Why decentering whiteness is critical to creating inclusive spaces.
When equity and inclusion initiatives are introduced, they often center practices that focus on inviting a more diverse group of people to the table. This might mean doing more intentional outreach during recruiting to places that center Black or Brown talent, like HBCU job fairs. Or, it can mean creating marketing materials that reflect marginalized groups to encourage them to join your upcoming yoga class.
But decentering whiteness is a distinctly different practice. It requires not just work to diversify your community, but challenging the systems and structures that reinforce the lack of inclusion that your space is experiencing. This is work that’s often internal, not external. Instead of just diversifying job candidates, companies should also be looking at their entire hiring process and identifying how it may center those with power and privilege. Are you automatically filtering out applications from those without a college degree? Is your team judging applicants by their last names?
Often, efforts to build inclusivity fail when we fail to decenter whiteness. Companies may diversify their workforce but notice that marginalized people have higher attrition rates. Or, those looking to bring in customers with different backgrounds are more likely to feel unsatisfied with their experience. This is because we invite people in without doing the work to center their needs and experiences, a practice that comes with reckoning with how they might not be reflected in the status quo we’ve adopted. This work takes the onus away from marginalized communities to do the labor for self-protection and places more responsibility on those stewarding the spaces they wish to diversify.
We also see this when spaces choose to elevate marginalized people without granting them the same privileges as they would to a non-marginalized person in the same position. For example, companies will create ERGs but fail to include them in decision-making related to DEI. Or, a city council leader of color in your city will have the same role and title but be undermined and diminished in their roles.
The practice of decentering is something we have to do across the four levels of oppression. It’s an inquiry we must explore with ourselves: What norms have we internalized, and how does that affect how we treat ourselves and others? How do they arise interpersonally when we’re engaging with a person or group? How do we allow them to inform our workplaces and community spaces? And where does whiteness guide our systems—like our education, healthcare, and government?
Note: Decentering whiteness doesn’t mean excluding, diminishing, or ignoring white people. Whiteness, by definition, refers to the ideology where white people and their customs, cultures, and beliefs are prioritized and assumed as the default in society. Whiteness is reinforced by the ongoing oppression of non-white people and the customs, cultures, and beliefs that don’t fit into the default. History has shown us that whiteness doesn’t even center all white people; whiteness will also discriminate against white people who aren’t straight, aren’t cis men, are disabled, are neurodivergent, and so on. We know that when we consciously work to decenter whiteness we create spaces that are more inclusive for everyone, regardless of racial identity.
This approach enables us to explore how we can work to embody new defaults that place everyone at its center, not just a privileged few. We can reckon with practices that were informed by white supremacy instead of justice and belonging. And we can be better aware of what informed the norms we’ve become accustomed to and how they exclude others.
When we do this work, we’re more likely to change the practices and behaviors that have fostered inequitable spaces. We’re also much more likely to keep marginalized groups in community with us—whether in the workplace, our classrooms, or our neighborhoods.
Join an upcoming live or pre-recorded session on decentering whiteness.