whiteness – i'll apple your turnover

minoritiesinpublishing:

In a new book, “White Fragility,”
DiAngelo attempts to explicate the phenomenon of white people’s
paper-thin skin. She argues that our largely segregated society is set
up to insulate whites from racial discomfort, so that they fall to
pieces at the first application of stress—such as, for instance, when
someone suggests that “flesh-toned” may not be an appropriate name for a
beige crayon. Unused to unpleasantness (more than unused to it—racial
hierarchies tell white people that they are entitled to peace and
deference), they lack the “racial stamina” to engage in difficult
conversations. This leads them to respond to “racial triggers”—the show
“Dear White People,” the term “wypipo”—with “emotions such as anger,
fear and guilt,” DiAngelo writes, “and behaviors such as argumentation,
silence, and withdrawal from the stress-inducing situation.”

A Sociologist Examines the “White Fragility” That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism

plaidadder:

rememberwhenyoutried:

“All white people benefit from racism,” is a statement of fact, not an accusation. It’s similar to, “All rich people have money.” As white people, we can use what we have to help people, we can just sit on it and reap the benefits (passively hurting people who don’t have what we have) or we can actively use it to hurt people, but that’s up to us.

I’ve thought about whether one could explain white privilege to white people (such as myself) by using the Catholic concept of original sin. As with original sin, you didn’t personally ask for white privilege; you were born into it willy-nilly; there is no way to rid yourself of it (Catholic doctrine holds that original sin can only be washed away via God’s grace, usually bestowed via baptism). Though you may have done nothing to attain it, you still have it, and it’s still your responsibility to fight it. If that doesn’t seem ‘fair,’ well, it’s nowhere near as unfair as racism is.

But then I think that although this analogy is striking, it reinforces the very problem that the OP is addressing, which is that to point out the existence of white privilege (or systemic racism, which is what sustains white privilege) to a white person often results in their becoming so personally offended by your supposed “accusation” of their own moral impurity that they reject the entire concept and therefore the reality of systemic racism.

And then I wonder if part of what creates white fragility in the first place is that white people are, consciously or unconsciously, conceiving of racism in theological rather than social terms, as if it is a sin that one must expiate as opposed to a problem that one must help to solve. Because this seems to me to be one of the barriers to addressing systemic racism (as opposed to interpersonal racism): getting white people such as myself to understand that the problem with racism is not that it stains our personal souls, but that it harms other people–and that the goal of fighting racism is not moral purity for us, but less harm done to people of color.