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A review by bookph1le
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
5.0
Short as this book is, it's not an easy read--and it shouldn't be one. One thing I wish Americans--and white Americans in particular--would learn to internalize is that discomfort can be good, because discomfort can be the impetus for growth. I find it especially ironic that the same people who sneer about "special snowflakes" are the ones that must be coddled like toddlers because they can't handle discomfort. I'm not saying I *like* being uncomfortable, and I certainly wouldn't believe anyone who said they do, but what I've learned is to take that discomfort for the signal it is and try my best to look for the source rather than instantly soothing the discomfort away. I'm white, and I will unequivocally say that white people need to feel more discomfort because white people have a lot of work to do.
As part of my attempt to educate myself, this is just one of the books about race I've been reading over the last few years. I've gained invaluable insight and knowledge from reading books like [b:White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|26073085|White Rage The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456093492l/26073085._SY75_.jpg|46010383] and [b:How to Be an Antiracist|40265832|How to Be an Antiracist|Ibram X. Kendi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560163756l/40265832._SY75_.jpg|62549152], because these books deconstruct the myth of America and expose the racism embedded in every inch of this country's political and social structures, and knowing that those biases are baked into the fabric of our country makes it a lot harder to deny racism's existence. [b:The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy|35020353|The Poisoned City Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy|Anna Clark|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499187148l/35020353._SY75_.jpg|56304981], although it's about the Flint water crisis, was also illuminating because it laid bare the conditions that led to racial segregation in that city. Hopefully by now most Americans are aware of the effects of that segregation, and of the disproportionate toll of Flint's leaded water on people of color.
What I liked about White Fragility in particular is that it makes an excellent companion book to the three I mentioned above (and many I haven't mentioned). I think it's crucial that white people educate themselves about structural racism--and note that I say educate themselves. A couple of the books I mentioned were written by people of color, but white people need to learn it is not the job of people of color to instruct us on the ills of racism, since even though younger generations may not be the ones who designed the system, we certainly benefit from it and help prop it up in ways both invisible and visible. White Fragility helps break down why it is our job to examine our own racist impulses and to take ourselves to task and charge ourselves with learning how to recognize and overcome them. I especially appreciated that DiAngelo makes it clear that this is a lifelong process and one we will need to do our best to be cognizant of at all times, since learning to do better takes a lot of work because it involves overcoming our programming.
This book has a lot of practical suggestions and some easy to understand, no-nonsense checklists. It insists that white people not be allowed to cut corners, that we must own up to our impulses and learn to check them, that the onus is on us and not on people of color to correct them. It doesn't allow for the excuses and hand-waving that occur far too often in our culture, excuses and hand-waving that allow white people to ignore racism so that we can continue to benefit from it. Like How to Be and Antiracist, this book insists that we must be active participants in dismantling racism.
This is a great primer, but I also highly recommend that white people further their understanding of the racist structures upholding our society by reading other books to supplement their knowledge, such as the others I mentioned in this review.
As part of my attempt to educate myself, this is just one of the books about race I've been reading over the last few years. I've gained invaluable insight and knowledge from reading books like [b:White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|26073085|White Rage The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide|Carol Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456093492l/26073085._SY75_.jpg|46010383] and [b:How to Be an Antiracist|40265832|How to Be an Antiracist|Ibram X. Kendi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560163756l/40265832._SY75_.jpg|62549152], because these books deconstruct the myth of America and expose the racism embedded in every inch of this country's political and social structures, and knowing that those biases are baked into the fabric of our country makes it a lot harder to deny racism's existence. [b:The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy|35020353|The Poisoned City Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy|Anna Clark|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499187148l/35020353._SY75_.jpg|56304981], although it's about the Flint water crisis, was also illuminating because it laid bare the conditions that led to racial segregation in that city. Hopefully by now most Americans are aware of the effects of that segregation, and of the disproportionate toll of Flint's leaded water on people of color.
What I liked about White Fragility in particular is that it makes an excellent companion book to the three I mentioned above (and many I haven't mentioned). I think it's crucial that white people educate themselves about structural racism--and note that I say educate themselves. A couple of the books I mentioned were written by people of color, but white people need to learn it is not the job of people of color to instruct us on the ills of racism, since even though younger generations may not be the ones who designed the system, we certainly benefit from it and help prop it up in ways both invisible and visible. White Fragility helps break down why it is our job to examine our own racist impulses and to take ourselves to task and charge ourselves with learning how to recognize and overcome them. I especially appreciated that DiAngelo makes it clear that this is a lifelong process and one we will need to do our best to be cognizant of at all times, since learning to do better takes a lot of work because it involves overcoming our programming.
This book has a lot of practical suggestions and some easy to understand, no-nonsense checklists. It insists that white people not be allowed to cut corners, that we must own up to our impulses and learn to check them, that the onus is on us and not on people of color to correct them. It doesn't allow for the excuses and hand-waving that occur far too often in our culture, excuses and hand-waving that allow white people to ignore racism so that we can continue to benefit from it. Like How to Be and Antiracist, this book insists that we must be active participants in dismantling racism.
This is a great primer, but I also highly recommend that white people further their understanding of the racist structures upholding our society by reading other books to supplement their knowledge, such as the others I mentioned in this review.