If I’m looking for silver linings about 2020, I can say it certainly gave me more time to read. One of the books that I read last year was Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility — Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism.
This book is only 155 pages long but it took me months to get through it, despite picking it up nearly every day. I could only read two or three pages at a time. There is so much rich information in DiAngelo’s work that I could only digest a little at a time.
As a white, able-bodied, middle-class male, who has lived most of my life with unexamined implicit biases and unacknowledged privilege — even though I consider myself to be a progressive person — I found the book to be an indictment of me and my white brothers and sisters. And upon finishing it, I closed the book and whispered to myself, “Guilty as charged.”
The cover shot of Robin DiAngelo’s book “White Fragility.”
White Fragility confirmed my long-held belief that America will never truly be great until Americans repent for the country’s original sin of slavery and better address our ongoing transgression of racism. All roads to greatness must go through the trainwreck and tragedy of our racist behavior, past and present.
After reading the first two sentences of the book, I knew needed to pull on my big-boy pants and buckle up.
“White people in North American live in a society that is deeply separate and unequal by race, and white people are the beneficiaries of that separation and inequality. As a result, we are insulated from racial stress, at the same time that we come to feel entitled to and deserving of our advantage.”
If you are wondering what “white fragility” mean, DiAngelo explains, “Though white fragility is triggered by discomfort and anxiety, it is born of superiority and entitlement. White fragility is not weakness per se. In fact, it is a powerful means of white racial control and the protection of white advantage.”
If you’re thinking about all the recent “Karen” incidents of white women calling the cops on black people for doing virtually nothing, I’m with you. But if we’re on our high horses, thinking “I’m not racist and I would never do that!” DiAngelo has news for us.
“White progressives can be the most difficult for people of color because, to the degree that we think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived. None of our energy will go into what we need to be doing the rest of our lives: engaging in ongoing self-awareness, continuing educations, relationship building, and actual antiracist practice.”
Ouch! That makes me think just by writing this and other race-related blogs I’m virtue signaling. I guess to some degree I am, but I’ll risk that accusation if I can get just one of you to read White Fragility.
Still think you’re a progressive and not responsible for or don’t benefit from racism in America? Consider these quotes from the book:
“A racism-free upbringing is not possible, because racism is a social system embedded in” our culture and our institutions.
“White progressives do indeed uphold and perpetuate racism, but our defensiveness and certitude make it virtually impossible to explain to us how we do so.”
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day than to dive back into this book. Join me!
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Read Robin D’Angelo’s article on White Fragility
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Martin Luther King, Jr. on my shoulder in a San Jose library. (Author).