White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

by Robin DiAngelo

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Society & Culture

Anger, silence, withdrawal. When race comes up, Robin DiAngelo argues, those white reactions end the conversation and restore what she calls white racial equilibrium. John McWhorter, Carlos Lozada and Kenan Malik have all pushed back, so how far does a diagnosis drawn from diversity training carry?

Core ideas
  • The false binary: If only bad people are racist, good people never have to look inward, so DiAngelo treats racism as systemic and often unconscious.
  • Progressives too: White people who see themselves as already enlightened on race often use that belief to avoid self-examination, in her account.
  • The criticism: McWhorter in The Atlantic called it condescending to Black people, Lozada in The Washington Post saw circular reasoning, and Malik in The Guardian faulted its individual focus.
Published2018
Pages8
ISBN9780807071168
ReadJan 2021

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