On May 29, 2018, the day Starbucks closed thousands of stores to carry out racial sensitivity trainings, USA Today interviewed Robin DiAngelo, race educator who coined the term “white fragility,” about challenges to changing white people’s attitudes and behaviors and the value of these trainings.
USA Today: You say white progressives ’cause the most daily damage to people of color.’ Why?
Robin DiAngelo: “White progressives create the daily climate that people of color must function within. We are the co-workers and friends who people of color so often cannot share their perspectives and experiences with, or talk to us about our problematic racial assumptions and patterns, because we are so confident that we don’t have any problematic racial assumptions and patterns.
We are the ones most likely to be in people of color’s lives in some way, and yet most white progressives, despite our confidence that we are free of racism, do not understand how race shapes our own lives. … That obliviousness and ignorance is not benign or innocent, and when coupled with complacency, certitude and arrogance — ‘I already know all this!’ — creates a rather miserable daily experience for people of color.”
Read the entire interview by clicking here.