File:Discovery-statue_(cropped).JPG · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
white supremacy
Sign in to saveAlso known as white supremacism, white race supremacy, white race supremacism, white race power
racist belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds
White supremacy is the racist belief that white people are inherently superior to people of other races and should hold dominant power in society. It matters because this ideology has been used to justify discrimination, violence, and systemic inequalities throughout history and continues to influence attitudes and policies today.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Birth of a Nation theatrical poster.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- White supremacy
Sources (10)
via Wikidata · CC0
~39 min read
Article
White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism and was a key justification for European colonialism.
As a political ideology, it imposes and maintains cultural, social, political, historical or institutional domination by white people and non-white supporters. In the past, this ideology had been put into effect through socioeconomic and legal structures such as the Atlantic slave trade, European colonial labor and social practices, the Scramble for Africa, Jim Crow laws in the United States, the activities of the Native Land Court in New Zealand, the White Australia policies from the 1890s to the mid-1970s, and apartheid in South Africa. This ideology is also today present among neo-Confederates.