White Fragility
This was a book group to discuss Robin DiAngelo's book "White Fragility" which was published in 2018 by
Beacon Press a wholly owned division of the
Unitarian Universalist Association
The author's premise is best summed up by this quote from the book: "a positive white identity is an impossible goal. White identity is inherently racist; white people do not exist outside the system of white supremacy" (p. 149)
The book expounds upon a paper written by the author in 2011
which sums up whiteness as: "Whiteness is a location of structural advantage, of race privilege. Second, it is a ‘standpoint,’ a place from which White people look at ourselves, at others, and at society.
Third, ‘Whiteness’ refers to a set of cultural practices that are usually unmarked and unnamed."
She then goes on to state: "Frankenberg and other theorists (Fine, 1997; Dyer, 1997; Sleeter, 1993; Van Dijk, 1993) use Whiteness to signify a set of locations that are historically, socially,
politically and culturally produced, and which are intrinsically linked to dynamic relations of domination. Whiteness is thus conceptualized as a constellation of processes and practices
rather than as a discrete entity (i.e. skin color alone). Whiteness is dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights,
values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people. Whiteness Studies
begin with the premise that racism and white privilege exist in both traditional and modern forms, and rather than work to prove its existence, work to reveal it. This article
will explore the dynamics of one aspect of Whiteness and its effects, White Fragility. "
Many people have questioned books like this that claim the US is a "systemically racist" nation where only white people can succeed. What about non-whote people that are highly successful, particularly those of Asian descent?
This is her response:
"The closer you are to whiteness—the term often used is white-adjacent—you’re still
going to experience racism, but there are going to be some benefits due to your perceived proximity to whiteness...I think that white-adjacent groups have to ask themselves a really hard question,
which is “Who have I aligned with? Have I aligned with whiteness...?” --Robin DiAngelo
Kenny Xu, author of "An Inconvenient Minority, The Attack on Asian American Excellence and the Fight for Meritocracy" addresses "white adjacency" in this
article.
"Progressives, I argue, "call out Asians for either trying to be like white people or benefiting from systems that prop up white dominance." Under the logic of CRT,
it also means Asians are complicit in upholding white supremacy. To be "white-adjacent" is to benefit from the systems of oppression upon which America was allegedly founded."
This was the agenda for the book group. Participants were asked to do the Pre-work for this group, which figures heavily into the first session.
