White fragility, and white privilegeThis week we take a look at white fragility and white privilege. White people in North America, especially in the United States live in an environment that protects them from race-based stress. It creates comfort for them and simultaneously lowers their ability to deal with race-based stress, which leads to what Robin DiAngelo describes as White Fragility. "White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium" - Robin DiAngelo DiAngelo describes that white people living in these types of societies only deal with multicultural education because it is required by a job, or by a higher education institution. Often these courses use coded language that don't even address racism, changing "white", "over advantaged" and "privileged" to "urban", "inner city" and "disadvantaged". This type of "education" only works to reproduce conformable illusions that race and its problems are a "they/them" game, and not something white people have to deal with. What's worse, upon taking these courses many, (this goes to say, not all), white people stop interacting with discussion that address racism because they "already had a class on this" or "already know this". "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." -Frankenberg (1993) White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. Triggers to this state include:
In this state, white people are at a loss for how to respond in constructive ways, and therefore respond defensively. A Few Factors That Instill White Fragility Segregation
DiAngelo discusses more factors in her article White Fragility, linked below for your consumption. White RageCarol Anderson wrote for The Washington Post that what we saw during the Ferguson Missouri protests of 2014 was not and outbreak of Black rage, but instead that of white rage. Protests and looting are sure to capture the attention of news outlets nationwide, but the attention is not being directed at the real rage creating the problems: white rage. This happens in meetings when officials slash government payrolls, make it harder for BIPOC to vote, and more. This white rage is not on nationwide news because white rage "doesn't have to take to the streets and face rubber bullets to be heard". White rage has access to the police, the courts, legislatures, governors, and people of power that move for them. White rage is not new to the United States. It was present during the Civil War, and again during Brown v. Board of Education, most recently we saw it during Obamas election into the white house, and after the protests this summer for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. "For every action of African American advancement, there's a reaction, a backlash" - Carol Anderson Many people (yes, white people), seem to think that progress brings peace and a perfect world with rainbows and everyone holding hands (ew, in the middle of a pandemic?). Well newsflash people, progress has always been faced with white rage. When slavery was made illegal, the South worked to reinscribe white supremacy and restore the hierarchy, with much resentment hanging in the air.
When Brown v. Board of Education happened, Black students trying to go to school were literally faced with bricks, signs, white people screaming and spitting at them, grabbing them and blocking their entry into schools. This country needs a retelling of their history in order to understand why the protests and the looting happening today are how progress has been made historically. I would like to end today's blog post by saying that I as a white Latina woman am glad that I have been in an environment where I am aware of racial tensions and the reality of people not only in this country, where things certainly seem to be horrible, but in the world. I appreciate those taking the time to read and learn with me, as we educate ourselves to create progress. This brings us to the end of this weeks CRT lesson. Please let us know below or on Instagram what you thought about week 5! DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3). http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/download/249/116 Anderson, C. (August 29, 2014)“Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress.” Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ferguson-wasnt-black-rage-against-copsit-was-white-rage-against-progress/2014/08/29/3055e3f4-2d75-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html?utm_term=.b8ce65b3ef53 - Paula Alejandra Norato
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