White Fragility

A lot of attention has been given to White Fragility, a book by a leftist White female middle-aged sociology professor. She argues:

All humans are divided into Whites and people of color.

Whites do not identify with the White race or any other race.

Whites are not particularly sensitive to racial differences, and mostly treat races the same.

People of color are obsessed with race, and with White resentment.

It is difficult to train Whites to understand how people of color hate them.

If this sounds as if she is some sort of White supremacist, she would probably agree, and say that all Whites are inherently White supremacists. Whites think of themselves as just ordinary people, but the people of color see Whites as superior, so it is useless for Whites to try to be nice to people of color.

In other words, all Whites are White supremacists, not because of what Whites think, but because people of color see Whites as superior.

This is not my opinion, but the opinion stated her book, the biggest selling book on the subject. It has been high on the best-seller lists for a long time. She has made millions from this.

For another opinion, see “Black Lives Matter” Is A BLOOD LIBEL Against White America.

I just learned that the Smithsonian Museum has an exhibit to celebrate the virtues of White people:

individualism
autonomy
nuclear family
objective
rational thinking
scientific method
Greek and Roman traditions
work ethic
Christianity
respect authority
value property
future time orientation
follow schedules
female beauty
male status, power, intellect
rule of law
favor success
decision-making
grammar rules
avoid conflict
hide emotion and personal life
be polite

Wow, they nailed it.

It goes on:

If you identify as white, acknowledging your white racial identity and its privileges is a crucial step to help end racism. Facing your whiteness is hard and can result in feelings of guilt, sadness, confusion, defensiveness, or fear. Dr. Robin DiAngelo coined the term white fragility to describe these feelings as "a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves." Since white people "live in a social environment that insulates them from race-based stress," whites are rarely challenged and have less of a tolerance to race-based stress.

The obvious lesson is for Whites to celebrate the above virtues, without any guilt, sadness, confusion, defensiveness, or fear.

I think that the site is correct that White see those virtues are essential to a good and full life. They have no ill will towards people of color, but feel sad and defensive when others reject these White virtues.

In fairness, see this book review of DiAngelo's book, by a Black professor who calls it a pernicious and racist book.

Update: The Smithsonian has taken down the Whiteness poster. It was based on the work of a Jewish woman. The material on White Fragility and DiAngelo is still there.

You can finds links to the info here.

Update: Newsweek shows the poster.