Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A helpful guide for unpacking.
eBook, 192 pages
Published June 26, 2018 by Beacon Press.
- ISBN:
- 978-0-8070-4742-2
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4 stars
(42 reviews)
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.
J.A. Pipes reviewed White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Review of 'White Fragility' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Informative and interesting call to self-reflection and humility in order to interrupt centuries-old patterns of racism in America. Approach this book with an open mind with the intent to change society and make the world a better place and you will come away with insight into how you can be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This was a hard read. Many of the examples within were known to me (or weren't surprising). But as the author implies, it's hard to look into this mirror and see your flaws, and how those flaws feed into the system that negatively affects others.
Keep being aware. Keep learning. Keep trying to grow.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
1 star
For a book whose entire theme is the response of white people to being called racist, it does an amazing job of ignoring entirely the consequences that even a mere accusation of racism, much less admitting (with gratitude?!) to racism will have on a white person.
People in general are unwilling to admit they are wrong or that they are bad; this is the source of near-endless bullet lists DiAngelo plagues us with in an apparent attempt to fill the page count. White people in truth are wary of admitting to even a momentary, fleeting racist thought in large part because they are terrified of what happens to them if they acknowledge it, consequences which are very real and which woke liberal thinkers are more and more trying to make only capable of being applied to white people (even though whiteness and therefore white people somehow don't exist).
The idea …
For a book whose entire theme is the response of white people to being called racist, it does an amazing job of ignoring entirely the consequences that even a mere accusation of racism, much less admitting (with gratitude?!) to racism will have on a white person.
People in general are unwilling to admit they are wrong or that they are bad; this is the source of near-endless bullet lists DiAngelo plagues us with in an apparent attempt to fill the page count. White people in truth are wary of admitting to even a momentary, fleeting racist thought in large part because they are terrified of what happens to them if they acknowledge it, consequences which are very real and which woke liberal thinkers are more and more trying to make only capable of being applied to white people (even though whiteness and therefore white people somehow don't exist).
The idea that white tears are unwelcome because they are somehow a calculated move to bring attention back to white women is incredibly dehumanizing; even calling them white tears is dehumanizing in the same way that saying there's "black sweat" on a shirt or calling what a surgery patient gets on your scrubs "black blood" is dehumanizing.
Whiteness must be real in some sense. We can't go on pretending it is "entirely made up and you're really Italian/Irish" while also somehow magically knowing who is and isn't white. Race is tied at least in part to biology, and that is the fundamental basis for all of this identifying who is and isn't problematic and who can speak for whom. The existence of a good/bad binary is the necessary logical result of insisting -- as she thinks she is creatively doing -- that a spectrum exists instead, along which you can choose to be more or less racist or white; what might astound her is that spectra have two ends, and by necessity those poles, since she's cautioning us to head only in one direction on it and not the other, is good and bad. Surprise!
And to occupy a bubble protected from any consequences of admitting "yes I am incurably racist" would have, while telling us that racial prejudice inevitably and permanently clouds our vision as white people, while also telling us she has managed to overcome that as a white woman herself and that she alone has the objective view we should all adopt, is the unimpressive feat of projection and bulverism that DiAngelo manages to achieve here.
1 star only because 0 is not an option.
None
5 stars
Holy crap this was a good book. I hope I take the lessons to heart, and intend to continue reading about this topic as much as possible.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This is a shorter, easy but uncomfortable read. I continue to come back to read this book again as I try to explain how I succeeded, being white and male helped me along, and to force me to try again and again to be more than that, to be an ally to all around me. It pulls back the curtain on the world we all live in, and for me as a white male, always makes me uncomfortable having my privilege laid out in front of me. Always a good reminder to try again, and try harder to make the world better for more than just the people that won the race and gender lotteries.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It’s always a good time to re-examine your personal biases. One could argue that right now is an important time to take a hard look at the racism that has been socialised into us all & how white people can start to do better.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
An excellent, challenging book for white individuals to begin to question their missteps and racism, whether unintentional or deliberate. I felt conviction, but also encouragement and instruction to correct my ways. Robin's experience makes her uniquely qualified to talk to white people about how to correct their ways, and she does it firmly but gracefully. Highly recommended, especially for any white person.
Review of "White fragility : why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I’m torn on this one. She mentions early on that it’s meant to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive, in terms of actually ending or putting a dent in the racist status quo.
But then she offers again and again the prescription of raising awareness and/or whites accepting criticism from POC.
Her description of the phenomena of fragility is unbelievably clear-eyed; any POC will immediately recognize everything she points out. I want to give 5 stars based on this alone, but it seems like a misguided book in terms of actually addressing the problem considering the material conditions of racialized, autocratic institutions that control life in the US today.
Is simply trying to get whites to understand the substance of racism going to get them to renege their material benefits in the zero-sum game of power in these inegalitarian institutions? I feel like they’ll just revert back to overt racism. Power …
I’m torn on this one. She mentions early on that it’s meant to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive, in terms of actually ending or putting a dent in the racist status quo.
But then she offers again and again the prescription of raising awareness and/or whites accepting criticism from POC.
Her description of the phenomena of fragility is unbelievably clear-eyed; any POC will immediately recognize everything she points out. I want to give 5 stars based on this alone, but it seems like a misguided book in terms of actually addressing the problem considering the material conditions of racialized, autocratic institutions that control life in the US today.
Is simply trying to get whites to understand the substance of racism going to get them to renege their material benefits in the zero-sum game of power in these inegalitarian institutions? I feel like they’ll just revert back to overt racism. Power needs to be taken from the racist elites by force with mass, cooperative action.
