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)

Eye opening MUST READ!

This book is so self reflective, and helped me to understand racism on a bigger platform as institutional rather than just individual. I’ve already identified racist ideas within myself, and begun to practice helping call it out when I see it in others. Highly recommend for all Americans!

If You Are Offended You Still Don't Understand

Narrator a bit dull but story gives those who want change a place to start

Robin DiAngelo is amazing!

Robin DiAngelo is a tell-it-like-it-is, very real person talking very straight forward about a real issue in our society today. I recommend this book to everyone. However ... the narrator did not do a good job with the book at all, and added extra words (I have a copy of the book) that influence the impact of certain sentences. She also sounds NOTHING like DiAngelo. Buy this! But also do yourself a favor and look up videos of DiAngelo speaking online to authentically hear how it is meant to be spoken.

Racism is real

Highly recommended for all people!!! But, if you’re white, get ready to cringe and even turn off this book. Dr. DiAngelo describes and explains how fragile white people can be when it comes to talking about race relations, especially those related to slavery, Jim Crow, and police brutality. As Americans, we must confront and recognize the atrocities of our past and present, so that every future American can prosper, or at least, survive. Black enslavement and genocide is real, as real as the Holocaust of the 1930s Germany, as real as the Native American genocide of the Americas... as real as the Turkish and American denial of Armenian genocide. Let us move
forward.

Very challenging and important

White Fragility is an important analysis of the racial divide in America today. I’m so glad I read it and hope to be able to take to heart it’s lessons. This was so helpful to break down the impasse that develops when reconciliation attempts are made.

Informative read

Very informative read for both side of the discussion. I felt it set the table for future conversations on race.

Thanks, I Needed That

Filled with insight about our defensiveness, I met myself and my failings on nearly every page. Pogo’s quote, “ We have met the enemy, and it is us,” rings true about this “progressive.”
Thanks, Ms. DiAngelo, I can use what I’ve learned here today, and for the rest of my life.

VERY INSIGHTFUL AND ILLUMINATING

As a “non-white” male living in the U.S. , this was very revealing and powerful piece of work. Given our current climate it could not be more timely. Thank you Robin for pulling the curtain back some. There is much work ahead of us.

A Must Read/Listen

If you want to understand the cornerstone of our current divisions in the Western world, you cannot ignore of racism. This book is a must for every person who thinks they have arrived and thinks if they are free of racism or at least less racist than others. DiAngelo speaks from a place of confession and honesty.

Tackles an universal aspect of racism

A clear, objective and useful book. So many people here in Brazil could read something like this...