White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DeAngelo

Review by Dave Gamrath

Book Summary:

In her book White Fragility, author Robin DeAngelo, a white educator who has been facilitating workshops on racism for years, describes a dynamic she almost always encounters in her trainings: white people becoming highly and quickly upset when discussing the systematic racism that exists in America, and the role that white people play within this. “What?!” you say, “not me, for I am an enlightened white progressive that doesn’t have a racist bone in my body!” DeAngelo’s book is especially important for whites that hold this perspective. As a white American man, I found DeAngelo’s book doubly important as it explores my dual privileges with being a white man.

DeAngelo describes how white preference and white supremacy is taught from early childhood in America. We are taught that whiteness is the human norm, and people of color are a deviation from this norm. The way whites are taught to define racism makes it nearly impossible for whites to honestly understand racism. In America, whites are taught how racists intentionally dislike others because of their race, and racism is by mean people who do nasty stuff, like at Charlottesville.

Although American history is chock-full of this type of behavior, DeAngelo isn’t using this definition of racism. Race is a social construct, and those in power define the rules. In America, whites defined the rules and hold the power. Prejudice (pre-judgement of another) and discrimination (acting on prejudice) are common behaviors, but are not racism. DeAngelo writes that “when a racial group’s collective prejudice is backed by the power of legal authority and institutional control, it is transformed into racism”. Racism is a structure, a system, not an event, and is deeply embedded within American society. DeAngelo states that only whites can be racist in America, because only whites “have the collective social and institutional power and privilege over people of color.” American culture promotes whiteness has the human ideal, and America promotes this idea globally. African Americans are viewed at the lowest level of American hierarchy.

DeAngelo defines white supremacy as an overarching political, economic and social structure of domination, not as hate groups. Whiteness is the ideal; non-whites, not so much. Whites carry with us a “white racial frame” in which we reinforce racial messages and white supremacy. It is promoted in advertising, movies, TV, news, schools, religion – I.E., all throughout American society. Although whites don’t recognize or think twice about our advantages, we certainly enjoy them. Whites are free of the burden of race; our race is rarely named.

Given that we seldom experience race, whites have very little racial stamina. Not surprisingly, whites become highly fragile discussing race. We consider ourselves good, morale people. When informed that some of our behavior may actually be promoting racism, not surprisingly whites quickly become upset. Upsetness can take many forms: discomfort, anxiety, anger, withdrawing, tears, shock, denial, defensiveness, etc. When upsetness occurs, whites demand all attention be directed towards making us feel better: we deserve care, right now! Yet this demand for attention draws the conversation away from discussing actual racist behavior, and is detrimental towards learning and growth. DeAngelo provides dozens of examples of this happening in her workshops, and the difficulty in countering it. White fragility is actually a form of bullying. DeAngelo describes where she too has reacted fragilely, and how she has had to work extensively to overcome this. It’s understandable, for sure: being truly open to discussing racism isn’t easy. But white fragility robs from whites actually learning, and accepting, our role in our racist American society, as well as learning to work against this.

Self-defined progressives are especially guilty of this. DeAngelo writes that “I believe that white progressives cause the most daily damage to people of color.” DeAngelo gives a multitude of examples where she has had to rescue progressives in her workshops who have imploded upon learning their behavior is less than perfect. Whites can’t challenge our racial filters if we refuse to see the possibility that we have them. DeAngelo states there is a huge social penalty for challenging racism: challenge comes with extreme resentment and penalties from other whites. DeAngelo faces this often. Another consistent dynamic is the expectation of whites that it is the responsibility of people of color to teach whites about racism, in a non-threatening way, unfairly putting the burden as well as the source of the problem on people of color. This happens in most of DeAngelo’s workshops.

Commonly in America there are accusations of “oversensitivity” amongst people of color, and of America’s silly need to be politically correct. Donald Trump has promoted this often with his racist behavior and his claims to be the least racist person around. It is racist to point out racism! Claiming the past was socially better is the hallmark of white supremacy. Remember, our past was living hell for many people of color. Make America Great Again diverts blame away from white elites that hold the power towards powerless people of color. Trump’s behavior has promoted his white base to not only refuse to discuss racism in America, but to also claim that they are the victims of racism. DeAngelo describes how many groups of people can truly be victims of abuse (sexism, prejudice against being poor or being disabled, etc), but DeAngelo explains how whites in America never experience systematic racism. Whites experience privilege for our skin color, and this translates to many advantages, mostly unrecognized.

White Fragility packs a punch. And if you’re white, that punch can hurt. But it’s well worth the pain and discomfort to learn DeAngelo’s powerful message to whites in America. Read her book, think about it, and talk about it. Widely. Our society needs to understand this dynamic, as did I, and as likely you will too, if you are white.

Reviewer Rating of Book:

Big thumb up