Oregon Health Officials Delayed a Meeting Because 'Urgency Is a White Supremacy Value'
A second public health official
cited the work of antiracist educator Tema Okun after several people on the thread objected.
Oregon Health Authority official says urgency is "a white supremacy value." (Robert Kneschke | Dreamstime.com)
The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is a government agency that coordinates medical care and social well-being in the Beaver State. During the pandemic, OHA was responsible for coordinating Oregon's vaccination drive and disseminating information about COVID-19—both vital tasks.
The agency's office for equity and inclusion, however, prefers not to rush the business of government. In fact, the office's program manager delayed a meeting with partner organizations on the stated grounds that "urgency is a white supremacy value."
In an email obtained by Reason, Regional Health Equity Coalition Program Manager Danielle Droppers informed the community that a scheduled conversation between OHA officials and relevant members of the public would not take place as planned.
"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)," wrote Droppers. "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."
https://reason.com/2022/07/02/urgency-is-a-white-supremacy-value-oregon-health-a...Tema Okun, a white antiracist educator who has popularized the idea that several benign and widespread traits are actually
characteristic of white supremacy. Among these are preferring quantity over quality, wanting things to be written down, perfectionism, becoming defensive, and yes, possessing a sense of urgency. BUT
This characteristic of white supremacy is challenging because we understand that racial justice and equity is urgent. White supremacy and racism threaten, target, and violate BIPOC people and communities every day. White supremacy and racism invite and condition us into toxic thinking and behavior every day. We are called on, with this characteristic, to hold the volatile and tender contradiction of an underlying urgency about our immediate need for justice which is with us always with the day to day sense of urgency that too often defines our organizational and community cultures, leading to the consequences listed above. White supremacy culture is not urgent about racial justice; white supremacy culture is urgent in the name of short-term power and profit. And white supremacy culture likes to engender a culture of urgency in those of us who are working to dismantle it because it knows that living with a constant sense that everything is urgent is a recipe for the abuse of power and burnout.
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/urgency.htmlIt's urgent and it's written down...... cultural appropriation, no??
You couldn't make up this mind-set.