WHITE FRAGILITY by Robin Di Angelo

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.

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, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively.

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Title : White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism
Author : Robin DiAngelo
Format : ebook
Page Count : 187
Genre : Non-fiction
Publisher : Beacon Press
Release Date : June 2, 2018

Reviewer : Micky
Rating  : ★ ★ ★ ★

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Micky’s 4 star review

WHITE FRAGILITY is one of a range of reads I’m accessing to educate myself further on this journey many of us are on. Most of the non-fiction titles I have planned for myself are own voices reads and whilst this title isn’t, it is relevant and addresses so many pertinent issues. This read is challenging, provocative and makes you examine yourself, your actions previous and now and has provided many ‘oh my’ moments for me (about society and about myself).

Whilst all of the topics in this book have been educational and thought-provoking, these are the areas that have been most useful to me in my self examination and how to challenge racism:
– racial control and the protection of white advantage
– interrupting the forces of racism
– social constructs and their perpetuation of white privilege
– a system of advantage based on race
– institutional power
– reward for not interrupting racism, punishment for interruption
– white fragility in action
– feelings and behaviours

I think this should be part of a range of mandatory high school texts in the UK, influencing evolving thinkers at a crucial time; I wish I had read this earlier. As I move on to more non-fiction reads that get me thinking on my personal journey, I think this was a good starting point.

I have to add that this was a library loan and I was blown away by the excellent selection of reads in multiple formats that my local library has invested in. This may be due to the fact that ten years ago my locality experienced race riots of their own and this investment has been part of the changes in my area.