White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – June 26, 2018

by Robin DiAngelo (Author), Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword)

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.

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