white fragility – Contemporary Racism

A Conversation With a Cop

Madeleine Kemo — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 16:01:48 +0000

I recently met a police officer two years older than me. I started talking to him and having friendly conversation before learning that he was a cop. Naturally, upon finding out about his career, I asked him his thoughts on the current Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. His response was “Yea, it’s a shame that it was a few bad cops. I work with hispanic people and stuff. I’m definitely not racist.” This ...

Paradox of White Fragility and Institutional Power

Dani Barrett — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 15:22:43 +0000

‘Race talk,’ as Daryl Wing Sue describes it, by itself violates many of the standards and norms that society fights to uphold. Race talk invites emotions into the space and it invites topics deemed too impolite for small talk into a conversation. As a result, race talk is consistently pushed into designated spaces. Aside from society, a key influence on the success of race talk is the awareness of power and privilege that those in ...

You Can’t Ignore Your Whiteness

NicoleM — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 18:19:47 +0000

We have to discuss white fragility. Psychologist Robin DiAngelo defines white fragility as: “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.” Whiteness is something that we continue to allow people and especially white people to avoid and it must ...

White Fragility Gives White People Another Tool to Avoid Race

Alex Helpin — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 14:45:52 +0000

It isn’t a secret that white people often actively avoid the topics of race and racism. One of the biggest tools at white people’s disposal is their privilege (which ironically they rarely recognize they have). Another powerful tool that white people use is called white fragility. White fragility is a product of the white dominated environments that whites live in. These environments give white people the assumption that they should always be “racially comfortable.” A ...

Racism Recorded

Brendan — Thu, 12 May 2016 13:06:44 +0000

I had very little concern about recording our podcast for the class. I didn’t foresee any problems talking with my classmates about race. I usually feel pretty comfortable in class, so I didn’t see why the podcast would be any different. Then, the day came for us to record. We sat down in the little room, put the microphone out, hit record, and everything changed. Suddenly, I became hyperaware of the fact that I was ...

Overcompensation Doesn’t Improve Relation(s)

lauerbach — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 01:47:20 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot lately in class about the tendency that white people have to overcompensate for the racist acts of other white people. For example, when a white person hears a story about another white person acting in a racist way or making a racist comment, they often react by making a dramatic claim in order to make it clear that in NO way do they associate with the racist belief system of another white person. In the ...