Oregon Health Authority: "Urgency is a White supremacy value."
This is just the sort of comment that drives voters to decide that Democrats crying "racist" are more dangerous than Republicans who tolerate overthrowing elections.
The comment insults Black people and other people of color by implying that they don't attend to schedules and meet deadlines. It insults White people by implying that doing one's job well is participating in racial oppression.
Here is the context. Danielle Droppers, the Regional Health Equity Coalition Program Manager for the Oregon Health Authority, put off a meeting with partner organizations, saying that “urgency is a white supremacy value." Here is the full text of her email:
Thank you for your interest in attending the community conversation between Regional Health Equity Coalitions (RHECs) and Community Advisory Councils (CACs) to discuss the Community.
Investment Collaboratives (CICs). In being responsive to partners from across the state, we're hearing the timing of this meeting is not ideal and that people would like more time to prepare for this important conversation. We recognize that urgency is a white supremacy value that can get in the way of more intentional and thoughtful work, and we want to attend to this dynamic. Therefore, we will reach out at a later date to reschedule.
Thank you so much for your patience, care and understanding.
Best,
Danielle Droppers, MSW (she/her)
The news of this comment is widespread on right wing media, including Fox, the libertarian journal Reason, and in numerous right-wing websites. It has been circulating for five days. There has not been a single word of it in the Oregonian nor Willamette Week newspapers, nor Oregon's NPR station, nor anyplace I normally find "straight" news. Google doesn't uncover any response from the Oregon Health Authority nor elected officials in Oregon criticizing the comment--nor affirming it. Democrats have made questioning or disagreeing with "anti-racism" language too perilous. It is offensive and politically toxic, but if one protests one might be called racist, also bad. Don't touch this, either way.
I think the assertion that punctuality, quality work, and meeting measurable goals is "White supremacy" is itself racist and damaging. The assertion implies that the attitudes and behaviors that any employer would desire in an employee are based on White supremacy racism. The comment is a red flag warning to employers--don't hire! It is signaling to non-Whites as to how little Whites think of them--even ones who present themselves as your allies. White supremacy culture explained.
Postponement and re-schedules are common when setting up a meeting among various groups. My concern is not the rescheduling; it is the justification she cites. Danielle Droppers, herself, knows better and acts differently. In her own recent testimony to the Oregon legislature wrote that there were "immediate needs" requiring "urgent" response and that "inaction is complicity."
My name is Danielle Droppers. . . I am writing to share strong support for HB 4052, and to request your support as well. Racism causes harm, trauma, illness, and death to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) Oregonians. . . .
The Oregon Health Equity Task Force worked with Rep. Salinas to come back in the 2022 session to identify and fund two initial strategies through HB 4052 that begin to address both immediate needs of their communities to reduce racial and ethnic health inequities, as well as creating a pathway for future strategies to address structural racism in the future. . . .
This effort is urgent and critical because chronic illness is greater for many communities of color. . . . Full text
This language of anti-racism backfires on Democrats. It comes out of the mouths of White educated elites who have pushed ideas of structural, endemic racism to a point that the very subjects and supposed beneficiaries of anti-racism are abandoning Democrats. They understand when they are being insulted. They want opportunity, not pity. Black voters showed it in the South Carolina Democratic primary in 2020. Hispanic voters are showing it in Texas, Nevada, Arizona, and California where they are voting for Republicans.
White voters, too, see the insult. Values that they believe and teach their children--values of serious work and its rewards, consequences, and accountability--are called White supremacist. They don't believe it and they resent the accusation. Republicans are objecting. Democrats are afraid and silent, which implies consent.
I believe opportunity and the rewords of good work habits are progressive virtues, fully suitable for a Democrat to voice. They are American virtues. Newcomers to America embrace and exemplify them. They come here to work, to get ahead. They want hard work rewarded. A message of equal treatment, fair play, and just reward is the true anti-racism. Anti-racism is racist. It is a disaster for Democrats.
There is political space for a Democrat who says this loudly and clearly. He or she will get criticized from the professional moralist scolds on the left, because they will think it is their duty to defend the position that America is deeply, thoroughly racist. They fear being criticized from within their group. But there is reward for that Democrat who speaks against it from the position of a desire for racial equality and respect for Blacks and others who are subjects of prejudice. It is, after all, what most Americans believe and what they consider genuine racial equality. Even the professional scolds know they have backed themselves into a ridiculous and untenable corner in their rhetoric. After all, Droppers herself understands that sometimes urgent is urgent. Democrats don't need to apologize for getting work done.
Oh My