Module 5: Responses to Race
Part 5: White Fragility
When confronted with their racist acts or statements, White people may experience discomfort or become defensive. Robin DiAngelo describes how these reactions represent white fragility that impedes antiracist work. This part will explore white fragility.
Suggested Goals:
1. To understand white fragility and its impacts on racial progress.
2. To apply the concept of white fragility to educational systems as a tool for evaluating classroom practices and necessary changes.
3. To consider next steps to overcome white fragility and move toward antiracism.
Suggested Goals:
1. To understand white fragility and its impacts on racial progress.
2. To apply the concept of white fragility to educational systems as a tool for evaluating classroom practices and necessary changes.
3. To consider next steps to overcome white fragility and move toward antiracism.
&1: White Fragility
White fragility addresses the discomfort and defensiveness that arises when White people are confronted with their acts of or complicity in racism. Fragile responses often include a White person’s insistence of being “not racist” or “a good person.” This may stem from a limited definition of racism, but, as overviewed in previous modules, racism is systemic and individual views and actions connect to socialization and identity development.
White fragility can impede antiracist work as it shifts the focus from the oppression of People of Color to the discomfort or defensiveness of White people. This shifting of attention stymies antiracist work as time and attention are focused on either reassuring or educating those experiencing fragility.
Robin DiAngelo has explained the concept of white fragility and its impacts.
Watch:
How “White Fragility” Reinforces Racism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvIO2GU8yTU
White fragility can impede antiracist work as it shifts the focus from the oppression of People of Color to the discomfort or defensiveness of White people. This shifting of attention stymies antiracist work as time and attention are focused on either reassuring or educating those experiencing fragility.
Robin DiAngelo has explained the concept of white fragility and its impacts.
Watch:
How “White Fragility” Reinforces Racism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvIO2GU8yTU
Read:
White Fragility and the Rules of Engagement
https://www.uua.org/files/pdf/d/diangelo-white_fragility_and_the_rules_of_engagement.pdf
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Read/Listen:
“Interrupt the Systems”: Robin DiAngelo on “White Fragility” and Anti-Racism
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/879136931/interrupt-the-systems-robin-diangelo-on-white-fragility-and-anti-racism
Read/Watch:
What’s My Complicity? Talking White Fragility With Robin DiAngelo
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/summer-2019/whats-my-complicity-talking-white-fragility-with-robin-diangel
“Interrupt the Systems”: Robin DiAngelo on “White Fragility” and Anti-Racism
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/879136931/interrupt-the-systems-robin-diangelo-on-white-fragility-and-anti-racism
Read/Watch:
What’s My Complicity? Talking White Fragility With Robin DiAngelo
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/summer-2019/whats-my-complicity-talking-white-fragility-with-robin-diangel
Watch/Explore:
Research Guides: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (The video is below, but the research guides provides other resources to explore.)
https://guides.osu.edu/whitefragility
Dr. DiAngelo expressed the idea of white fragility and how it impacts the development of White people. However, there is some concern about how her work impacts Black people as expressed in the resource linked below.
Read:
How “White Fragility” Talks Down to Black People
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/dehumanizing-condescension-white-fragility/614146/
Reflect:
- When have you experienced reactions that could be characterized as white fragility?
- How does white fragility impact educational systems? How could educator responses to racism be classified as white fragility?
- How did or could you respond to white fragility?
- What are two steps you could take to be sure white fragility does not continue to impact your practice?
To learn more, you can read White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (citation below).
DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for White people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.
White people that have moved beyond fragility may still be resistant to engaging in discussions on racism. This reluctance can be explained by what Dr. Joseph Flynn terms “white fatigue.” White fatigue is explored in the next part.
