |title=Hate Groups Are Growing Under Trump |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/536793/hate-groups-are-growing-under-trump/ |access-date=April 28, 2018 |website=The Atlantic |archive-date=September 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921225433/https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/536793/hate-groups-are-growing-under-trump/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[John McWhorter]], a specialist in language and race relations, explains the gradual replacement of "racism" by "white supremacy" by the fact that "potent terms need refreshment, especially when heavily used", drawing a parallel with the replacement of "chauvinist" by "sexist".<ref>{{Cite web |last=McWhorter |first=John |author-link=John McWhorter |date=June 22, 2020 |title=The Dictionary Definition of 'Racism' Has to Change |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/dictionary-definition-racism-has-change/613324/ |access-date=July 22, 2020 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |language=en-US |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172623/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/dictionary-definition-racism-has-change/613324/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other intellectuals have criticized the term's recent rise in popularity among leftist activists as counterproductive. John McWhorter has described the use of "white supremacy" as straying from its commonly accepted meaning to encompass less extreme issues, thereby cheapening the term and potentially derailing productive discussion.<ref name="left language">{{cite news |title=Left Language, Right Language |newspaper=Wnyc |url=http://www.wnyc.org/story/left-language-right-language/ |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-date=September 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921224339/https://www.wnyc.org/story/left-language-right-language/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="McWhorter">{{cite magazine |last1=McWhorter |first1=John |title=The Difference Between Racial Bias and White Supremacy |url=https://time.com/4584161/white-supremacy/ |magazine=TIME |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202104713/http://time.com/4584161/white-supremacy/? |url-status=live }}</ref> Political columnist [[Kevin Drum]] attributes the term's growing popularity to frequent use by [[Ta-Nehisi Coates]], describing it as a "terrible fad" that fails to convey nuance. He claims that the term should be reserved for those who are trying to promote the idea that whites are inherently superior to blacks and not used to characterize less blatantly racist beliefs or actions.<ref name="MotherJ">{{cite web |title=Let's Be Careful With the "White Supremacy" Label |url=https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/11/lets-please-kill-white-supremacy-fad |access-date=December 4, 2016 |website=Mother Jones |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922101050/https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/11/lets-please-kill-white-supremacy-fad/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Friedersdorf">{{Cite news |last=Friedersdorf |first=Conor |author-link=Conor Friedersdorf |title='The Scourge of the Left': Too Much Stigma, Not Enough Persuasion |language=en-US |newspaper=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/the-scourge-of-the-left-too-much-stigma-not-enough-persuasion/508961/ |access-date=December 4, 2016 |archive-date=September 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920171526/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/the-scourge-of-the-left-too-much-stigma-not-enough-persuasion/508961/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The academic use of the term to refer to [[systemic racism]] has been criticized by [[Conor Friedersdorf]] for the confusion that it creates for the general public, inasmuch as it differs from the more common dictionary definition; he argues that it is likely to alienate those that it hopes to convince.<ref name="Friedersdorf" />