Introduction–Chapter 2 Summary
Introduction: We Can’t Get There from Here
DiAngelo introduces the book by describing one of her experiences as a “diversity trainer” and the responses white people have to being given workshops on race. She explains that these reactions, which are often characterized by denial and defensiveness,
work to reinstate white equilibrium as they repel the challenge, return our racial comfort, and maintain our dominance within the racial hierarchy.
DiAngelo conceptualizes this as “white fragility” and describes how the resistance to discussing race is often present in white progressives, who are affronted at the idea that they may hold racial prejudices. The author describes how the idea of racism being committed only by “bad people who intended to hurt others because of race” informs these reactions, because they prevent us from understanding racial prejudice as an institutionalized and complex system.
DiAngelo encourages white people to view being called out on problematic racial ideas as an opportunity for growth and learning, rather than an attack on their sense of identity and progressiveness. To this end, she argues that
white progressives cause the most daily damage to people of color . . . because, to the degree that we think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived.
Starting from the premise that racism exists and that the book is not attempting to provide a solution to it, DiAngelo introduces White Fragility as an attempt to make visible how “white fragility” upholds a culture of racism that shapes every aspect of our lives.
Chapter 1: The Challenges of Talking to White People About Racism
This chapter describes the influences and practices that inform white people’s discomfort and defensiveness when faced with talking about racism, and it argues for the importance of coming to an understanding of what it means to be white. The main reasons for this, DiAngelo explains, include white people’s inability to see themselves in racial terms, a lack of understanding of socialization, uninformed opinions, and an overly simplistic definition of racism.
In exploring these areas, she describes how the prevailing Western ideologies of individualism (that we are unique) and objectivity (that it is possible to be completely free of bias) prevent white people from recognizing the influence of their collectively socialized experience, which encourages them to view others, but not themselves, in terms of race. Through society’s emphasis on individualism, “many of us are unskilled at reflecting on our group memberships”; instead, people are encouraged to believe that their opinions and situation in life are a result of individual character.
DiAngelo explains, however, that people can never be fully unique or objective and that they develop their cultural lens through “collective socialization.” This entails learning “meanings” through mainstream culture, such as TV, music, education, and the media. These shape group identities and inform how people see others, in turn influencing how they understand themselves in relation to the world at large.
Reflecting on how this collective socialization informs personal racial views creates discomfort for white people, because it challenges ideologies of both individualism and objectivity. It suggests that each person’s understanding of race is a product of cultural bias and that they have inherited these biases. DiAngelo argues that exploring patterns of group behavior and their individual impact is key to understanding modern forms of racism, which often do not fit into the prevailing understanding of racism as perpetuated only by “bad” or “immoral” people. She explains that instead of rejecting the possibility of personal racial bias, it is more productive to consider how experiences such as poverty or gender...
(This entire section contains 1517 words.)
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are shaped by whiteness:
None of these situations exempts you from the forces of racism, because no aspect of society is outside of these forces.
DiAngelo argues that the definition of racism as “intentional acts of racial discrimination committed by immoral individuals” causes white people to feel as though their moral character is being attacked when they are asked to discuss race, in addition to implying that anti-racist learning is not deliberate, lifelong work. She explains,
We must be willing to consider that unless we have devoted intentional and ongoing study, our opinions are necessarily uninformed, even ignorant.
In fact, “white fragility” response prevents a productive discussion of race and instead works to uphold the existing racial hierarchy. DiAngelo emphasizes understanding how the cultural messages we receive shape one’s life and racial views, “rather than us[ing] some aspect of your story to excuse yourself from their impact.” She ends the chapter by emphasizing the importance of feeling discomfort and using it in a productive way: to examine racial bias, where it comes from, and how it manifests in individual behavior. She argues,
To interrupt white fragility, we need to build our capacity to sustain the discomfort of not knowing, the discomfort of being racially unmoored, the discomfort of racial humility.
Chapter 2: Racism and White Supremacy
Chapter 2 focuses on dismantling the biological and genetic “justifications” for white supremacy by tracing the history of these arguments. DiAngelo argues that race is socially constructed, and that “the external characteristics that we use to define race are unreliable indicators of genetic variation between any two people.” She traces the argument that white people are biologically superior to Black people—the scientific justification for white supremacy—to Thomas Jefferson, who asked scientists to prove that Black people were inherently inferior to whites. In doing so, he could justify enslavement and colonization, and therefore protect his (and many other white people’s) economic interests. This “race science” established cultural norms, led to the legitimization of racism through laws and policies, and became widely accepted as “fact.”
DiAngelo argues that these “scientific” justifications for racial difference worked to uphold a social and economic system that relied on the discrimination and enslavement of Black people. Drawing on the writings of Ta-Nehisi Coates, she explains,
The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment. . . . Exploitation came first, and then the ideology of unequal races to justify this exploitation followed.
Whiteness remained an important concept after the abolition of slavery and was used to discriminate against Black Americans in new ways, such as preventing nonwhite people from gaining citizenship. The classification of whiteness was legally ruled to be based on “the common understanding of the white man.” This socially constructed understanding of race is how European immigrants were able to assimilate into the American population: their whiteness allowed them to do so. DiAngelo acknowledges the complexity of the possible misalignment of internal and external identities, as those who “pass” as white will be treated as such, even if they are not. She argues that economic and racial structures are inseparable, as race often manifests along class lines, and notes that working-class people of color are at a distinct disadvantage for social mobility in comparison to their white counterparts.
DiAngelo goes on to distinguish the terms racism, prejudice, and discrimination. She explains that prejudice involves thoughts and feelings that are based on stereotypes and generalizations, rather than experience, and are subsequently projected onto everyone from that group. DiAngelo argues that the widespread belief that prejudice is morally bad contributes to feelings of white fragility and defensiveness; prejudice, however, is unavoidable, and we protect it by misunderstanding it. Discrimination is when prejudice affects action, leading people to treat others differently due to their belonging to a certain group.
She argues that although everyone has prejudice, structures of oppression go far beyond the individual. Racism occurs when “a racial group’s prejudice is backed by legal authority and institutional control.” As racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of our society, so-called racism against whites can only ever be temporary and contextual, rendering the phrase “reverse racism” nonsensical. Even when white people are against racism and actively anti-racist, they benefit from a system that prioritizes their well-being and success over that of others. Racial identity grants access to, or denies, resources such as self-worth, psychological freedom from race, freedom of movement, and a sense of entitlement to these resources.
Finally, DiAngelo examines the “white racial frame” and argues that shying away from the term “white supremacy” ultimately protects it, because people believe themselves to be far removed from it even though it is an inherent aspect of socialization. The white racial frame is the deeply internalized associations that place whiteness as positive and anything “else” as negative. This is further emphasized in the US through geography, which is heavily racially encoded. For example, the racial makeup of an area impacts house prices. Neighborhoods are often segregated between whites and people of color; white neighborhoods are seen as “clean” and “sheltered,” whereas nonwhite ones are deemed “dangerous” and “violent.” DiAngelo argues that the white racial frame shapes how we see the world and encourages us to see race as a taboo. By using coded language and quieting children when they point out someone’s skin color, white people reinforce the ideas that people of color are inherently “other” and race is something to be “ashamed” of.
