White Fragility

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

By: Dr. Robin DiAngelo, Michael Eric Dyson - foreword

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Download readers' guides at beacon.org/whitefragility.

©2018 Robin DiAngelo (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[T]houghtful, instructive, and comprehensive... This slim book is impressive in its scope and complexity; DiAngelo provides a powerful lens for examining, and practical tools for grappling with, racism today.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review )

“As a woman of color, I find hope in this book because of its potential to disrupt the patterns and relationships that have emerged out of long-standing colonial principles and beliefs. White Fragility is an essential tool toward authentic dialogue and action. May it be so!” (Shakti Butler, president of World Trust and director of Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible)

“The value in White Fragility lies in its methodical, irrefutable exposure of racism in thought and action, and its call for humility and vigilance.” (The New Yorker)

Best book for explaining racism to white people

Over the past several years have been reading a lot about racism, history around race and related materials over the past several years. It has not been one thing, it has been a huge number of things together that have really forced me to pay attention to both my own racist blindspots and the broader issues of culture, racism, and history. But there are really two distinct parts of the racial world that I keep running up against. One is the easier to understand, hurt and history of racial minorities in the US. I have read histories about slavery and reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights Era, and contemporary racial problems. There is frankly, no end to learning about a previously unknown problem in historical or contemporary treatment of racial minorities.

The second part I think is more subtle, but also quite important, the understanding of what it is that a White person should be doing in light of the significant history of injustice that continues to be perpetrated today. I have read two books in this area that I think are both helpful, White Awake and Raising White Kids. Both I very much think are worth reading, but both are slightly different than White Fragility. Robin DiAngelo has a PhD in multicultural education and specialized in Whiteness Studies. Her best known book previous to this one (which I have not read) is What Does It Mean to Be White: Developing a White Racial Identity. While she has been a full time professor and still is a part time lecturer, her main job is as a consultant to business, non-profit and governmental groups in areas of race and communications. 

I cracked open a paperback review copy (which hate reading, so I tend to never pick up) because I was interested and screen shot page five to a private facebook groups I participate in. The main quote from that page that struck me was:

"This book is intended for us, for white progressives who so often—despite our conscious intentions—make life so difficult for people of color. I believe that white progressives cause the most daily damage to people of color. I define a white progressive as any white person who thinks he or she is not racist, or is less racist, or in the “choir,” or already “gets it.” White progressives can be the most difficult for people of color because, to the degree that we think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived. None of our energy will go into what we need to be doing for the rest of our lives: engaging in ongoing self-awareness, continuing education, relationship building, and actual antiracist practice. White progressives do indeed uphold and perpetrate racism, but our defensiveness and certitude make it virtually impossible to explain to us how we do so."

Part of what made White Fragility so helpful was that it was both academic when necessary (I cannot think of a point when a term was introduced that I was not aware of exactly what the term that was being introduced meant in this context) and it was personal and refreshingly honest. DiAngelo’s chapter at the end, walked through a racially insensitive comment that she made in a work related meeting and how she processed it when she became aware of offense. And how she not only attempted to reconcile with the offended person after fully processing what it was that she had done wrong, but also asked after a full apology what she (DiAngelo) had not yet understood. It was such a good example of the type of every day event that a book like this needs to address. 

White Fragility also does not pull punches. It has a whole chapter devoted to White Women’s Tears that talks about how Whites, (women in one way and men in others) tend to refocus attention not on the victim of racial harm, but on the perpetrator who may not have intended the harm, but was still the cause of the harm. 

This is not a long book, just over 150 pages of main content. But it is full of wisdom. One thing that DiAngelo says more than a couple times, is that when she is hired by companies to teach about how racism works to largely White audiences, she is always amazed how often (as she says on page 117) “You ask me here to help you see your racism, but by god, I’d better not actually help you see your racism.” The main theme of the book is that White people work quite hard to insulate themselves from understanding racism. 

The best response to why you should read the book is her quote toward the end of the book: 

"When white people ask me what to do about racism and white fragility, the first thing I ask is, “What has enabled you to be a full, educated, professional adult and not know what to do about racism?” It is a sincere question. How have we managed not to know, when the information is all around us? When people of color have been telling us for years? If we take that question seriously and map out all the ways we have come to not know what to do, we will have our guide before us. For example, if my answer is that I was not educated about racism, I know that I will have to get educated. If my answer is that I don’t know people of color, I will need to build relationships. If it is because there are no people of color in my environment, I will need to get out of my comfort zone and change my environment; addressing racism is not without effort."

At some level, this is a book largely focused on helping White people that are already willing to pick up a book about racism understand their own racism. But there are several examples through the book where DiAngelo notes that people hired her or individuals paid to come to a meeting to understand racism, but were unwilling to listen. Just because we as White people identify that racism is a problem does not mean that we as White people are willing to do the work to gain enough understanding about how racism works to do something about it. 

I left my paperback at home and finished the last half of the book as an audiobook. The narrator grew on me. Her voice felt too mechanical at times. But at other times, I thought that was exactly the right choice for the content. I didn't love the narrator, but she was clear and even if a bit mechanical at times, that isn't necessarily the worst choice for content like this.

Great content, robotic reader voice

I recommend doing this one as a regular book—the narrator sounds like a robot, which makes it hard to hear. Though I can imagine the concept of white fragility might be so triggering for some people that they chose a robotic person to narrate. It’s a loss, because it makes it much harder to engage and retain the content.

Fuel for the journey!

As an older white male who has intentionally tried to address race with health, this book exposed to me many areas of failure and potential for further growth... so well worth the time and funds invested!

Authored with great passion

As a written book, Robin DiAngelo's passion comes through much more profoundly and effectively than the audiobook's narration communicates. If the author had read her own work for this audiobook, the overall delivery would have been a solid, five-star work of compelling excellence.

WHITE PEOPLE: WE NEED THIS BOOK

Thank you to the negative reviewers. You actually helped me realize how much this book works. I’ve been reading a lot about other people’s experiences but this is the first book that has helped me to take a deeper look at my own. If you’re hesitating, please stop & start listening. The information contained in a short 6 hours could change your life & possibly others too.

Informative and insightful

The author's perspectives were informative and insightful. Would be useful for most any person interested in understanding the complicated topic of racism in America.

Great book

A must read for people of color and White people across all walks of life.

Eye Opening. Life Changing.

This book is the ideal start to your journey, as a white person, on how to challenge racism... both within yourself and in practice in life.

Essential Reading

This book will broaden your perspective of racism. As a white man, I have African American friends, colleagues, patients. However, I understand and acknowledge that I was raised within an underlying and all-enveloping racist society and some fundamentals of this racism are in me and all around me. The first step is to just acknowledge this so that you can start deconstructing the racist paradigms that you have been unknowingly raised with. It is so bold, so well written, and so well researched it will take two to three listens to fully appreciate and integrate.

I learned so much

I like to think of myself as open-minded and I believe I've had more varied experiences than the average person. An African-American coworker recommended this book to me and I believe it should be required reading for everyone in the workplace. The section about White Women's tears was especially poignant for me considering I had just sat through a team meeting where 2 different White female coworkers cried when BLM was mentioned. Read this and be ready to recognize yourself in some of the areas and accept that we can all do better.