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

by Robin DiAngelo

Virtually all dissenters were subjected to a form of peer pressure in which they were told that it was only a joke and that they should lighten up.

in front-stage settings (those in which people of color were present), the white students displayed a range of racially conscious behaviors, including the following:

Acting over...

Avoiding contac...

Mimicking “black mannerisms and speech”

Being careful not to use racial terms or labels

Using code words to talk negatively about ...

Occasional violence directed at pe...

In backstage settings, where people of color were not present, white students often used humor to reinforce racial stereotypes about ...

the purpose of these backstage performances is to create white solidarity and to reinforce the ideolog...

Today we have a cultural norm that insists we hide our racism from people of color and deny it among ourselves, but not that we actually challenge

we are socially penalized for challenging racism.

In some ways, racism’s adaptations over time are more sinister than concrete rules such as Jim Crow.

the refusal to know.

how being white shapes our perspectives, experiences, and responses.

BELONGING

they did not have to worry about how they would be treated by the hospital staff because of their race.

1

The very context in which I entered the world was organized hierarchically by race. Based on this hierarchy, we could predict whether I would survive my birth based on my race.

I may feel inadequate in light of my age or weight, but I will belong racially.

I belong when I look at my teachers, counselors, and classmates. I belong when I learn about the history of my country throughout the year and when I am shown its heroes and heroines—George

I belong when I look through my textbooks and at the pictures on my classroom walls.

In virtually every situation or context deemed normal, neutral or prestigious in society, I belong racially.

The rare moments in which I don’t belong racially come as a surprise—a surprise that I can either enjoy for its novelty or easily avoid if I find it unsettling.

The mere possibility that I might have to experience not belonging racially was enough to raise racial discomfort.

FREEDOM FROM THE BURDEN OF RACE

Because I haven’t been socialized to see myself or to be seen by other whites in racial terms, I don’t carry the psychic weight of race; I don’t have to worry about how others feel about my race.

Nor do I worry that my race will be he...

George Zimmerman would not have stopped me as I walked through a gated suburban neighborhood.

And although I may encounter a token person of color during the hiring process, if I am not specifically applying to an organization founded by people of color, the majority of those I interact with will share my race.

If there are people of color in the organization who resent my hire, I can easily dismiss them and rest assured that their feelings won’t carry much weight. If resentment from employees of color does manage to come to my attention, I can find copious validation and other support from my white coworkers, who will reassure me that our colleagues of color are the ones who are biased.

While I am aware that race has been used unfairly against people of color, I haven’t been taught to see this problem as any responsibility of mine; as long as I personally haven’t done anything I am aware of, racism is a nonissue.

People of color lack these benefits because they are racialized within a culture of white supremacy—a culture in which they are seen as inferior, if they are seen at all.

Raised in a culture of white supremacy, I exude a deeply internalized assumption of racial superiority.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

I am free to move in virtually any space seen as normal, neutral, or valuable.

Besides being a very small town, Lake Coeur d’Alene is near Hayden Lake, where the Aryan Nation was building a compound.

all places I perceive as beautiful are open to me racially, and my expectation is that I will have a pleasant and relaxing experience there.

JUST PEOPLE

Another way that my life has been shaped by being white is that my race is held up ...

Think about how often white people mention the race of a person if they are not white: my bla...

To use an example from school, consider the writers we are all expected to read;

These writers are seen as representing the universal human experience, and we read them precisely because they are presumed to be able to speak to us all.