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

by Robin DiAngelo

• Suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized frame of reference (challenge to objectivity) • People of color talking directly about their own racial perspectives (challenge to white taboos on talking openly about race) • People of color choosing not to protect white people’s feelings about race (challenge to white racial expectations and the need for, or entitlement to, racial comfort) • People of color being unwilling to tell their stories or answer questions about their racial experiences (challenge to the expectation that people of color will serve us) • A fellow white disagreeing with our racial beliefs (challenge to white solidarity) • Receiving feedback that our behavior had a racist impact (challenge to white racial innocence) • Suggesting that group membership is significant (challenge to individualism) • An acknowledgment that access is unequal between racial groups (challenge to meritocracy) • Being presented with a person of color in a position of leadership (challenge to white authority) • Being presented with information about other racial groups through, for example, movies in which people of color drive the action but are not in stereotypical roles, or multicultural education (challenge to white centrality) • Suggesting that white people do not represent or speak for all of humanity (challenge to universalism)