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

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.

• So You Want to Talk About Race
• Summary & Analysis of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism | A Guide to the Book by Robin DiAngelo
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race
• What Does It Mean to Be White?: Developing White Racial Literacy – Revised Edition (Counterpoints)
• The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
• White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White
• Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
• How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide