EP 83: White Fragility with Dr. Robin DiAngelo

In this episode, Ralph Newell is joined by Dr. Robin DiAngelo, affiliate associate professor of education at the University of Washington and author of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism, which was released in June 2018 and debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers List, where it remained for over three years.

 

Tune in as Dr. Robin DiAngelo discusses what “white fragility” is and why, while society’s racial inequality is not the fault of white people individually, it is the individual’s responsibility to help address it.

 

KEY POINTS:

- Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s path to racial and social justice education

- Being white and poor versus being black and poor

- Is white the default?

- Why racial illiteracy is not benign, neutral, or innocent

- What is white fragility?

- Does everyone have racist tendencies or bias?

 

QUOTABLES:

“When people say that learning about enslavement causes white children to feel guilt, why do you assume the white child can only identify with the slaveholder?”

“A hallmark of white homes is that we certainly are not educated on our racial history. We know that and the efforts that are at play today will make it literally illegal for us to be educated on our racial history.”

“The ultimate goal is that we come together across these divides. But white people are not in great shape to do that. We are racially illiterate. Most of us can't even answer the question, what does it mean to be white. Then you throw us in a room together and say, ‘let's talk about race and racism,’ and a lot of damage gets done.”

 

GUEST RESOURCES:

Learn more about Dr. Robin DiAngelo: robindiangelo.com

 

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In The Margins is produced by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education and edited by Instapodcasts (visit at instapodcasts.com)