Liberal White Supremacy: How Progressives Silence Racial and Class Oppression

by Angie Beeman

In Liberal White Supremacy , Angie Beeman argues that white supremacy is maintained not only by right-wing conservatives or stereotypically uneducated working-class racial bigots but also by progressives who operate from a liberal ideology of color-blindness, racism-evasiveness, and class elitism. This distinction provides insight on divisions among progressives at the local level, in community organizations, and at the national level, in the Democratic Party. By distinguishing between liberal and radical approaches to racism, class oppression, capitalism, and social movement tactics, Beeman shows how progressives continue to be limited by liberal ideology and perpetuate rather than dismantle white supremacy, all while claiming to be antiracist.

She conceptualizes this self-serving process as “liberal white supremacy,” the tendency for liberal European Americans to constantly place themselves in the superior moral position in a way that reinforces inequality. Beeman advances what she calls action-oriented and racism-centered intersectional approaches as alternatives to progressive organizational strategies that either downplay racism in favor of a class-centered approach or take a talk-centered approach to racism without developing explicit actions to challenge it.

Genres: Nonfiction

180 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2022

Reviews

[Emily Migliazzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this was a student’s essay I would probably say there was too much narrative evidence and not enough analysis. I think it’s a strong argument, but it felt repetitive after the first 70 pages.

[Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the case of American Exceptionalism, liberals will always find themselves three steps behind the conservative faction, who merely make three steps backwards before tripping themselves. That is because behind every white liberal is the same white mask that the republicans themselves glorify. It is the liberals’ lack of self-critical analysis and reliance on comfort politics/non-disruptive actions that Republicanism, even when not holding the majority, will always dominate the American political sphere. This book sheds light on the contradictions of white liberalism. In every western movement I have participated in, "I see anti-prejudiced and nonracist European Americans as more liberal and talk-centered and antiracists as more radical and action-centered" (Beeman 118). When there is a massacre or a catastrophe, you will see its victims in the streets rebelling against the perpetrators, as for the liberals, you will see them creating an NGO to monetize their "activism". But, once the dust settles and the people's blood is spilled, the white liberal will co-opt it through statements in their history books, removing the entirety of the struggle their people had. Beeman resembles that of past revolutionary theoreticians: analysis through practice. One may criticize how 'simple' her analysis is, her observation of white liberals and critiquing of their racism, however, reveals itself by a liberal's reaction, “I didn't mean it like that!" You will find different charts and categorizations that Beeman brilliantly conceptualized into models that excellently break down the types of approaches a ‘radical’ or a liberal may take. This book is reminiscent of the works of Franz Fanon, Assata Shakur, and Alexandra Kollontai, where such analyses are drawn directly from the people, a method often undermined and overlooked by bourgeois scholars, which is why you will find all of the bourgeois boasting of GDP, for example, when millions of Americans are starving. Beeman identifies liberalism as one of the biggest barriers to racism through both a historical materialist and a personal experience approach. She then ties it into past and contemporary American social movements, a great strength of this work, as there are many issues that have been reflected, for example, in the Palestine Movement. Nonetheless, it is of great importance that liberals understand, just like conservatives, that they too are the rich man's pawn. My only critique is extending her analysis beyond white liberalism to POC liberalism, as you notice children around the world are torn apart by the world's 'most diverse army' while we Amerikans continue to live our lives normally. To have a successful movement that seeks true liberation, the people ought to set aside their false superiority and meet the problem at its root. While conservatives are manipulated by right-wing outlets like Fox News, so too are the liberals with the effects of COINTELPRO and the Patriot Act. Of which, the latter will have the colored man and woman wearing the same white mask they once found abhorrent. That is because the settlers have not only stolen the Indigenous' Turtle Island, but they will also seek to dominate your political morality, regardless of your skin or gender, to uphold their imperialist and kaptialist power. Liberalism will find itself unprepared at every corner to deal with the republican swarm, sacrificing Imperialist America’s victims as the opportunistic Republicans continue their hateful indoctrination of the working class. No single movement in the history of any part of this world was non-disruptive or appealing to the legal bounds of the oppressor's hands; readers should look forward to such contradictions in this work.

[Soribel Genao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angie Beeman’s Liberal White Supremacy is not just a book—it’s a necessary intervention. When we discussed it on The VOICE, I remember feeling like the layers she was peeling back weren’t just theoretical, they were deeply personal and institutional, embedded in many of the very spaces I’ve navigated throughout my academic, policy, and consulting work. What Beeman does so masterfully is name what so many of us have experienced but were gaslit into believing was either our own projection or a misunderstanding of "progressive" intent.

In the book, Beeman doesn’t waste time catering to fragility. She dives into how white liberals, even those who consider themselves allies, often engage in a form of racism that is more insidious precisely because it is cloaked in the language of equity. She introduces the concept of “liberal white supremacy” as a framework that explains how white people maintain power, even within progressive movements, by controlling the pace, language, and boundaries of racial justice work.

What resonated deeply with me, and what we unpacked in our episode, is Beeman’s critique of “conflict-avoidant racism” that constant push to prioritize comfort over truth, unity over justice. That hit hard. It reminded me of times in higher education when I was invited to the table for diversity work only to be sidelined when the conversation became too real, too uncomfortable, too indicting. Or when the expectations of “collegiality” masked institutional violence and the silencing of faculty and students of color.

Beeman draws from her own experiences as woman of color in academia and daughter of an immigrant Korean mother and uses those narratives, interwoven with critical race theory and sociological frameworks, to show how white supremacy adapts. It doesn’t always come with tiki torches; sometimes it arrives in DEI committees, in well-funded progressive organizations, or in classrooms where white colleagues speak the language of liberation while blocking real structural change.

Her writing is rigorous yet accessible, sharp but not alienating, unless, of course, you're invested in maintaining the status quo. One of the most powerful parts of the book for me was her analysis of how white liberals weaponize narratives of shared struggle or class-based solidarity to derail conversations about race. This is something we also reflected on in the podcast when discussing multiracial coalitions and the danger of flattening identities in the name of unity. Beeman challenges us to consider what true solidarity requires: not just performative support, but a radical redistribution of power, voice, and accountability.

I also appreciate that Beeman doesn't stop at critique. She offers a call to action. She pushes us to understand that true anti-racism is not about intention; it's about impact, structure, and transformation. That’s something I try to live by in my own work, whether I’m in classrooms, boardrooms, or communities.

For those of us doing racial equity work, this book is a mirror and a map. It forces reflection and offers direction. It’s also a cautionary tale: If we’re not willing to confront the liberal strands of white supremacy, then we’re not actually committed to dismantling it.

As we said on The VOICE, Liberal White Supremacy is not just for white liberals, it’s for anyone invested in justice who’s ready to stop pretending and start unlearning. Angie Beeman didn’t write this book for comfort. She wrote it for clarity. And we’re better for it.