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

by Robin DiAngelo

When multiracial people’s racial identity is ambiguous, they will face constant pressure to explain themselves and “choose a side.”

Our understanding of ourselves is necessarily based on our comparisons with others. The concept of pretty has no meaning without the concept of ugly, smart means little without the idea of not-smart or “stupid,” and deserving has no meaning without the concept of undeserving. We come to understand who we are by understanding who we are not.

As a sociologist, I am quite comfortable generalizing;