Connecting facets of white supremacy culture to a remote learning context

Uncover strategies to combat elements of white supremacy culture that may arise for educators and leaders working in a remote system.

White supremacy culture, as defined by Tema Okun (Dismantling Racism Works), can be mirrored and perpetuated in remote learning environments. In order to mitigate white supremacy culture in a virtual environment, the Remote DEI Collective created a crosswalk and literature review to explore the intersections of both sets of practices.

Strategies to Mitigate White Supremacy Culture in Remote Environments

In order to elevate inclusiveness and mitigate white supremacy in virtual spaces, leaders can explore the strategies below, connecting each to various white supremacy characteristics.

Embrace conflict

Create regular, proactive checkpoints to surface tensions, challenges, and learning opportunities.

Connected to: Defensiveness, Urgency, Fear of open conflict, Right to comfort, Paternalism

Take a decision pause

Schedule two meetings to make decisions: one to raise issues related to the decision and a second to make the decision. This allows time for reflection and multiple solutions and deliberately slows down the process of decision-making.

Connected to: Only one right way, Either/or thinking, Fear of open conflict, Power-hoarding

Celebrate balance

Set an expectation that everyone on the team maintains a healthy work-life balance.

Connected to: Quantity over quality, Sense of urgency, Progress is bigger/more, Individualism

Collect feedback on work processes

Create a protocol to critique – or simply ask for feedback about – internal processes. Look for built-in inequities and adjust accordingly.

Connected to: Objectivity, Perfectionism, Progress is bigger/more

The Remote DEI Collective was a collaborative group led by The Learning Accelerator (TLA), and brought together participants from remote organizations to address the challenges of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in remote environments. This strategy has been adapted from the Remote DEI Collective’s toolkit, which was built to offer resources to improve remote culture and practices, in order to better suit leaders and educators working for schools that offer virtual and hybrid learning options to students.