Also written: White supremacy culture, White supremacist
| Source | Year | Position |
|---|---|---|
| SumOfUs | 2016 | Use |
| Color of Change | 2020 | Use |
| Sierra Club | 2021 | Use |
| Racial Equity Tools | 2023 | Use |
| American Psychological Association | 2023 | Use |
| Movement Strategy Center | 2024 | Use |
“white supremacy (white privilege …”
A Progressive's Style Guide lists "white supremacy" among the terms used by racial justice activists, noting that "white privilege" remains in use as well — placing the term on the endorsed rather than the avoided side of its race/ethnicity comparison table. The related phrase "polite white supremacy" sits in the same activist-used column.
“Believes white people are superior and thus should have wealth, social status, power, and privileges to dominate other races. Rooted in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism …”
Color of Change's protest-reporting guide defines the person-label "white supremacist" — one who believes white people are superior and should dominate other races, rooted in discredited scientific racism, and including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederates, and neo-Nazis. It sits alongside related definitions (white nationalist, hate group, extremism) and is aimed at reporters describing groups accurately rather than by what those groups call themselves.
“The term "white supremacy" or "white supremacy culture" is also increasingly used to describe the systemic racism that underpins every element of society. … be sure to fully explain the distinction between organized white supremacy and societal white supremacy, also known as systemic racism.”
Sierra Club uses "white supremacy" by default, and gives writers a working distinction: organized white supremacy (the KKK, white nationalists, and the people who espouse those ideas) versus societal or systemic white supremacy — "white supremacy culture." It advises explaining which sense is meant on first use so audiences do not hear a reference to systemic racism as a reference to hate groups, and notes "white supremacist terrorism" as the most accurate label for violence by white nationalists.
“While most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value, morality, goodness, and humanity to the white group …”
Racial Equity Tools defines white supremacy as both an ideology — that white people and their ideas are superior — and, drawing on critical race theory, a political and socio-economic system in which white people enjoy structural advantage. It is explicit that the term reaches beyond extremist groups to the everyday institutional and cultural assumptions most people overlook. Its companion entry treats "White Supremacy Culture" as the unquestioned dominant standards that bind those institutions together.
“The ideological belief that biological and cultural Whiteness is superior, as well as normal and healthy, is a pervasive ideology that continues to polarize the United States and undergird racism …”
APA carries a dedicated "White supremacy" glossary entry defining it as the pervasive ideological belief that biological and cultural Whiteness is superior, normal, and healthy — an ideology that undergirds racism. It cross-references white privilege, and elsewhere defines structural racism as the laws, policies, and practices across institutions that "maintain White supremacy," placing the term at the center of its structural vocabulary.
“An ideology that White people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of White people are superior to people of color and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. White supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions.”
The Movement Strategy Center defines white supremacy as an ideology of white superiority that is ever present in institutional and cultural assumptions, assigning value and humanity to the white group while casting others as undeserving. Its near-identical wording to the Racial Equity Tools entry reflects a shared movement lineage. A separate "White Supremacy Culture" entry names the dominant cultural norms — perfectionism, urgency, worship of the written word, individualism — that carry it into organizations.
“White supremacy” is usable, standard vocabulary across the corpus — and every source that carries a real entry treats it as a term to use, not avoid. The sources agree on more than the recommendation. Racial Equity Tools, the Movement Strategy Center, and APA all define it first as an ideology of white superiority and then insist its reach is structural, not just attitudinal. RET is explicit that “while most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions”; MSC’s wording is near-identical, reflecting a shared movement lineage; APA folds it into its structural-racism definition as the thing institutions “maintain.” SumOfUs, from the equity-writing angle, lists it among the terms racial justice activists use.
The distinction the sources insist on is between the system and the people. Color of Change defines the person-label “white supremacist” — someone who believes white people should dominate other races, including the KKK, neo-Confederates, and neo-Nazis — as a reporting term for describing groups accurately. Sierra Club draws the line most carefully: it separates organized white supremacy (hate groups, white nationalists, and “white supremacist terrorism”) from societal or systemic white supremacy, also called “white supremacy culture,” and tells writers to make clear which sense they mean so an audience does not read a reference to systemic racism as a reference to the Klan. RET and MSC carry parallel “White Supremacy Culture” entries that catalog the everyday institutional norms — perfectionism, urgency, individualism, worship of the written word — that the culture runs on.
The treatment sharpened over time. SumOfUs (2016) records the term as already in activist use; Color of Change (2020) supplies the journalist-facing person definitions during a period of heightened protest reporting; Sierra Club (2021) adds the explicit organized-versus-systemic strategy and the recommendation, when possible, to prefer “white supremacy” over “systemic racism” because it “captures the nuance that white people benefit from systems of racial oppression.” APA (2023) and the Movement Strategy Center (2024) round out the structural definitions. The cross-source picture is consensus on usage, with one shared caution: name which sense, the system or the people, you mean.
See the structured audience notes above: journalists should keep the system (“white supremacy,” “white supremacy culture”) distinct from the people (“white supremacist,” “white nationalist”); advocates should expect to define “white supremacy culture” rather than assume the hate-group sense; and writers weighing “systemic racism” against “white supremacy” can follow Sierra Club’s introduce-then-transition strategy.