Don’t look away

Video: DON´T LOOK AWAY

White Fragility or Why White People Don’t Like to Talk About White Privilege

Sociologist Robin DiAngelo vividly describes how difficult it is to talk about white privilege with white-privileged people in workshops and seminars because:

White people are not used to being categorized on the basis of skin colour but to being percieved as individuals without such labels. Discussions about white privilege make them aware that they are not simply ‚people‘ but white people. That is, they are not exempt from social determination by ethnic characteristics and this determination gives them a special treatment.

The word ‚privilege‘ feels wrong to many white people who are for example economically disadvantaged. This is why it’s important to include intersectionality into debates about white privilege: it doesn’t mean that one can’t be structurally disadvantaged in other social categories or that their life is free of difficulties. It only means that their skin colour is not the reason why they are discriminated against.

DiAngelo describes the emotionally charged defensive reactions that people with white privilege display in debates about racism or their privilege as examples of ‚white fragility‘. Accordingly, they are fragile because they have never experienced the stress that racism can cause (for example in the US or Germany).

Now, when they are ‘forced’ to become aware of their own racist ways of thinking and acting in a conversation or seminar, they exhibit white fragility: these reactions usually manifest themselves in people blocking, becoming very emotional (often angry or defensive), deflecting experiences of racism by Black people or People of Color, or trying to leave as quickly as possible the situation they perceive as unpleasant or unbearable.

These reactions cause those affected by racism to stop sharing their experiences for fear of being attacked for doing so.

These reactions cause those affected by racism to stop sharing their experiences for fear of being attacked for doing so. In addition, these emotional reactions lead to a shift in focus: it’s no longer about the experiences of racism of the affected but about the feelings of those who are not.

„The inherent problem of addressing whiteness is that it gives white people permission to do what they love to do without feeling guilty: talk about themselves,“ as Richard Dyer writes in the preface to his book ‚White‘.

It’s thus important not to individualize racism but to understand it as a social structure that affects people differently in order to change something through the debates about white privilege.

TEST YOURSELF

Have you ever had the following thoughts after calling someone out on their racist behavior?

If one or more of these points applies to you, then you have most likely already been manipulated with Racial Gaslighting. Suddenly you question yourself and your reactions, you are no longer sure what is really racist. It is first important to understand, the problem is NOT you. In the following you will learn more about this topic.

VIDEO: THAT´S MY HIJAB

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

Since 2009 I am an active member in the association Global New Generation Berlin eV. I started as a child being part of in musicals and workshops. Racism was a stable companion in my life from the beginning. The participation in the offers of the association convinced me and showed me many ways how to deal with it and how to defend myself. I have experienced a lot of racist violence myself and also an incident that went to the courts. I have been in contact with newspapers, I have given interviews on German as well as Turkish television about this topic, I have given lectures and I have also written my own articles. My motto is: never be silent, because if you are silent you have lost.At the age of 22 I wrote my first project and learned how to use my skills to help other people. The most recent project was one that addresses the issue of racism and raises awareness.Today I proudly sit on the board of this association and can actively help.