NICE RACISM

The author of White Fragility suggests that with friends like White progressives, people of color need no other enemies.

In opening, DiAngelo recalls a Black friend who, for various reasons, was finding it uncomfortable to address White audiences. Observing her and the group before her, “I saw a metaphor for colonialism.” A Black person was doing the hard work of interpreting racism, and a White audience was receiving her insights without breaking a sweat themselves. DiAngelo makes very good points simply in noting how difficult White people—especially those who consider themselves progressive and who bill themselves as colorblind and open to friendships across the racial divide—find it to actually hear about the issue of racism. That issue is central, because “our identities are not separate from the white supremacist society in which we are raised.” In that regard, merely maintaining that he or she is “nice,” well-intended, and open-minded does little good. DiAngelo writes that her aim is not to explain Black people to White audiences but instead to “teach white people about ourselves in relation to Black and other people of color.” One way to engage is to become an active learner with an eye not simply to nonracism but to anti-racism, to recognize that there really is such a thing as White privilege, and to build “authentic cross-racial relationships.” The author provides enough proscriptions that a reader might feel as if a minefield of potential faux pas lies between good intention and meaningful action. But that’s just the point, and she’s certainly willing to own the assumptions and mores of her progressive kin. “As white people,” she writes, “we tend to focus on the personal impact of receiving feedback on our racism without acknowledging the cost to BIPOC people for giving us this feedback.” Altogether, it’s a valuable primer to be read alongside the work of other anti-racist activists such as Ibram X. Kendi and Johnnetta Cole.

A pointed reminder that good intentions aren’t enough to break the cycle of racism.