Join a book club that is reading White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism!
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
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.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
I think every white person can get a lot out of this book.
A great book on how we can better approach racial justice, being more racially aware and being better people.
A great book on how we can better approach racial justice, being more racially aware and being better people.
Update- I watched a lecture by the author and found it convincing and useful. Not sure why the book on the other hand did not feel as successful...
You might notice the lack of statistical evidence in this book...fear not, the author is a sociologist! And from Evergreen no less. Sure the book is replete with their own anecdotes to support sweeping assumptions, which intentionally blocks out the many modes of variability for people’s behavior, but hey... sociologist!
Still, I don’t think it is controversial to say that racism is alive and well and our inability to discuss or even believe it’s a topic we need to work on is certainly an ongoing problem.
The fact that this book exists is a sign that there is atleast an audience... though that audience might be small among white people.
What I DID like was the hilarious (I thought it was hilarious), take down of the god awful film Blind Side. That was probably the highlight.
What was... meh?
The author misreads the now infamous Bernie Sanders speech in Seattle, failing to mention the behavior of the two BLM protesters, and placing onus on virtually everyone else, including the entire city of Seattle and their collective white fragility. All because their was a moderate amount of boo'ing?
Not very convincing, and the book is peppered with this sort of thing. There are many reasons why people behave the way they do, race notwithstanding.
Still, ANY book that gets you thinking about, and doing something about your own racist behaviors (and we all have them) is obviously worth your time.
Final note, when the author urges people to be less white, I understand this to mean, don’t be a conduit for continued racism, acknowledge the systemic racism that exists, and try to dislodge yourself from it... but how does one do this exactly is a more difficult challenge than merely admitting ones own complicity.
You might notice the lack of statistical evidence in this book...fear not, the author is a sociologist! And from Evergreen no less. Sure the book is replete with their own anecdotes to support sweeping assumptions, which intentionally blocks out the many modes of variability for people’s behavior, but hey... sociologist!
Still, I don’t think it is controversial to say that racism is alive and well and our inability to discuss or even believe it’s a topic we need to work on is certainly an ongoing problem.
The fact that this book exists is a sign that there is atleast an audience... though that audience might be small among white people.
What I DID like was the hilarious (I thought it was hilarious), take down of the god awful film Blind Side. That was probably the highlight.
What was... meh?
The author misreads the now infamous Bernie Sanders speech in Seattle, failing to mention the behavior of the two BLM protesters, and placing onus on virtually everyone else, including the entire city of Seattle and their collective white fragility. All because their was a moderate amount of boo'ing?
Not very convincing, and the book is peppered with this sort of thing. There are many reasons why people behave the way they do, race notwithstanding.
Still, ANY book that gets you thinking about, and doing something about your own racist behaviors (and we all have them) is obviously worth your time.
Final note, when the author urges people to be less white, I understand this to mean, don’t be a conduit for continued racism, acknowledge the systemic racism that exists, and try to dislodge yourself from it... but how does one do this exactly is a more difficult challenge than merely admitting ones own complicity.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
I understood the points that DiAngelo was making, but found it quite difficult to relate to. It also started feeling like I was listening to a dissertation or essay about the white experience of racism.
I'll try and finish this another time
I understood the points that DiAngelo was making, but found it quite difficult to relate to. It also started feeling like I was listening to a dissertation or essay about the white experience of racism.
I'll try and finish this another time
"Racism is 'a system of advantage based on race.'" This book is an important one for all white people to read. We have all been acculturated into a racist society, and until we learn ways to talk about the racism that we instinctively [and perhaps unintentionally] express, we will be powerless to change things. So many critical ideas conveyed in this very readable book. DiAngelo has lots of experience in dealing with racism and white fragility and is able to convey many ideas through examples and descriptions. And better yet, there are suggestions for how to respond better/more appropriately. I am certain that I will revisit this one - we all have so much to learn from the examples here.
"I repeat: stopping our racist patterns must be more important than working to convince others that we don't have them. We do have them and people of color already know we have them, our efforts to prove otherwise are not convincing. An honest accounting of these patterns is no small task given the power of white fragility and white solidarity but it is necessary." from Chapter 10
"I repeat: stopping our racist patterns must be more important than working to convince others that we don't have them. We do have them and people of color already know we have them, our efforts to prove otherwise are not convincing. An honest accounting of these patterns is no small task given the power of white fragility and white solidarity but it is necessary." from Chapter 10
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.