Hats Off wrote:Diangelo says but she successfully does just that. Now I will admit that Americans are quite different from Canadians so I assume that most of what she says applies only to Americans. But when you read what she writes, it is obvious that the only thing the unfortunate white person can do is be very careful to say absolutely nothing. Otherwise our white fragility will show. She condemns us as being racist and there is absolutely nothing we can do to change this. And I don't care what Joshuabgood says!
I don't take her that way at all. And she actually goes out of the way not to call individual people racists or bad people. And it is true...almost never is a white man in our culture negatively stereotyped.
So, if individual white people are not racists, how can black people be suffering from systemic racism from whites? I would agree with Hats Off the term "White Fragility" is in fact a stereotype.
In a sense yes it is. And I can see why in a sense we don't like being generalized about. The thing is, this is one small stereotype that really annoys us. That is because we aren't used to how negative stereotypes even feel. We are used to being the normal. The expected. We as whites, enjoy white privilege with pretty much no negative stereotypes. We are the culture of power. Now, consider what it like to be a person of color who has historically been oppressed. There are tons of negative stereotypes that really have the potential to materially negatively effect your life (this is not even true of a white fragility stereotype). The President himself calls your people rapists and drug dealers (never mind he is actually the one with rape allegations and an admitted sexual abuser of women).
We've seen a bunch of these stereotypes in this very forum. People of color are litterers. People of color are deadbeat renters. People of color are promiscuous. People of color have a victim mentality. People of color are absentee fathers. People of color are criminals. and on and on and on it went.
You will start to get a little picture of the discomfort people of color feel.
joshuabgood wrote:
I don't take her that way at all. And she actually goes out of the way not to call individual people racists or bad people. And it is true...almost never is a white man in our culture negatively stereotyped.
So, if individual white people are not racists, how can black people be suffering from systemic racism from whites? I would agree with Hats Off the term "White Fragility" is in fact a stereotype.
In a sense yes it is. And I can see why in a sense we don't like being generalized about. The thing is, this is one small stereotype that really annoys us. That is because we aren't used to how negative stereotypes even feel. We are used to being the normal. The expected. We as whites, enjoy white privilege with pretty much no negative stereotypes. We are the culture of power. Now, consider what it like to be a person of color who has historically been oppressed. There are tons of negative stereotypes that really have the potential to materially negatively effect your life (this is not even true of a white fragility stereotype). The President himself calls your people rapists and drug dealers (never mind he is actually the one with rape allegations and an admitted sexual abuser of women).
We've seen a bunch of these stereotypes in this very forum. People of color are litterers. People of color are deadbeat renters. People of color are promiscuous. People of color have a victim mentality. People of color are absentee fathers. People of color are criminals. and on and on and on it went.
You will start to get a little picture of the discomfort people of color feel.
Why do you say that "in a sense" it is? Is there a sense in which it is not?
If a particular undesirable trait is more common a certain ethnic group, is there a way to discuss it without it being considered a stereotype? For instance, if you were a waiter in a restaurant and 20% of Mennonites failed to leave a tip compared with 2% of all other people, wouldn't you see Mennonites as tightwads? Could you really meet each new Mennonite diner without your past experiences with others of the same group coloring your thinking? Are stereotypes inherently bad?
