Patriarchy and White Supremacy

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I was reading adrienne’s “word for white people” and she immediately links it to her piece on “relinquishing the patriarchy.” The one that we have been studying. 

“if you are a white person (or a man) this is a time of intentionally relinquishing power, or having it pulled out from under you.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Even before reading adrienne’s latest. We’ve been teaching a class on “What Should White People Do?” And I find myself drawing on lessons from the men’s work I’ve been doing over the years.

White supremacy and patriarchy are both oppressive structures. They exert the power of domination. Superiority. Power-over.

Here at the Better Men Project we make the distinction between masculinity and patriarchy. We know they are closely intertwined. But we also know that masculinity can be rescued. That it can be made conscious. And good for the world. 

The construction of whiteness has anti-blackness at its very heart. So we need to distinguish between whiteness and the cultural tradition that is shared by white people (as well as by those who have come under centuries of white domination.) These are also thoroughly intertwined. It will be hard work to tease them apart. But there is something about the aspirations of western liberalism, about the conceptualization of rights, about the ideals of democracy, that are now as important as ever.

This is the Better Men Project. We gather to do the deep work of relinquishing patriarchy. And right now we are men gathering in the midst of a racial of uprising. One of the most hopeful movements of our generation. 

Relinquishing patriarchy and undoing white supremacy. How can one project learn from the other? How can we undo the one by undoing the other? How do we relinquish ill gotten power so that we can proudly step into our transformative power? What is our role in building the world anew? What is ours to integrate and include?

I am looking forward to being in conversation with you tonight.