Book Review: White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo (2018)

 

Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, 2018.

White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo, has been a best-seller since it was published in 2018. As a white person, I felt like I needed to read it this summer. White Fragility is an uncomfortable book for liberal white people like me to read. First off, no one wants to be called “fragile.” Fragility equals weakness, and no one wants to be thought of as weak. “I’m not fragile about race! That might be how other white people act, but not me!” (Puts down book, storms out of the room.) “You’re being fragile again.” “No, I’m not!” (Pause) “Okay, yeah, I guess I am.”

In all seriousness, DiAngelo makes an important point when she writes about the good/bad dichotomy regarding race. The prevailing view for a long time has been you’re either a racist, or you’re not. Well, every white person who’s learned anything wants to be considered NOT a racist. Racists are those ignorant white people you see in newsreels of the South in the 1950’s and 1960’s. But of course, as DiAngelo demonstrates, racism is more complicated than that. Because we haven’t been more honest and exact in our conversations about race, most times racism becomes an either/or proposition, and no one wants to be a racist. But that simple dichotomy shuts down a more honest look at the unexamined prejudices that white people may have.

There is a certain truth behind the idea that white people can’t talk about race, because honestly, most of us have never experienced the kind of racism that other people have. White people are the group that has the power in the United States, and thus, they can’t experience the kind of systemic prejudice that minorities encounter daily. Sure, white people might brush up against it occasionally, but we don’t really know.

One takeaway from White Fragility is that white people need to do a much better job of realizing how their language and actions can make other people feel. That might make us uncomfortable sometimes, but it’s the very least that we can do, and a necessary first step in learning empathy. White Fragility is a good introduction to race in the United States, but don’t make it the last book you read about race.