Review: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism
Heather Taylor, Associate Professor of English, Bethany College
Title of Book: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism
Written By: Robin DiAngelo
Publisher: Beacon Press
Intended Audience: Students, Faculty, Staff, Administrators
OVERVIEW
DiAngelo (author of White Fragility), a sociologist and educator, who spent a number of years running diversity trainings and workshops all over the country noticed that, no matter where she was working or who was in the audience, white people are bad at talking about race and racism.
As noted by Katy Waldman in her 2018 review of White Fragility for The New Yorker, “In 2011, DiAngelo coined the term “white fragility” to describe the disbelieving defensiveness that white people exhibit when their ideas about race and racism are challenged—and particularly when they feel implicated in white supremacy.”
KEY ELEMENTS
- DiAngelo takes a look at the history of identity politics and racism in America and offers insights on how and why these structures were built as well as how we can begin to talk about them in a healthy way.
- Racial stigma
- Individualism/Meritocracy
- What it means to hold power
REVIEW
DiAngelo’s book begins by defining identity politics as, “the focus on the barriers specific groups face in their struggle for equality” (DiAngelo xiii). It leads us to look at who gets to sit at the table of power and who does not. This can, of course, lead to exclusion, homogeneity, and bias. This can also lead to social structures built on the foundations of exclusion, homogeneity, and bias. Seems pretty 
straight forward, right? Well, it is, but there are some hard truths one has to face when reading this book. One, mentioned before the book proper begins, is that, as Americans, we pride ourselves on being the land of the brave and home of the free, but we don’t talk about the fact that this land was taken through an “attempted genocide of Indigenous people and the theft of their land. American wealth was built on the labor of kidnapped and enslaved Africans and their descendants” (xiii).
Though I know what it is to walk through life as a woman, I do so as a white woman. I am able to see myself reflected in TV shows, movies, books, music, and politics. I may not always be comfortable with the representations or feel that I fit in because of how old I am, how much I weigh, etc., but I will fit in racially. When I think back on all of the teachers I’ve had from elementary school through graduate school, I can only think of one or two who didn’t look like me. I found this book helpful because it made me think about things that I, and many others, have taken for granted. It also made me really think about how I teach my classes. Am I gathering literature from a diverse pool of authors? Am I thinking through the issues in a way that allows for all voices in the classroom?
This is one of those books that you will want to buy because, if you’re like me, you’re going to want to highlight and underline and fill the margins with notes. It’s going to change the way you think about classroom discussions and one-on-one discussions with your students and colleagues.
CONNECTED RESOURCES TO EXPLORE
- Who’s Afraid of the “Big Bad” Identity Politics?
- Beacon Press Teacher’s Guide
- White Fragility Discussion Guide
