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

Finished listening to this book. It is hard for White people to talk about racism. This book will help the willing reader discern why that is. I also feel that if the White reader is open to it, it will help him or her realize how to try to stop being a supporter of a racist society. Well, as a White person, I think that the awareness issue is most important because so often White people fail to acknowledge racism and perpetuate racist structures without even thinking about it.

For me this is not so much as a how to not be racist, but about how to be open to learning and trying always to overcome personal and institutional racism. It's work for a lifetime.

Parting thought, racism is not a Black problem, it is a problem White people impose upon Black people and pother people of color.

If only every white person could actually do what the author suggests in this book...

I went into this book extremely nervous! I'd already heard discussion around this book/author using, for her own gain, issues that society forces onto black people. I've heard that this author is trying to make a quick buck off of the struggles of black people, and people should spend their time and money on reading books on similar issues from black authors. After reading the foreword, I was even more nervous to continue on with the book... it seemed to me that the author was being set up as THE Savior for black people by using her whiteness to discuss race in situations where a black person would have had more trouble (which I get to a certain extent). However, I definitely felt that the foreword was focused WAY too much on the author herself being a savior, rather than on the beneficial methods at which she goes about discussing race with white people. Although I was incredibly nervous, I continued on with the book... and I'm glad I did. DiAngelo accomplished the goal that she set out to meet with this book. She is able to, with such ease, slip in and out of writing about the understandings of race that the majority of white people hold (and all, at some point, DID hold) and debunking those ideologies in a way that both holds the reader accountable and demands an internal change in the reader. DiAngelo also did an amazing job breaking down the harmful nature of the "White Liberal" on black people. She doesn't cherry pick which groups of white people to discuss... she discusses white people AS A WHOLE and the harmful impacts they can, and do, have on the black people in their lives. My favorite aspects of this book were her use of examples from her personal experiences. She doesn't JUST go on about the white people she encounters in her job as a speaker for racial equity in workplaces across America. She also speaks on her own experiences with falling short as an ally. She doesn't take part in blaming her misgivings on other people... she meets the accusations against her head-on, and she makes them right by educating herself, apologizing to the victim of her misstep, and making a conscious effort to never make that same mistake again. It really gives the white readers of the text a great look at how we, ourselves, should handle criticism/our own falling short in racial issues. This book did such an amazing job unpacking major concepts, but it doesn't go as deep as it could have gone. Therefore, this book was a great introductory text for understanding race and the complex relationships with race held by every person. However, it seems that you would be able to find more in-depth information, and possibly more accurate information on the black experience from own-voices authors. Specifically the own-voices authors that the author of this book mentioned within her text: Carol Anderson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, etc. I have not read books by those authors, but I'm extremely excited to do so after reading excerpts from their works within this book. I already have works by Carol Anderson and Ta-Nehisi Coates on my shelves, and I look forward to getting to them soon! The reasons for which I deducted .5 stars from my rating of this book were: 1) The foreword 2) The fact that this is an introduction of sorts, and this author quoted a lot of black authors within this text (which is a good thing). However, if the information that DiAngelo was sharing could be found in a text by a black author... I believe it would be better to JUST read those other texts rather than reading her analysis of the excerpts that she included. I did really enjoy this book, and I encourage ALL white people to read it (and people of other races if they wish to do so as well). However, I encourage you further to NOT stop with this book alone. I surely will not.

I found this book extremely confrontational. I am guilty of a lot (if not most) of what the writer attempts to explain is white fragility. "I don't see colour, I see personality", "White woman's tears", "I was encouraged from an early age that racism is wrong", "All Lives Matter", and the list embarrassingly goes on... Definitely an eye-opener. As a white Australian, I acknowledge that I really do know nothing of white supremacy and American history. I have ALWAYS considered myself to be non-racist. However, after reading this book, I am very keen to learn more, attempt to understand more, and become more wiling to accept that just by being white, I am privileged in ways that I will likely never completely understand or relate to from the point of view of a person of colour. The complex history that is so very ingrained for both black and white runs so deep that I find it hard to believe that any white person on the planet has not been guilty of racism at some point in their lives, even if unaware or indirect. I think the hardest thing for most is to genuinely accept that we have all been, or are racist, even if indirectly and unconsciously. Then with this acknowledgement, we need to strive to better our understanding by owning our mistakes and flaws in our approach to racism. All the while understanding that we are always learning and growing from our lessons. I was horrified to find myself processing my own defensive or dismissive responses to some examples in this book. A very enlightening read. Unfortunately, those who would benefit from the lessons in this book the most are also those who are unlikely to ever read it.

Wow. You're never as "woke" as you think you are. And that's the thing to keep in mind.