White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About… (utgåvan 2018)

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively

I am a Xicana of indigenous heritage and Mexican ancestry, I read this book because I was curious about Diangelo and wanted to know for myself what this book entailed. I do highly recommend this book for White identifying people. This book is written for Whites, and to Whites who are genuinely interested in learning about anti-racism and how to do it. It is triggering. It will upset the white persons paradigm of self. It will give a white person the tools needed to be an ally to Black's, Indigenous, People of Color, and immigrants of color.
Diangelo constructs a clear historical, cultural, and social path for Whites. She does a thorough job of citing and referencing Black and POC scholars, activists, and thinkers. Diangelo is an ally and in this book she lays out how any white person can begin the process of becoming an antiracist. ( )

Reading this as part of the Community Read. The discussion of these topics really helped drive home the insidious nature of how racism affects my everyday life and perceptions. ( )

Hard work but worthwhile. ( )

Generally, we tend to think about racism in terms of mean people doing mean things to people of color. If we don't kidnap and lynch people anymore, how can we be racist? Well, we can be racist in that we engage blithely in a system that is tilted in our favor, and refuse to recognize that fact. So, we need to re-calibrate what racism means.

We may not be intentionally engaging in a system of racism, we just benefit from it. But, when that is pointed out to us, we get all defensive. What we need to do is recognize our natural defensiveness and try to re-learn how to engage people. If I do something some finds racially offensive, I would best ask for explanations so I can change my behavior. Most of us won't do that. We just get huffy and continue doing whatever it was that was hurtful in the first place. After all, our racist behavior doesn't hurt us, right? Well, it does. It signals that we're falling far short of the second commandment to treat other folks as we would wish them to treat us.


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