White Fragility In The Workplace

Alice McIntyre talks about how whites view racism in many different examples and stories of white talk. McIntyre defines white talk throughout the reading, “Talk that serves to insulate white people from examining their/our individual and collective roles in the perpetuation of racism. It is a result of whites talking uncritically with/to other whites all the while, resisting critique and massaging each other’s racist attitude, beliefs, and actions” (McIntyre, 45-46). McIntyre talks about the themes that were discussions of white talk: “(1) How the participants constructed differences from “the Other,” (2) how they reconstructed myths about white and people of color, and (3) how they privileged their own feelings and affect over the lived

When trying to understand the concept of color blindness we first need to understand what the term means. It is a set of beliefs in which white individuals judge non-white individuals as if they were treated equally ignoring past racism (Scott p. 77). Individuals who use color blindness do so through four central frames usually used together. The four frames are abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, and minimization of racism. To understand how the four frames are sometimes used together we need to understand their meaning.

As individuals, we live in a social environment that protects and separates us from feeling emotional pain that encounters with racism all around us. In the article, “The Sugarcoated Language of White Fragility”, Dr. DiAngelo argues, this “protected environment” of racial barrier constructs racial outlooks for comfort while at the same time lowering the power to allow emotional pain, leading to as white fragility (DiAngelo, 2016). White Fragility is defined as “racial stress becomes triggering a range of defensive moves” (DiAngelo, 2016, p. 1). In other words, the importance of one’s skin color and how it shapes an individual perspective and living knowledge is not characterized in an individual however it is determined by society and how they are presented (Lietz, 2015). This is the reality of attempting to have a discussion that encounters white fragility. For instance, this concept of white fragility can be seen in the Charlottesville riot. Charlottesville riot was occurring at the University of Virginia where white men demonstrated their racial outrage, and revulsion power violence because a statue have been removed (Heim, 2017). As quoted “You will not replace us” can be explained by how much rights are given than everyone else because of how much privilege is given in society (Heim, 2017). Overall, society have constructed and developed a belief system that deliberates power and privilege on those recognized of race (Kegler, 2016). Such power and privilege proves itself in having the capacity to shape social norms, and special treatment without being mindful of their race (Kegler, 2016).

Prior to taking this course, I was taught, and therefore was under the impression, that prejudice is a preconceived notion about a group and that racism is essentially the same thing, except that racism also encompasses the idea that the group is lesser. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva states that “for most whites, racism is prejudice; for most people of color, racism is systemic or institutionalized” (Bonilla-Silva, 2010). Quotes like this force me to reflect, both on how I see myself and how others see me. Reading that quote, I felt like I related more to ‘most whites’ because I believed that racism was essentially prejudice for so long. I remember once while doing a cross the line activity, I hesitated before moving when the facilitator said “step forward if you are a person on color.” Technically, yes, my skin is pigmented in a way that would qualify me as a person of color but there is a connotation with that phrase that I felt didn’t relate to me. My first reaction to that phrase is the thought of someone who has struggled, someone who faces racism on a regular basis, someone who is treated differently because of the color of their skin. In my opinion, the more others acknowledge a part of your identity, the more apparent that part of your identity is to you, and I don’t often feel that people acknowledge my identity as an Asian American. I’ve been called a coconut more times than I can count. Brown on the outside but white on the inside. Sure I look brown, but I don’t ‘act

Colorblindness has helped disseminate racism in the United States since the Civil Rights movements of the mid-sixties, by perpetuating anti-blackness and racial discrimination against other minorities. Colorblindness is a new form of racism, the new “Jim Crow” which “Legitimizes the state and society as racially neutral although they are not neutral” and creates the belief that we have become post-racial and we are all equal. While preaching homogeneity, colorblindness uses mechanisms by which white racial domination is structured and as a result, colorblind racism has caused a widespread of anti-blackness and racial discrimination against Latinos, Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.

Working Towards Whiteness is about immigrants who are coming to the United States during the twentieth century and struggling to become white. This is because America has this identity of being white and the new immigrants are facing the problem of fitting in based on their race and class. The states have applied restriction so that they can preserve the population to be more white. In Roediger historical studies he brings these practices to light and his goals to draw attention to the biased white supremacist policy of the government in the regulations of immigration. Roediger most evident strength would be that he has the adaptation of the “in-between” status of the new immigrants coming in, which they are neither accepted as white neither can they be able to identify themselves as their pre-existing background.

A major practice that was perpetrated within my school would be aversive racism; in which race was not discussed, and if it was would result in little or no changes to some of the racist practices. Oftentimes people within my community would look for ways to avoid talking directly about race; however would make ill-suited jokes about race, and held outdated stereotypes (Koppelman, 2015, p. 185). For example, African American students who spent time in the library and whose friends were all- white was often referred to as “uncle- toms” or “Oreos,” and whites who had what was considered black attributes were called “wiggers.” These jokes and anecdotes on the face are not obviously meant to be racist, but do result in a feelings

Delgado, Stefancic, and Liendo (2012) discuss the term colorblind as a representation of this concept of ordinariness as related to the critical race theory. Colorblindness is a suggestion that one does not see the color of another’s skin. This concept of not being able to see another’s color, would also suggest the one does not see the persons struggles as the relate to race and inequality. Suggesting that one does not see race also suggest that one thinks that we are all treated equally and no changes are required to even at the field for all races. If you cannot see race, you cannot see racial discrimination. The issue of colorblindness enables casting director to cast whites in the roles that are written for ethnic minorities. Martin Luther King’s statement above implies that in such cases minorities have to remove the vail of colorblindness. When colorblindness is used to continue to oppress, it

White Fragility is an essay by Robin DiAngelo that critiques the inner workings of how white majority population poorly converse and interacts with the racial social construct that resides in modern American culture. Not privileged with the opportunity to ignore racial tensions, blacks are ready to discuss the disadvantages they face daily in America’s white privileged culture. DiAngelo states that since whites have not had been forced to develop a mode of conversing about racial inequalities in black culture; therefore whites become uncomfortable, evasive, and angry. Because of evasive language when triggers such as “suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized frame of reference”, the construct of white supremacy is

Race has been an issue in North America for many years. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva discusses the new racism in his book, Racism without Racists. Bonilla-Silva classifies the new racial discrimination as color blind racism. Color blind racism is then structured under four frames (26). Color blind racism is believed to have lead to the segregation of the white race from other minorities called white habitus. Color blind racism and white habitus has affected many people, whom don’t even realize that they are, have been or will be affected.

Like what was mentioned above, the author defines the idea of “white fragility” as a state where a little bit of racial stress becomes intolerable and triggers a range of emotions from the person. The author further explains this by saying people are this way because they’re not really exposed to things that challenge their own racial understandings. DeAngelo states that Trepagnier says “Many white people have never been given direct or complex information about racism before, and often cannot see, feel, or understand it” (67). This in turn, has left white people often confused as to how they should respond in constructive ways. The author also states that because they are educated so little on this, they haven’t had the chance to build the cognitive or affective skills or develop the stamina that would allow for engagement across racial divides. The author says that segregation

Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their

In the article they have a study about race. What they do is they have an experiment with two photographs. They showed people one photograph of two white men fighting. One of them is unarmed and the other is holding a knife. Then they show another picture, which is one white man with a knife and an unarmed African American man. When they asked the people who was the armed man in the first picture, they responded with the man on the right. When they were asked the same question for the second photograph they responded with that the black man had the knife. Even before the decision of the Ferguson case was announced, leaders where call for a “national conversation of race.” The reason why this conversation gets nowhere is because whites and racial minorities speak different languages when it comes to racism. Bonilla- Silva and other people say it is time for Americans to update their language on racism. What racism has become not on what it used to be. It can start by reflecting on the three phrases that often pop up when whites and racial minorities discuss racism. The first phrase is “I don’t see color.” It a phrase used when a conversation turn into a race issue. Let legal system be able to handle a decision without race, you should just be colorblind. This would not work because people notice not only race,

On Wednesday August 20, 2015 at approximately 01:55, Upper Lobby officer Bronze Luc received a complaint from Maria Beguiristian a White & Case employee located on the 49th floor. Maria acquainted Officer Luc that as she was approaching the VIP elevators to go into the garage, she noticed a couple of people standing near the loading dock entrance carrying items with them and taking pictures. Maria thought that was suspicious of them standing there with all of those supplies. It turned out to be Tiles and Marble Works contractors who just finished working and signing out of the loading dock getting ready to exit the

Once the civil rights movement surfaced, the idea of racial color-blindness surfaced to dictate society’s mindset. Self-proclaimed advocates for equality incorporate an ethic of color-blindness, while ignoring ancestral variances inherent among groups of people. Color-blindness attempts to equalize all races, but that process erases the historical and cultural context of different races to integrate them into the ideology of whiteness. Due to the cultural and historical differences, not all individuals accept this societal paradigm and thus they are marginalized. The problem remains fixed in the white body that organizes