The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
"Oregon Health Officials Delayed a Meeting Because 'Urgency Is a White Supremacy Value'"
Robby Soave reports, here at Reason:
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." …
"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 [the Regional Health Equity Coalition Program Manager]. "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."
Oddly enough, there also other people who have long believed that whites are more likely than nonwhites to have particular character traits, such as (among other things) being willing to go along with requests to do things urgently. Indeed, I'd heard jokes those people tell reflecting that very perception. I just don't think highly of those people.
UPDATE: You can see a screenshot of the e-mail, which is also included in Soave's post, here.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Oddly enough, there also other people who have long believed that whites are more likely than nonwhites to have particular character traits, such as (among other things) being willing to go along with requests to do things urgently.
Why does EV read that as an attempt to slur whites generally as white supremacists? Seems more the opposite.
Stevie. Merit, punctuality, and grammar are also white supremacist. Government dependency, holding a gun sideways, and cursing every other word are not.
Racist is as racist does, Stephen.
What a terminally stupid thing for her to say. And what a terminally stupid thing for you to try to lamely defend.
I guess in your mind assholes that say blacks are lazy are just complimenting the majority of blacks.
Because punctuality is a value in and of itself. If a manager wants to avoid that (there are cultures around the world where you mosey into a meeting at your own pace) then they should say that, and leave the profoundly asinine white supremacist bit out of it.
I'll bet if she has a heart attack, and is lying on the table and told to count down from 10, she sure as hell isn't hoping for a thoracic surgeon who moseyed to class, missed some stuff from being late, graduated good enough, didn't study too hard, another white supremacist technique.
"as hell isn't hoping for a thoracic surgeon who moseyed to..."
..the operating room at his own pace.
"there are cultures around the world where you mosey into a meeting at your own pace"
Berkeley is one of those.
What the hell else could it be, SL?
Nico, need backstory to say more. Just guessing, with an eye to not falling into right-wing platitudes, she is a non-white administrator fed up with white people who have recently treated her with disrespect. That specific disrespect may have earned her response, about folks who presume their own supremacy. That would not properly be read as an attack on white people generally.
Please don't bother to comment on this comment specifically. It is total speculation, and not worth anyone's time. But do notice this. There is a structural difference between calling blacks generally unpunctual, for instance, which would be racist, and calling out a specific group of whites for conduct, which would not be racist.
Not sure what your thought process is here, but both Danielle Dropper (the administrator who wrote the email) and Tema Olin (the woman who apparently came up with the idea in the first place) are most definitely white.
Thanks, Noscitur. At least that part was a bad guess.
"There is a structural difference between calling blacks generally unpunctual, for instance, which would be racist..."
But that is indeed what this body of "White Supremacy Culture" scholarship, so popular in D&I circles, is saying.
I'll just note that not all white cultures value urgency the same. The South, especially rural southerners, and a lot Westerners are more laid back and go with the flow than Northeasterers. Which of course implies white supremecism is more more prevelant in the NE than in the South.
They really need to work on that.
It also affirms the criticism of the former SF School Board member who said Asians often adopt white supremacist thinking to get ahead.
We probably need to make a sense of urgency a hate crime.
Wow, counter ignorant stereotypes with more ignorant stereotypes, misrepresent them and then throw in some tortured reasoning.
I would like to believe this was written with an ironic bent but that's not consistent with the text.
I currently work in the South, and at least in industry, there seems to be a fair degree of urgency about showing up on time. Perhaps because it's money, and you piss off people by making them wait on you for a scheduled meeting.
I think Eugene was obliquely referring to white people who tell racist jokes about black people, Stephen.
I hope this causes regular Democrats in Oregon pain and suffering.
They aren't going to realize the evil of the elite Democrats ruling them until they personally feel the consequences.
All Democrat jurisdictions are unlivable hellscapes.
For two years now, the people who run things in the Twin Cities area (all Democrats) have been trying hard to prove you right, David. They've made great progress.
You are correct
The practice of expecting less from members of a disadvantaged group and thus implicitly encouraging those people not to reach their full potential.
- The soft bigotry of low expectations
It doesn't get much more anti-racist than that.
Imagine you have two kids: Johnny & Treyvon. When Johnny misbehaves, you correct / punish him. When Treyvon misbehaves, you pat him on the head, give him a big hug, and tell him what a good boy he is. How do you think they'll turn out? Wouldn't you expect Treyvon to be less well-adjusted, more anti-social?
" I just don't think highly of those people. "
Is that intended to explain the remarkable frequency at which this blog publishes a vile racial slur?
Rev.,
With respect, you’re getting a bit one note. Imagine if the Rolling Stones only played Fool to Cry over and over for two hours. Gotta mix it up.
He's been a one trick pony for the last decade.
To some readers — although not the target audience of downscale tight-wingers — the bigotry around here is tiresome.
Lol your bigotry is tiresome, idiot
Are any of the sycophantic misfits around here willing to try to defend a blog that uses a vile racial slur more often than monthly in modern America?
I expect to observe the cowardice that marks several of the Conspirators, but maybe one of this blog's fans has more courage than the Conspirators and is will try to defend Prof. Volokh in this context.
(The relevant circumstance is that this blog has used a vile racial slur in at least 25 posts (with comments) since February 2021. That's not uses -- the uses are likely a multiple of 25. I may have missed a few, but 25 in 17 months is plenty to precipitate the question: Why is this white, male, right-wing blog so bigot-friendly (at best -- it's likely something worse) and fond of a vile racial slur?)
Step right up, if any of you has the character needed to do so.
Carry on, clingers . . . but only so far as your betters permit, though.
Cowards, top to bottom, at this old-timey blog.
Rev. Great legal analysis, Bruh.
NPC Alert
Good thing these people grow out of as they age away from college. Right?
Odd that they don’t link to the email, or even to the link identified by the person who spoke to the reporter.
Are you claiming that this is a hoax?
I think the e-mail is included at the bottom of Soave's post, though it may be hard to notice because it's rendered in small text. (Clicking on it shows a readable version.)
Ok thanks
No problem -- "trust but verify" really is a Russian proverb.
I thought EV was pulling our collective leg, but he's right as rain.
I believed him, but I checked anyway.
🙂
I'll charitably assume that they were added in the last ten minutes, but there is a screenshot of the email at the bottom of the story and a hyperlink to the website in the body.
FWIW archive.org's snapshot from yesterday includes the screenshot as EV mentions.
Conspiracy theory?
All conspiracy theories are a product of a CIA disinformation campaign.
/meta conspiracy theory
Not at all odd that when evidence is right out in the open of what you have long denied or ignored, your first reaction is to claim FAKE NEWS.
Not holding my breath for your apology or even admission that it is real news.
Odd how? Are you claiming Soave is being dishonest?
When it just turns out you missed the link.
Of course this is nothing new, Seattle Public School district has claimed planning ahead is racist:
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/opinion/article/Planning-ahead-is-considered-racist-1204942.php
Odd that someone provides proof and you scurry away. Don’t actually express disgust racism from your own side. It’s the other guys that are all racist, right?
bevis — You keep insisting on racism. "Racism" refers to systematized action to disadvantage disfavored groups. Where in this instance do you see advocacy to systematize disadvantages for disfavored groups, or even for whites?
""Racism" refers to systematized action to disadvantage disfavored groups." "or even for whites?"
And the worst part is, you probably weren't being sarcastic in citing that 'definition'.
Are you kidding? Even using your strange idiosyncratic definition of racism, it fits. This is a public official, backed by a body of scholarship, attributing a positive trait (and others that can be positive in many situations) to white people and white supremacy.
In case it's not clear, this and other related notions, for example that getting the right answer in math is white supremacy culture, are racist against non-white people.
"urgency is a white supremacy value."
What a bunch of bullshit that caters to the weak-minded
Not quite ... it's a power play. If I can convince you to accept something idiotic, I control you.
I then remain proudly out of control - - - - - - -
The local FOIA law ought to be able to confirm or deny that this was a genuine government email. You could ask for a search on white supremacy to see how often the author invokes it.
So screw all the people that arranged their schedule to make that meeting, all because some asshat bureaucrat decided that he wanted to be a prick.
Message received.
As the Reason article points out, this is not just a one-time dumb statement, but is based on work that is fairly popular is the education field.
When people talk about banning some of the nuttier stuff being taught in schools, this is what they are talking about.
You can't ban it because that's a 1A problem. But it would help if the uproar over it came from the left.
Apparently according to Soave's article this pissed off at least some Democrat-leaning POCs. Something so stupid and hateful should be shouted down very broadly. Instead we save the mass outrage for new college grads who neutrally observe that there are a lot of blacks in the Bronx.
No 1A problem with banning it in K-12 public schools.
In other words, lateness and laziness is an...African American value? That sounds pretty racist.
This is insanity.
I looked at the website. It's as bad as you might imagine. It takes a simple fact - an unnecessary sense of urgency can be dysfunctional and turns it into a whole mishegas.
The leap from "false urgency can have negative effects" to "urgency (apparently justified or not) is a characteristic of white supremacy" would carry you across the Grand Canyon.
Never wrestle with a pig.
They have some advice for people resistant to their anti-urgency agenda:
"If you find yourself becoming defensive as you read them, lean into the gift of defensiveness and ask yourself what you are defending."
And, if the email had said that the meeting organizers determined they needed more time to further review the data, no one would have batted an eye. It was the wholly gratuitous white supremacy crap that was problematic.
Why'd you have to post this on a holiday weekend?
It couldn't have waited until Tuesday?
Wish there was a LIKE button.....
It was an unnecessary statement that generates more heat than light. The email would have conveyed its central message perfectly well if that entire sentence had been omitted.
However, Soave distorts the email by omitting that some of the invitees to the meeting asked for it to be postponed, so they would have more time to prepare.
If this email was written to accommodate people who wanted more time before the meeting, then the whole reference to white supremacy and "the work" was completely unneeded. The thing about emails is that they almost uniformly do not just appear by themselves but rather result from the intentional act of the person at the keyboard.
So, it's fair to conclude she meant what she said. And castigating her for it is wholly appropriate.
Of course. But by not giving all the facts, Soave's article (and Eugene's headline) lead the reader away from the much less inflammatory reading that the reason for the postponement was that people asked for more time, and the unnecessary sentence was an explanation why the office accommodated those requests instead of ignoring them and keeping to the all-important schedule. I agree it's still a dumb thing to say.
How is your reading less inflammatory?
Make up your own mind, just don't do it based on a misquote.
It’s not a misquote, it’s an account that didn’t include exactly the same information as the original account.
It's not like people who put out asinine missives like this are above lying to cover their ass. Sorry, you're just covering the marxists actively trying to destroy Western society.
In case you didn't read the email I should add the omitted facts were in it.
Timely clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-_M4r-gKI0
This seems like the perfect way for a government bureaucrat to continue to get paid for doing nothing and doing it slowly, at that: say their indolence really means they're fighting white supremacy's quality of urgency.
BTW, and FWIW, I looked her up on the internet. In addition to being whatever you choose to call her over this, she's also an SEIU steward, she's married to a man, with two kiddos, and appears to be white.
People like this should be encouraged to fight the white supremacy quality of breathing.
I am white. Years ago I was in the radio business and I worked at an urban format black station in the city where literally I was the only white guy for miles in any direction except I guess for white people passing thru on the highway. That was fine; the money was green. I had a sweatshirt that I wore that said "Black by Popular Demand." Back in those days, it was much less polarized as the Democrats hadn't yet begun to turn people against each other and I was accepted with no problem into black culture. I recall that there was an inside joke related to "CPT" which was "Colored People's Time" meaning that all scheduled times were soft and likely to have a later start time than actually planned, and that was accepted as just the way it was.
I went on a tour bus in Munich one day. At the start of the day, the German guide made the point that they would leave promptly on time from each destination, and if anyone was late, they would have to provide their own transportation from that site (back to Munich or whatever they wanted to go). He said that he didn't expect any such problems from Germans or Japanese guests, and probably not from Americans, but that Spanish and Italian guests works pay close attention.
Pünktlichkeit ist sehr wichtig.
Yeah, that's been around for decades, and in my experience more often invoked as a badge of honor/wry admission than a dig. Just another thing that's given way to the generation of the perpetually offended.
Probably a subset, but I often worked with a group of churches where some were (mostly) black and some were (mostly) white. (1970's)
The concept was BCT, Black Church Time. The blacks were as amazed by the specific 11AM to Noon timing of the 'white' churches as they were amazed by the way 'white folks' could sing hymns standing still, and explained BCT meant "we will never ever start before the announced time, but will most likely wait around a bit to see if some folks were held up or maybe can't afford a watch. Then we will worship until the spirit says it's time to leave".
Democrats have ALWAYS been the racist party -- they chose a different color to hate.
Say NO to HATE!!!!!
I was married to a black guy (still friends lo these many years) and he and his brother frequently laughed about BST and being late all the time. (Black Standard Time)
On the other hand, we laughed because BST seemed also to refer to my sister (whose name begins with B), because she misplaced her sense of punctuality when she was 8 months old.
I think the KKK would agree completely that getting things done quickly and on time is entirely a white characteristic and it's not something blacks are capable of doing.
Sort of the "Flip Side" of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_people%27s_time
Frank "where are my loose shoes??"
A guy I worked with for years (a person of color) wore a watch that he quite liked but it didn't work. When asked why he just didn't get it fixed his answer always was some derivative of the joke already mentioned here.
This email seems like it more belongs from the Onion or something similar....Unfortunately though I think it is real.
Hence the mañana culture.
About the contrast in drug usage patterns north and south of the equator, I enjoy illustrating;
Brunhilde tells Olaf to get up on the roof and fix it, winter is coming. The oaf Olaf responds, “Pwfft! Mañana Mama,” and his guts would be her garters. Alcoholism is self limiting.
There are some sociobiological arguments that living in an area with pronounced seasons, where there are all sorts of things that you have to do on schedule and thoroughly, or you run out of food/firewood partway through the winter and die, has had an evolutionary impact on punctuality and diligence. But until they identify the genes, that's a just so story.
The Kalifornia cancer has spread to both coasts. It is time to cut out the cancer.
Lathering the rubes:
The racial slurring law prof,
lathering his rubes.
There's an article in Edweek about a school in SF using these ideas to dismantle "White Supremacy Culture".
I do wonder if those rejecting "urgency" as a "white supremacy value" are also urging their followers not to rush to vote or get their ballots in the mail by any particular date. After all, rushing to do so would suggest that one might actually be a white supremacist so it's clearly best to wait a couple months after the election for their followers to send in their ballot as a means of disavowing white supremacy.
I wish I were not retired. Living and working in an area in which many well known technology companies known for their "wokeness" are headquartered, I would feel much less stressed because if my group was in danger of missing a release schedule that customer revenue was relying on, I could get a pass by simply explaining that
The life of an antiracist:
Get up early to catch the plane to the corporate diversity seminar. On the plane, check notes thoroughly to make sure all the material is ready. Call the venue to make sure the check is ready to give them as soon as they're finished speaking.
Call their publisher to make sure their Down With White Supremacy book will come out on the scheduled release date - ask find out why their advance is late in coming.
When the plane lands, catch a cab and give the driver an extra tip to get to the place early.
At the diversity seminar, take attendance to make sure that all the employees who are supposed to be there have arrived. Take note of absent employees who have shown their racism by blowing off the meeting.
Start the meeting on time by telling the attendees about the vital urgency of confronting white supremacism in all its guises.
During the lecture, provide a list of white supremacy traits, including a sense of urgency.
The life of an antiracist, part 2:
Get nagged about a scheduled meeting. "The meeting's off, you racist. Urgency is white supremacist. I'm taking a day off."
On your day off, pull down a statue of a botanist who fought for the Confederacy as a young man. There's a legal process for requesting that a statue be removed, but the case is too urgent to go through channels and anyway the request might be denied.
Hear that a young black man has died at the hands of the police. No time to check into the details - not when it's obviously racism and justice delayed is justice denied. Into the streets for a mostly-peaceful protest.
Check Twitter, find that some white person used the word "denigrate." Since "denigrate" means "blacken," the white person is obviously racist. No time to ask for an explanation of context, racists musts be punished and shunned. Forward the item to your Twitter followers with demands that the white person be fired.
Return to work the next day, resume nap.