White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Race
Dr. Robin DiAngelo
Beacon Press
Nonfiction, Sociology
Themes: Diversity
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Description
"I don't see color." "Only bad people are racist." "If I don't mean any harm, it's their fault if they're offended." "Some of my best friends are Black." "It's classism that's the problem, not racism." Antiracist educator Dr. Robin DiAngelo hears these and many more rationalizations, excuses, deflections, and brush-offs in her work. But racism is such an intrinsic, inherent part of the modern world that it's impossible not to have absorbed some racist ideas. In this book, she explores the tangled roots of racism, how it's more than possible for a "nice" person to perpetuate harm, how progressive approaches can backfire and regressive elements adapt with each new generation, and how nothing is ever going to change so long as the hard, individual work cannot be done and difficult, uncomfortable conversations cannot be had.
Review
Anyone who thought America's racism issues ended with Barack Obama's election - look, a Black man in the highest elected
office! Racism is obviously cured! - should have gotten a wake-up call with the next election, though we white people have
long been blissfully ignorant and dismissive of the voices that have been trying to wake us up all along. The fact that we've
been able to remain ignorant, and had the luxury to dismiss the problems, is yet more evidence that books like this are
necessary reading.
This is a short read (or listen), but an important and impactful one. Written by a white woman, it forces the reader to
confront uncomfortable truths about society and the lies we like to tell ourselves, showing just how deeply the messaging is
embedded in pretty much every aspect of culture. Unless you were born and raised alone on an island, you have not only been
exposed to racist cultural ideas but have absorbed and perpetuated them without thinking, part of the social contract we all
are party to every time we interact with others. She makes the distinction between racial prejudice, a more personal problem
(and what most people call "racism", what prompts the slurs and the rocks thrown at school kids and the rallies with torches),
and racism, a systemic problem affecting every part of life especially in Western cultures (though spread, via economic and
media influence, worldwide), and shows how, even if it's not considered socially acceptable to repeat racist slurs in public
anymore, it's not only acceptable but encouraged to repeat the same attitudes in coded, softer language and behaviors. There
is also an extensive look at the all-too-predictable behaviors of being confronted for racist infractions, all of which shuts
down real dialog and learning possibilities, refocuses attention, and once again demands that others provide support and
comfort to the white person being "attacked". While she acknowledges there have been some gains and changes, she also points
out that those gains have all too often been absorbed and twisted to support the same old narratives, as the basic social
mechanisms that created and perpetuated racism are still grinding along unchecked. Pointing to those gains alone is another
way to circumvent the hard conversations and difficult work that needs to happen if we are ever going to move past the racism
that is hurting everyone.
Before systems can change, individuals must change... yes, all of us, even the "nice" ones. Books like this one can help get
the conversation started, at least.