In conversation with Valerie Kinloch, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education

Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism is the New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this vital, necessary, and beautiful book antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to “bad people.” Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively. 

Dr. DiAngelo received her PhD in Multicultural Education from the University of Washington and has been a consultant and trainer for over 20 years on issues of racial and social justice. She co-designed the City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative Anti-Racism training.