taco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

i've barely cracked into this one, but #WhiteFragility: Why It's So Hard For #White People To Talk About #Racism by #RobinDiangelo is absolutely starting off with a banger:

"Interrupting the forces of racism is ongoing, lifelong work because the forces conditioning us into racist frameworks are always at play; our learning will never be finished. Yet our simplistic definition of racism—as intentional acts of racial discrimination committed by immoral individuals—engenders a confidence that we are not part of the problem and that our learning is thus complete."

#AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat 

"I expect that white readers will have moments of discomfort reading this book. This feeling may be a sign that I’ve managed to unsettle the racial status quo, which is my goal. The racial status quo is comfortable for #white people, and we will not move forward in race relations if we remain comfortable."

#WhiteFragility #RobinDiangelo #Racism #AntiRacism

Oct 24, 2023 at 10:31pmWeb
Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"The key to moving forward is what we do with our discomfort. We can use it as a door out—blame the messenger and disregard the message. Or we can use it as a door in by asking, Why does this unsettle me? What would it mean for me if this were true? [...] How can my unease help reveal the unexamined assumptions I have been making? Is it possible that because I am #white, there are some racial dynamics that I can’t see? Am I willing to consider that possibility? If I am not willing to do so, then why not?"

#WhiteFragility #RobinDiangelo #Racism #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

this quote mirrors a line of thought from #IjeomaOluo 's So You Want To Talk About Race:

"Build a tolerance for discomfort. You must get used to being uncomfortable and get used to this not being about your feelings if you plan to help and not hinder people of color in their efforts for racial justice."

#Racism #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

but back to #RobinDiangelo:

"If you are reading this and are still making your case for why you are different from other #white people and why none of this applies to you, stop and take a breath. Now return to the questions above, and keep working through them. To interrupt #WhiteFragility, we need to build our capacity to sustain the discomfort of not knowing, the discomfort of being racially unmoored, the discomfort of racial humility."

#Racism #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"Our next task is to understand how the forces of racial socialization are constantly at play. The inability to acknowledge these forces inevitably leads to the resistance and defensiveness of #WhiteFragility. To increase the racial stamina that counters white fragility, we must reflect on the whole of our identities—and our racial group identity in particular. For white people, this means first struggling with what it means to be white."

#Racism #AntiRacism #RobinDiangelo

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

some good background on racism in the us:

"The tension between the noble ideology of equality and the cruel reality of #genocide, #enslavement, and #colonization had to be reconciled. Thomas Jefferson (who himself owned hundreds of enslaved people) and others turned to science. [...] If science could prove that black people were naturally and inherently inferior (he saw Indigenous people as culturally deficient—a shortcoming that could be remedied), there would be no contradiction between our professed ideals and our actual practices."

#Racism #RobinDiangelo #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment. Nor was fear of difference. As Ta-Nehisi Coates states, “But race is the child of #racism, not the father.” He means that first we exploited people for their resources, not according to how they looked. Exploitation came first, and then the ideology of unequal races to justify this exploitation followed."

#TaNehisiCoates #RobinDiangelo #AntiRacism #WhiteFragility

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"The metaphor of the #UnitedStates as the great #MeltingPot, in which immigrants from around the world come together and melt into one unified society through the process of assimilation, is a cherished idea. [...] In reality, only #European #immigrants were allowed to melt, or assimilate, into dominant culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because, regardless of their ethnic identities, these immigrants were perceived to be #white and thus could belong."

#WhiteFragility #RobinDiangelo #Racism #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"All humans have prejudice; we cannot avoid it. If I am aware that a social group exists, I will have gained information about that group from the society around me. This information helps me make sense of the group from my cultural framework. People who claim not to be prejudiced are demonstrating a profound lack of self-awareness. Ironically, they are also demonstrating the power of socialization—we have all been taught in schools, through movies, and from family members, teachers, and clergy that it is important not to be prejudiced."

#WhiteFragility #RobinDiangelo

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023

"Unfortunately, the prevailing belief that #prejudice is bad causes us to deny its unavoidable reality.

Prejudice is foundational to understanding #WhiteFragility because suggesting that white people have racial prejudice is perceived as saying that we are bad and should be ashamed. We then feel the need to defend our character rather than explore the inevitable racial prejudices we have absorbed so that we might change them. In this way, our misunderstanding about what prejudice is protects it."

#WhiteFragility #RobinDiangelo #Racism #AntiRacism

Show threadtaco, bird/cat Oct 24, 2023
YES, THIS MEANS THAT THAT ONE SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK SONG IS JUST #WHITE COLONIALIST NONSENSE AGAIN I'M SORRY TO TELL YOU THIS THE "GREAT #AMERICAN #MELTINGPOT" ISN'T REAL
The Great American Melting Pot

YouTube
Show threadFanfalla Oct 24, 2023
@chirpbirb I can't begin to tell you how crushed I was when I grew up and learned this. I always loved the idea of the Great #American #MeltingPot because I felt that it exemplified my love of diversity, but, while America is quite a diverse country, it's been built on a foundation of white supremacy and #SystemicRacism . I can't speak for all #white folks, but I know I misguidedly believed that racism had largely been solved and all that was left was for a bunch of backwards individual racists like the KKK to die out and we'd be in utopia, but I was SO VERY WRONG.
Show threadJNP-3ROct 24, 2023

@chirpbirb That's good analysis. There's so many cognitive distortions at play as our brains lie to make us comfortable, so it's nice to see it broken down.

And like, a lot of fellow white folk seem to be discouraged or put off by the idea that perfect understanding or perfect avoidance of any participation in racism as a system is impossible in the current social context, as if that means we're always evil or can't improve, but like, we can still grow, you know?

There's always room for *better*. Don't let your discomfort at being imperfect hold you back from that.

Show threadJohanna's GardenOct 28, 2023
@chirpbirb Exactly, and gaining some sort of "purity of mind and soul" in regards to racism isn't the point, nor is trying to justify yourself in the eyes of others, it's becoming anti-racist, it's work. Study racism and white privilege to learn how to recognize it and work to dismantle it.