🕸️ Chapter 3: Anti-Black Racism and White Supremacy
14 3.1: Definitions and Concepts
Before delving into the expressions of racism within dietetics, it’s essential to establish a clear understanding of
Anti-Black Racism (ABR) and its connection to white supremacy.
Anti-Black Racism (ABR)
Anti-Black Racism refers to the systemic discrimination, prejudice, and marginalization faced by Black individuals and communities due to their race. It encompasses both overt (e.g., racial slurs, racial segregation, refusing to hire a Black person) and covert forms of discrimination (e.g., racial profiling, fear of Black people, microaggressions, tokenism), perpetuated through social, economic, and political structures (Hampton, 2020).
White Supremacy
White supremacy is a system of beliefs and practices that prioritizes and upholds the dominance of white people and white culture while marginalizing and oppressing racialized groups. It operates on both individual and institutional levels, perpetuating racial hierarchies and privileging whiteness (DiAngelo, 2018).
These concepts connect to our conversation about scientific racism in Chapter 1.3. Continuing to develop your understanding of ABR and white supremacy within the Canadian context will help you to unpack complex examples in a variety of settings.
Framing the Lens: Bias vs. Systemic Racism
When analyzing client-facing interactions or interactions with your colleagues or peers, it is crucial to distinguish between individual bias and systemic racism. They operate as two sides of the same coin, yet addressing one without recognizing the other leaves a massive gap in care.
- Individual Bias (Intentional or Unintentional):
The internal attitudes, assumptions, or stereotypes held by an individual practitioner that unconsciously influence how they perceive another person’s actions or behaviours (e.g. choices or communication style) - Systemic Racism:
The institutional structures, policies, and educational curriculum (such as Eurocentric nutrition standards) that institutionalize those biases, making “whiteness” the invisible baseline measurement for power, wisdom, health, wellness, and normative behaviour.
To capture this dynamic, we can reflect on historical representations of currency, where two distinctly designed sides comprise a single, unified object. Below is an illustration of both sides of an ancient Hebrew coin, originally published in Athanasius Kircher’s 1679 study, Turris Babel. Just as a coin cannot exist without both its faces, anti-Black racism in practice cannot be dismantled by addressing individual prejudices alone while ignoring the structural framework that legitimizes them.
View high-resolution image of the coin (opens in a new tab)
.Source: Athanasius Kircher’s- Turris Babel- 1670 (page 215 crop- Hebrew Coin I) by Barbaking, licensed under Public Domain.
Activity: “Who’s in Charge Here?” Navigating Race, Authority, and Respect in a Healthcare Food Environment. A branching case scenario created by Nickaya Parris, RD, from Nova Scotia. Walking through the scenario for an example of how bias and systemic racism show up in a dietetic workplace
Case Study #1: Unpacking the “White Perspective” & “Whiteness as the Standard” in Nutritional Care
The Scenario:
Ryan, a white dietitian, is scheduled to meet with Dewit, a patient newly immigrated from Eritrea, for an initial appointment. As he prepares the chart, he uploads his standardized 24-hour recall sheet built around a Eurocentric, three-meal schedule.
During the appointment, Dewit feels frustrated when Ryan insists that he switch from 1 meal to 3 meals a day and tells him that he is not eating enough protein (e.g., meat, poultry, eggs, milk). Ryan is completely unfamiliar with Dewit’s Orthodox religious fasting schedule.
🧩 Click to Follow Issue: Understanding Dewit’s Orthodox Fasting
Dewit is a member of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He is dedicated to adhering to his religious fasts that require abstaining from all animal products (meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs) and avoiding food and drink until midday (around 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM). It is a spiritual practice that encompasses about 180 fasting days a year for all believers.
Furthermore, Ryan doesn’t recognize traditional foods Dewit mentions, such as Birsen or Shiro, and keeps directing him to the rigid “balanced plate” model from Canada’s Food Guide.
🧩 Click to Become Aware: Ryan’s Assumptions About Birsen & Shiro
Ryan fails to recognize that Dewit is consuming protein because he does not ask questions and makes biased and discriminatory assumptions about Dewit’s traditional foods, eating habits, and nutritional awareness.
By the end of the appointment, Ryan’s nutrition assessment states that Dewit is “likely malnourished”, “likely consuming inadequate fluids”, and “likely not consuming adequate protein”.
Critical Learning Points & Additional Resources
- When tools like Canada’s Food Guide are not adapted and assumed to be a universal baseline, “whiteness as the standard” is actively enforced, leaving the Black patient judged for their eating traditions, unseen, and structurally locked out of supportive healthcare.
- Learn how to prepare Birsen at the Eritrean Style Food YouTube channel (opens in a new tab)
- Learn how to prepare Shiro at Yodit’s Table on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
- Learn more about the history and traditions of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (opens in a new tab)