White Fragility, Chapter One

The author of White Fragility, Robin Diangelo, emphasizes how “fragile” or how weak white society is when the topic is race. She writes that white people will get defensive in those situations. It is even more inspiring when the author herself is white, and she speaks openly about her own race.

I like how Diangelo says that “My experience is not a universal human experience”; she is acknowledging the fact that her race does not get the same treatment as other races (Diangelo 7). She is acknowledging the fact that her race, the white race, will never truly understand what it is like to not be white. It is true when Diangelo writes that people will never really know what something really is or the meaning behind something until they take time to learn it. If they do not dwell into and get to know the ins and outs of that topic, they will be ill-informed and not fully understand it. This is seen when she states, “Unless we have devoted intentional and ongoing study, our opinions are necessarily uninformed, even ignorant” (8). The fact is that white people get defensive talking about a topic that they will never truly understand, and it is the fact that they render negative emotions that prevents them from learning about racism. They are what is stopping them from understanding other races. Their ignorance. Their pride. Diangelo describes these negative emotions as “social forces that prevent us from attaining the racial knowledge we need to engage more productively” (8). The “we” she is referring to is the white population as a whole.

Something that caught my attention when reading the first chapter of this novel is how Diangelo states the mere definition of a racist. She writes that racism is “intentional acts of racial discrimination committed by immoral individuals” (9). Growing up and seeing discriminatory things in public, I have always thought that to be the definition of a racist: somebody who discriminates someone because of their skin tone, somebody who tries to offend a person of color based off typical stereotypes.

The author mentions so many times in this novel that white people act the same when it comes to racism. Since I have read this book, I have been wondering what exactly white society says to defend themselves when the topic is brought up. I have never seen or been in that situation, but the way Diangelo puts it, she says it feels scripted, as though they are “reciting lines from a shared script” (9).  What exactly triggers them? What point has to be made to get them so irritated about the topic of discussion? Why are they so resistant to learn and accept another culture? Why do they feel they need to be the superior race, not a race equal to all other races?

I strongly agree with Diangelo when she talks about how certain people are given more opportunity than others, and how that opportunity is very different depending on race. I like how she used the Bill Gates example to justify her reasoning and to emphasize the difference between the very wealthy and the average middle class of society. Bill Gates’ son’s life was technically just handed to him on a platter. He does not have to work for anything because his parents are very wealthy and provide for him. As the author puts it, he has “been handed an unearned advantage” (10). Meanwhile, there are other kids who were not born into a wealthy family, and their parents must work multiple jobs to provide for their multiple children and make ends meet. That is the unjust system in society.