READING GUIDE
Guide by
Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo
Beacon Press | beacon.org/whitefragility
Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility White Fragility Reading Guide 1
BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
is reading guide is intended to support formal and informal discussions of White Fragility. We oer
the following pedagogical tips as you organize your discussion.
On Size
Small group discussions work best when the size of the group is large enough to advance discussion, but
not so large that any member of the group can avoid sharing—or conversely, wants to share, but cannot
nd airtime to do so. For this reason, it is recommended that groups target a size of ve to seven mem-
bers. If you are part of a larger study group, just organize yourselves into smaller sub groups of approxi-
mately ve people.
On Composition
ere can be strategic advantages to organizing yourself into what are sometimes called anity groups,
wherein people with a shared identity (such as cis-men, or Asian women, or Indigenous people) work
through issues particular to them, in a closed group. If your group is diverse, discuss how you want to
organize yourselves (in a mixed group or an anity group for all or part of various chapter discussions).
On Monitoring the Group
If you are self-monitoring your group, discuss how you will assign a facilitator for each session. is
can be a rotating responsibility if you plan to meet over multiple sessions. e task of the facilitator will
include keeping the discussion on topic, ensuring shared airtime, and note-taking (if part of a formal
discussion group), as well as ensuring that the groups time is monitored.
On Facilitating
Tips for facilitators of white discussion groups
Based on the following patterns, it is highly recommended that a facilitator or team of facilitators be
assigned when primarily white groups discuss racism. Facilitators should think of themselves as guides
rather than as teachers. is means the overall task of the facilitator is to keep the group focused and on
track, with equitable sharing of the airtime. is will be easier to do if at the start of the discussion you
tell the group that this is your task. You could even name the patterns ahead of time and ask group mem-
bers to watch out for these themselves.
Common Patterns
1. Distancing: Identiable via expressions including “People should just___,” “Society is___,” How
do I tell my coworker___,” What about all the people who arent here today who should be___,”
e executive team at my workplace___,” and “My family member___.”
Response techniques: “Can you speak to how you see this in your own behaviors/thoughts/
beliefs in life/work?” What part do you see yourself playing?” What might you do…?”
“How is the most eective way for someone to talk with you about your racism?”
2 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
2. Checking out: Identiable via behaviors including texting, working on laptop, engaging in side
conversations.
Response techniques: At the start, ask participants to put phones/laptops away. Explain that
eective discussion on racism often causes disequilibrium for those of us who are white and
that technology functions as a way to check out. Further, when people of color are present,
the distraction of technology sends a problematic message. Someone who has an emergency
or is expecting a text or call should leave the room at that time. Regarding side conversa-
tions, the facilitator might say, “I am having trouble hearing. Please give your attention to the
speaker.”
3. Dominating the discussion: e same person or people speaking rst, at length, immediately,
and/or several times while others sit back in silence.
Response techniques: Who havent we heard from?” “Lets wait a little longer to make
space for people who need more time.” “I’m going to ask that if we have spoken twice al-
ready, we wait until everyone else has had a chance before we speak again.” “Lets go around
the table and check in. “Does anyone else want to share their perspective?” We all have a
responsibility to share our thoughts so others in the group know where we’re coming from or
what we’re struggling with.”
4. Positioning themselves as already getting this/Giving evidence for why this discussion doesnt
apply to them: I already know all this.” “I come from ___ and I cant believe how white it is
here.” “I realized many years ago that___.” “I am married to/have children who are ___,” followed
by distancing (rather than insight and recognition that this doesnt exempt them and their learn-
ing is not nished).
Response techniques: e book poses an important question, ‘How do we know how
well we are doing?’ Where do you see your current learning edge?” “DiAngelo states that
nothing exempts us from the forces of racism. How are situations that are unique to us still
informed by racism?” “How does being white shape one’s sense that they are beyond’ this
discussion?” “Can you name three actions in the last month that demonstrate your awareness
in practice?”
5. Hopelessness: “Racism is never going to end.” “I cant do anything.” What are we supposed to
do?” “is is just about making us feel guilty. We have been doing this for years now and noth-
ing changes.”e administration are the ones that need this and they just dont care.”
Response techniques: e author speaks to the question of guilt. What points does she
make?” “If we apply the question the author asks, How does our discouragement function? how
would we answer?”What concrete actions have you attempted thus far? What books have
you read? What antiracism networks have you joined? e perception that nothing can be
done often keeps the existing system in place.”
6. Expecting people of color to teach us (white people) about race: Turning to people of color
for answers or to go rst: “I grew up in a sheltered environment, so I dont know anything about
race.” “Sharon, tell me about the racism you have experienced.” “Sharon, you go rst.”
Response techniques: If you are in a multiracial reading group, dont assume that the peo-
ple of color will speak rst. If uncertain, ask them what they prefer. While those of us who
Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility White Fragility Reading Guide 3
are white need to listen to people of color, in this context lets take some risks and go rst.
“People of color and Indigenous people have spent a lot of time thinking and speaking out
about white supremacy and against racism. is is the time for white people to step up to
the conversation.” “Mainstream society often has us focus on the targets of oppression rather
than the agents. In this setting, focusing on people of color can let white people o the hook
for naming their participation in racist systems.” “How have you managed thus far not to
know the answers to your questions on racism?”
7. Claiming this discussion doesn’t apply to them because they are not from the US: “I’m from
Germany and we don’t have these issues there.” “Canada is a multicultural society.” “It’s com-
pletely dierent where I am from because everyone is the same.”
Response techniques: At what age were you aware that black people existed? Where did
they live? If in Africa, what were your impressions of Africa? Where did you get your infor-
mation about Africa?” “Did you watch Hollywood movies? If so, what impressions did you
get about African Americans from US movies? What about Disney movies and cartoons?”
What was your relationship to Asian heritage people? What were Asian people like, in your
mind?” and so on.
Countering Common Patterns via Silence Breakers
ese sentence starters, termed silence breakers,”
1
are suggested openings intended to address two
common challenges for white people in cross-racial discussions: First, the fear of losing face, making a
mistake, or not being able to manage impressions that often prevent white people from authentic en-
gagement. Second, the lack of humility we often have when discussing racism. e silence breakers can
help engender a stance of curiosity and humility that counters the certitude many white people have
regarding our racial perspectives. In doing so, they tend to open, rather than close, discussion and con-
nection.
Silence Breakers
1. I’m really nervous/scared/uncomfortable saying this and/but …
2. From my experience/perspective as [identity] …
3. I’m afraid I may oend someone, and please let know if I do, but …
4. I’m not sure if this will make any sense, and/but …
5. I just felt something shift in the room. Im wondering if anyone else did.
6. It seems as though some people may have had a reaction to that. Can you help me understand why?
7. Can you help me understand whether what I’m thinking right now might be problematic?
8. is is what I understand you to be saying: ____ Is that accurate?
9. Im having a “yeah but.” Can you help me work through it?
10. I’m engaged but just needing time to process this. What I am working on processing is _____.
2
1 Adapted from Anika Nailah and Robin DiAngelo
2 Excerpted from Robin DiAngelo and Ozlem Sensoy, “Calling In: Strategies for Cultivating Humility and Critical inking in Antiracism Education,”
Understanding & Dismantling Privilege 4, no. 2, (2014), http://www.wpcjournal.com/article/view/12101
4 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
Additional Tips for a Productive Discussion
As DiAngelo notes, white people addressing white fragility surfaces several dilemmas. First, it requires
that white people be centered in the conversation about racism. is can be problematic because it
reinforces the white centering that is taken for granted in society at large (it is the authors hope, how-
ever, that it is a centering that exposes, rather than protects, the workings of white supremacy). Second,
it positions white people—yet again—as the experts. Based on these dilemmas, the following points are
important to keep in mind:
1. is book and its arguments build on antiracism scholarship and activism that people of color
have written for generations. at scholarship has been fundamental to the ability of the author
to explicate white fragility. Use this text as the starting point—rather than the ending point—to
educate yourself on racism. ere are many suggestions for engaging with the work of people of
color in the Resources for Continuing Education section of the book.
2. e primary goal for white people working to understand racism is not to learn how racism im-
pacts people of color. e primary goal is to recognize how the system of racism shapes our lives,
how we uphold that system, and how we might interrupt it.
3. For people of color, multiracial, and Indigenous peoples who are part of an informal or formal
discussion group, the book and this guide will hopefully validate your lived experiences and oer
some helpful insight into the challenges of trying to talk to white people about racism. Like the
book, this guide is primarily focused on raising the consciousness and increasing the cross-ra-
cial skills of white people. In so doing, many of the questions will be specic to them. Yet while
the work of this text is primarily focused on the role that white people play within the system
of racism, people of color are exposed to the same messages and must also consider how those
messages have impacted them and the resultant role they may play. is dynamic is colloquially
described as “assimilation (or acting white”) and is described in scholarship as collusion.” ese
terms refer to people of color upholding values and behaviors that negatively impact their own
and other groups of color and ultimately support white supremacy. ere are many pressures to
collude, the foremost of which is that there are rewards for conformity with the system. If we
behave in ways that the dominant group nds favorable, we will likely receive benets (or at least
minimize penalties) in our daily interactions with them. As you study the dynamic of white fra-
gility, consider your role and responsibilities in relation to collusion and adapt questions accord-
ingly and as needed.
Note for those using this guide outside of the US context
e dynamics of white fragility are familiar in all societies in which white people hold institutional
power and/or have a white settler colonial history, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe,
and South Africa. While the book focuses on the specic sociopolitical context of the US, it is for you
to reect on how these dynamics manifest in your specic sociopolitical context. For white people who
did not grow up in the US but live in the US now, consider how US-based racial dynamics (and globally
circulating US cultural stories and images) shape your current ideas about race, your life, and cross-racial
relationships.
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For all readers
e chapter questions are intended to deepen your reection and understanding of the chapters and
constructively inform your response to white fragility.
Keep the following principles in mind. You may need to return to them on occasion, so consider posting
them in the room or having them available on cards:
1. A strong opinion is not the same as informed knowledge.
2. ere is a dierence between agreement and understanding. When discussing complex social and
institutional dynamics such as racism, consider whether I dont agree” may actually mean “I dont
understand.”
3. We have a deep interest in denying the forms of oppression that benet us. We may also have
an interest in denying forms of oppression that harm us. For example, people of color can deny
the existence of racism and even support its structures. is denial may keep them from feeling
overwhelmed by the daily slights or protect them from the penalties of confronting white people
on racism. However, regardless of the reason, this denial still benets whites at the group level,
not people of color.
4. Racism goes beyond individual intentions to collective group patterns.
5. We dont have to be aware of racism in order for it to exist.
6. Our racial position (whether we identify as white, a person of color, or multiracial) will greatly
aect our ability to see racism. For example, if we swim against the “current of racial privilege,
its often easier to recognize, while its harder to recognize if we swim with the current.
7. Putting our eort into protecting rather than expanding our current worldview prevents our
intellectual and emotional growth.
Before you begin discussing chapter by chapter, spend some time reviewing the guidelines above.
Chapter 1
THE CHALLENGES OF TALKING TO
WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACISM
1. Identify a passage from chapter 1 that invokes any sense of discomfort. Highlight this passage
and return to reading it periodically as you work through the book. What does this passage reveal
about your socialization into the white racial frame? Does your discomfort shift over time? If so,
what supported that shift?
2. If you are working through these questions as part of a white discussion group, how will you keep
the discussion on track (focused on ourselves and our own participation)? How will you ensure
6 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
that when common white patterns surface (distancing, intellectualizing, rationalizing), you will
work to identify and challenge them rather than ignore or avoid them?
3. How do so many white people feel so condent in their opinions on racism, even as they live
their lives in segregation?
4. How can we make generalizations about what it means to be white when we dont know each
persons individual story?
5. What are some constructive ways to use your emotional reactions when your opinions on racism
are challenged?
6. Explain in your own words the author’s critique of the ideology of individualism.
Chapter 2
RACISM AND WHITE SUPREMACY
1. What does it mean to say that race is socially constructed”?
2. What is the dierence between racial prejudice, racial discrimination, and racism?
3. What does the author mean when she says that there is no such thing as reverse racism?
4. How does the birdcage metaphor illustrate oppression?
5. What is scientic racism? Give some examples of how scientic racism is conveyed today.
6. What does Cheryl Harris mean when describing whiteness as a form of property?
7. What is problematic about the idea of the U.S. as a great melting pot”? How did the melting pot
actually work?
8. Discuss Coates’s statement that race is the child of racism, not the father.
9. e author cites Ruth Frankenberg’s description of whiteness as “a location of structural advan-
tage, a standpoint from which white people look at ourselves, at others, and at society, and a set of
cultural practices that are not named or acknowledged.” Explain each of these dimensions in your
own words.
10. How is the author using the term white supremacy”?
The White Racial Frame
1. Explain the concept of the white racial frame. What are some examples?
2. Take a few minutes to share some of your answers to the reection questions on pp. 35-37. What
surprised you? (ese questions can be downloaded as a handout from www.robindiangelo.com.)
Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility White Fragility Reading Guide 7
3. What patterns in the answers to the reection questions do you notice within the group?
4. What insights do the answers give you on implicit aspects of our racial socialization?
5. What are some ways in which racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of society? Provide some
examples.
Chapter 3
RACISM AFTER THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
1. What is the impact of white people not knowing our racial history?
2. What is color-blind racism and why is it problematic?
3. How did racism change and adapt after the civil rights era? Consider attitudes as well as behav-
iors.
4. Why does the author say that white progressives cause the most daily harm to people of color?
5. Why does the author consider young white people today to be no less racist than white people in
the past?
6. How would you respond to someone who says, “Doesnt it all come down to what your parents
taught you?”
Chapter 4
HOW DOES RACE SHAPE THE LIVES
OF WHITE PEOPLE?
1. e author traces some of the specic ways that her life has been shaped by racism. Consider
your own socialization. In what specic ways has your life been shaped by racism? (If you are
white, try to answer this question without mentioning people of color).
2. Identify at least three ways that white racial belonging has been conveyed to you in the last week
(you might start by opening your wallet and looking at the bills there).
3. What are the earliest racial messages you can recall? Try to move beyond what you were openly
told and work to identify implicit messages.
4. In what settings have you experienced the expectation of white solidarity/racial silence? How has
that expectation been communicated to you? How have you responded? What consequences have
you faced or fear you will face by breaking with white solidarity?
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5. e author describes the power of segregation. She argues that this segregation is “active.” What
does this mean?
6. Discuss how various patterns of segregation across your lifespan shape your racial frame.
7. If you are white, which of the patterns discussed in this chapter have you seen in yourself? Which
of the patterns challenge you the most? Why?
8. Consider some aspects of your identity other than race (i.e., gender, sexuality, religion, class,
ability, nationality, age). How does race shape how you experience these identities? For exam-
ple, how might being white shape how you experience disability? Poverty? Gender identity and
expression?
9. If you are a person of color, how have you witnessed white people enacting white solidarity?
10. e author states that white ignorance is not simply a matter of not knowing; it is a highly eec-
tive response that protects white investments in racism and thus is actively maintained. Discuss
this statement.
11. What does the author mean when she says that white people are not, in fact, racially innocent?
How can we know much about race if we have lived separately?
Chapter 5
THE GOOD/BAD BINARY
1. What does it mean to say that racism is a structure, not an event”?
2. e author suggests that one of the most eective barriers to talking about racism with white
people is the good/bad binary. How have you seen this binary underlying common white re-
sponses to charges of racism? How might you respond when the binary surfaces in discussions
about racism?
3. If you are white, share some examples of the good/bad binary in your own responses to sugges-
tions that you are complicit with racism.
4. When the author challenges the idea that we are all unique and therefore cannot be generalized
about, what thoughts and feelings come up for you? How might these thoughts and feelings
function?
5. e author lists two types of narratives that are commonly used by white people to deny complic-
ity with racism: color-blind and color-celebrate (p. 77). Which narratives have you used yourself, or
still use? If you could speak back to yourself with the voice of the author, how would you counter
the narrative?
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6. How can a white person still enact racism in a close relationship with a person of color? Doesnt
the close relationship itself prove that the person is not racist? Explain how and why enacting
racism in a close relationship with a person of color is not only possible but inevitable.
7. If you are white, when was the last time someone challenged you to look at an aspect of yourself
related to racism? How did you feel? How did you respond? What insights did/can you gain
from the exchange? If no one has ever challenged you (or not in a very long time), what might
that tell you about how whiteness shapes your life?
Chapter 6
ANTI-BLACKNESS
1. e author claims that in the white mind, black people are the ultimate racial other. What does
this mean?
2. What does it mean to say that anti-blackness is present across all communities of color, even
within black communities?
3. How does the author make the case that the construction of white identity and white superiority
was in fact dependent upon the simultaneous creation of a particular idea of blackness? How are
these ideas sustained?
4. What are some of the misunderstandings about armative action and what do these misunder-
standings reveal about anti-blackness?
5. Why havent armative action programs changed our racial outcomes?
6. What does the author mean when she suggests that causing pain and suering for black people
rests on a sense of white righteousness?
7. Return to the reection questions on the white racial frame on pp. 34-36 and answer them while
replacing the term people of color” with the term black people.” What do you notice?
8. e author states that the lm e Blind Side is “insidiously anti-black.” Using the framework
of the book, explain how a viewer can not notice the anti-black messages yet still be shaped by
them.
9. Consider the bulleted list following the author’s analysis of e Blind Side. In which other lms
have you seen these racial scripts?
10 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
Chapter 7
RACIAL TRIGGERS FOR WHITE PEOPLE
1. Discuss the social taboos mentioned on p. 100. Give examples of each from your own life.
2. Explain the triggers listed in this chapter in your own words and share examples of each in daily
life.
3. e author writes that white people have limited information about what racism is and how it
works, while at the same time they have very strong opinions about racism. Explain how both of
these can be true at the same time. In your own words, practice stating the dierence between
having information about what racism is and having opinions about what racism is.
4. e author shares the story of Mr. Roberts and lists the ways that the two teachers in the story
dismissed what they did not understand. Discuss this example. How have you seen or participat-
ed in these forms of dismissal?
5. How does the author challenge the idea that our intentions are what count”?
6. Discuss Bourdieu’s concept of habitus as a way to understand the racial disequilibrium that leads
to white fragility. In what ways is this concept helpful in explaining how racial disequilibrium
works?
Chapter 8
THE RESULT: WHITE FRAGILITY
1. What is the “discourse of self-defense”? Have you ever used it yourself? If so, thinking about it
now, how did it function in the interaction?
2. Share a time that you experienced your own white fragility or witnessed another white persons.
3. What strategies do white people use to reset white racial equilibrium?
4. As a white colleague, how would you explain to Karen (p. 107) what is problematic about her
response? If you are a person of color, what strategies could you use to address Karens white
fragility?
5. Why are questions such as What is the right thing to say?” or “What am I supposed to say?” the
wrong questions? How might you respond the next time you hear these questions?
6. e author claims that white fragility functions as a form of bullying. How so?
7. What is meant by the statement that white fragility is “white racial control.” How does white
fragility function as racial control?
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8. e author ends this chapter by sharing an interaction with a man of color who, when asked what
it would be like for white people to be open to feedback, replied, “It would be revolutionary.
She asks white readers to consider the profundity of this mans reply. What feelings did you have
when you read that response?
9. How might this mans reply inform how you respond to feedback from people of color, going
forward?
Chapter 9
WHITE FRAGILITY IN ACTION
1. Why are white people more receptive to other white people (rather than people of color) ed-
ucating them on race? What does this say about the role white people must play in addressing
systemic racism in society broadly and specically in our homes, with our friends and family
members, and in our workplaces with our colleagues?
2. What are the opportunities and dilemmas of white people educating each other on racism?
3. Discuss the claims on pp. 119-120. Have you ever made any of these claims yourself?
4. Now consider the assumptions underlying those claims on p. 121. Which ones have you held? Do
you still hold some of these? If so, how do they function for you and what would it mean to you
to shift them (what do you see yourself as having to “give up”)?
5. In your group, take turns speaking back to the assumptions your group members shared in ques-
tion 4. Which speak backs were the most eective for you?
6. What is the language of self-defense and why is it problematic?
Chapter 10
WHITE FRAGILITY AND THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
1. e author presents a set of eleven “cardinal rules” (pp. 123-24) when giving feedback to white
people regarding racist assumptions and patterns. For each rule of engagement, provide an exam-
ple of the rule in action.
2. What assumptions do these rules rest on?
3. DiAngelo presents these rules in a language of critique in order to reveal how they function. Of
course the rules” are rarely explicitly expressed this way. Consider what you hear white people say
12 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
that communicates “do not give me feedback under any circumstances” etc.? Go through each of
the eleven rules and share how you have heard these rules expressed in practice.
4. How would you rewrite these rules from an antiracist framework? (A worksheet for rewriting the
rules of engagement can be downloaded from robindiangelo.com/resources.)
5. In your own words, what is problematic about common guidelines for building trust in discus-
sions about racism (e.g.,dont judge”)? How do these guidelines function? Who are they for?
Whose comfort do they protect?
6. e rules of engagement around white fragility have at least three parts: those giving feedback,
those receiving feedback, and those witnessing these exchanges. Practice some language for each
by preparing your own “sentence starters” such as the silence breakers above. How might you
begin to give feedback? How might you respond to feedback given to you? What might you say
as you witness an exchange of feedback?
Chapter 11
WHITE WOMEN’S TEARS
1. e author opens this chapter with the story of a woman of color in a multiracial group stating
that she did not want to be subjected to white womens tears. Why were white women asked not
to cry in the group?
2. e author argues that emotions are political. How are emotions political?
3. ere have been social media critiques of white feminism. What are some examples of white
feminism?
4. What does it mean to take an “intersectional” approach? Provide some examples.
5. roughout the book the author reinforces the idea that we bring our histories with us. What
does this mean and why is it so important?
6. White women often assume a shared sisterhood with women of color. What is problematic about
this assumption?
7. Discuss some of the ways in which white mens fragility manifests. What is important for white
men to understand about the impact of each of these behaviors?
8. e author writes, “Since many of us have not learned how racism works and our role in it, our
tears may come from shock and distress about what we didnt know or recognize. For people of
color, our tears demonstrate our racial insulation and privilege” (pp. 135-36). Discuss this passage
and the ways that white emotional distress and shock (tears, defensiveness, anger, grief ) shape
conversations on racism. What do these dynamics reveal about the sociopolitical function of
emotions?
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9. Consider how emotions function in public space. For instance, how do white people often read
the emotions of women of color, and peoples of color generally? Consider how emotions are read
racially by white people with cultural gures such as Serena Williams, Nicki Minaj, Cory Booker,
Maxine Waters, and Mazie Hirono, as well as the way that institutions (like media) respond to
emotions in racialized ways. Conversely, how are the emotions of white people read (and the in-
tersections between race and gender in all readings)? Consider cultural gures such as Christine
Blasey Ford, Elizabeth Warren, Brett Kavanaugh, Lindsey Graham, and Donald Trump.
Chapter 12
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
1. Using an antiracist framework, how would you respond to a white person who said, You just
want me to feel bad and guilty about something that I had nothing to do with”?
2. Very little if anything in society at large supports us to persist in the work of antiracism. In fact,
much pressures us not to continue the work. Because of this, we need to set up support for our-
selves to continue. How will you set up support for yourself to stay on the journey? How will you
resist complacency? Consider both in-group support and racially mixed group support networks.
How will both settings be important in dierent ways?
3. e author states that it isnt enough for white people to be nice and that, in fact, racism depends
on white people simply being nice. Discuss this statement. How does niceness alone uphold the
racial status quo?
4. If we accept that racism is always operating, the question becomes not Is racism taking place?”
but rather “How is racism taking place in this specic context?” How does awareness of that
change how we think about our lives and our actions?
5. Why must white people resist cynicism and remain hopeful? At the same time, what are the pit-
falls of hopefulness? What is the dierence between hope and denial?
6. e author shares a time that she perpetrated racism toward a coworker and the steps she took to
repair the damage. Identify the underlying antiracist assumptions listed on pp. 142-143 that are
demonstrated in these steps.
7. Discuss the suggestions for continuing the work of antiracism. Which are the most challenging?
How can you meet those challenges?
14 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
Notes
Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility White Fragility Reading Guide 15
Notes
16 White Fragility Reading Guide Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility
Notes
Find it online at beacon.org/whitefragility White Fragility Reading Guide 17
About the Guide Authors
Özlem Sensoy is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in Can-
ada. She is the co-author (with Robin DiAngelo) of the award–winning book, Is Everyone Really Equal?:
An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (Teachers College Press).
Robin DiAngelo is an aliate associate professor of Education at the University of Washington. She
coined the term White Fragility and is the author of White Fragility: Why Its So Hard For White People To
Talk About Racism. She has been an educator on issues of racial and social justice for more than twenty
years.
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