White Fragility Chapter 8

 

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White Fragility Chapter 8

 

 

Garrett McLeod

 

University of Houston

 

ENGL-1301

 

Professor Heather-Stewart Steele

 

April 4, 2021

 

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            The main purpose of this chapter is to explain how for a lot of white people in America these days, one of the main defenses against any attempts to approach racial issues from the perspective of the historically disadvantaged, is to claim that discrimination of some kind is being perpetuated against whites rather than the other way around. There is some empirical data as well that supports this, the results of a poll from NPR found something very interesting when they looked into it. Apparently, the majority of whites in America, not fifty years ago but in contemporary America, report that they in fact believe there to be discrimination against white people in favor of black people. Another important component discussed to maintaining the racial hierarchy is to take the position of superficial racial tolerance. From the perspective of a white person who has been called out for contributing to racism, they take the position of being racially tolerant by saying that race had nothing to do with what ever happened, not realizing that ignoring race in America is just perpetuating the roots of our racial issues.

            When white people were interviewed and polled about whether or not they thought there is discrimination against whites, the researchers found out some of the sources of this idea that somehow black people were advantaged. The participants all said similar things about black people being put first in terms of receiving job opportunities as well as government assistance. The first one about there being so much more employment opportunities for black people is blatantly incorrect, and poor white people are just as dependent of government programs as poor black people. Not to mention that a huge part of why the black community needs more assistance in the first place is the lack of opportunity previously mentioned. Interestingly when the issue was delved deeper into with participants from the interviews, it was found that very few people had actually ever experienced discrimination.

           

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Since the Civil Rights movement racism in America has changed, and a part of that change was the appearance of superficial racial tolerance among many who in other ways may have progressive views, but are not able to fully confront race as it needs to be confronted. A good example that DiAngelo gives of this was when the Oscars were questioned for not nominating even one black actor for the second year in a row. Instead of facing the possible racial issues in her profession and among those who hold power in the world of entertainment, the actress Helen Mirren decided on the more comfortable answer, which was to defend the academy and claim it was just how it went down, as if there is no context for how black actors and creators have been treated in Hollywood.