NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Building on the groundwork laid in the New York Times bestseller
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explores how a culture of niceness
inadvertently promotes racism.
In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system
into which all white people are socialized and challenged the belief
that racism is a simple matter of good people versus bad. DiAngelo also
made a provocative claim: white progressives cause the most daily harm
to people of color. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains
how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over 25
years working as an anti-racist educator, she picks up where White
Fragility left off and moves the conversation forward.
Writing directly to white people as a white person, DiAngelo identifies
many common white racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned
white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. These patterns
include:
-rushing to prove that we are "not racist";
-downplaying white advantage;
-romanticizing Black, Indigenous and other peoples of color (BIPOC);
-pretending white segregation "just happens";
-expecting BIPOC people to teach us about racism;
-carefulness;
-and feeling immobilized by shame.
DiAngelo explains how spiritual white progressives seeking community by
co-opting Indigenous and other groups' rituals create separation, not
connection. She challenges the ideology of individualism and explains
why it is OK to generalize about white people, and she demonstrates how
white people who experience other oppressions still benefit from
systemic racism. Writing candidly about her own missteps and struggles,
she models a path forward, encouraging white readers to continually face
their complicity and embrace courage, lifelong commitment, and
accountability.
Nice Racism is an essential work for any white person who recognizes
the existence of systemic racism and white supremacy and wants to take
steps to align their values with their actual practice. BIPOC readers
may also find the "insiders" perspective useful for navigating
whiteness.
Includes a study guide.
